By: Aryeh Savir
About 20,000 Israelis marched in support of the community of Chomesh in Samaria on Tuesday, after the government led by Naftali Bennett had attempted to demolish the yeshiva and the few homes at the site and minimize the Israeli presence there.
The marchers demanded that the government “lift the siege on Chomesh” and completely legalize the status of the yeshiva at the site.
Head of the Samaria Council, Yossi Dagan, the head of the Chomesh Yeshiva Rabbi Elishama Cohen, and members of the Knesset were present at the march.
The family of Shuli Har-Melech, the family of Ido Zoldan, and the family of Yehuda Dimentman marched as well. All three lived in Chomesh and were killed by terrorists, most recently Dimentman in December 2021.
“The majority of the people demand – remove your hands from the yeshiva of Chomesh, build Chomesh and Sa-Nur anew, today,” Dagan stated.
Dagan further said that “the public that came here en masse represents the vast majority of the people of Israel, and have national dignity and uprightness, and this public tells the government ‘take your hands off Chomesh,’ stop the evictions and checkpoints, and Israel will correct the mistake of deportation and restore Chomesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim.”
“A government that abandons both the Negev and Chomesh will be replaced with a government that the people of Israel deserve – a full right-wing government,” Dagan said.
Bezalel Smotrich, Chairman of the Religious Zionist Party, stated at the march that he has “no expectations from this government that has surrendered to Islam. Whoever narrows the steps of the heroes from Comesh we have no dialogue with them, we will replace them soon.”
“We came to stand behind the families and the boys, we came to commit to settling the Land of Israel in all its areas, to continue Zionism. The people of Israel are alive and strong and will win,” he declared.
MK Idit Silman, who recently quit Bennett’s coalition, stated that “our trust is in the Creator of the world, and this is our safety net, this is our truth and thanks to it we are here. The inheritance of the land is only due to the Holy Torah. Thanks to Yehuda Dimentman and thanks to his learning, we are here. Our Torah is the truth and it is our resilience.”
In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip while destroying 21 Israeli communities.
It also destroyed four communities in northern Samaria, including Chomesh, but retained a military presence in the area, which is part of Area C, under full Israeli control.
Dagan, who was expelled by the state from his home in Sa-Nur in 2005, is demanding that the state allow the resumption of settlement there.
The yeshiva in Chomesh has been active for the past 15 years.
In August 2020, MKs Miki Zohar and Smotrich introduced a bill to repeal the 2005 Disengagement Law from northern Samaria “to correct the injustice.”
In June 2018, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yair Naveh, who commanded the IDF’s withdrawal from northern Samaria in 2005, declared that Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Israeli communities in northern Samaria in 2005 was “a grave mistake.”
(TPS)
