The Knesset’s recent proposal of a bill legalizing settler homes built on private Palestinian land could possibly be the first step in an annexation of the West Bank area known as “Area C”, paving the way for legalizing some 4,000 homes which were illegally built and whose continued presence flies in the face of Israeli and international law. The Israeli government’s stance till this point concerning settlement activity was to half-heartedly condemn it but, in most cases, do little to inhibit the often breakneck speed at which illegal settlements are erected. With sanctioning of these thousands of homes, the settlement or “regulations bill” as it’s called, would overturn a key element of the 1979 High Court of Justice ruling on Elon Moreh ruling that prohibited the construction of settlements on private Palestinian property. If the bill were to pass through the requisite additional two readings in the Knesset and the inevitable challenge it will receive in the Zionist High Court of “Justice”, it would be an unprecedented overturning of dozens of petitions made by Arab landowners trying to retrieve their parcels of land from what are essentially squatters. In addition, it would give the opportunity for another 55 illegal outposts to be possibly legalized, however tenuous the “legal” may be in this situation. Considering that Israeli settlement activity is already being closely examined by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the illegal seizure of private property for no expressed purpose besides, well, nothing, if the bill does gain enough traction to pass, Arab MK Yousef Jabareen’s promised that, “….all those who signed the law were heading to the ICC.” Even the Zionist State’s Attorney-General, Avichai Mandelblit, has already ruled the the legislation is unconstitutional and violates both Israeli and international law.
Though Jewish Law would most likely be cause for little concern amongst those MKs arguing over the Regulations Bill, that doesn’t decrease it’s gravity. In the Shulchan Aruch, otherwise known as the Code of Jewish Law, the matter of theft, in whatever form, is clearly delineated. Cheating, stealing and lying are completely forbidden; regarding these actions it is written “For anyone who does these is an abomination of G-d.” (Deuteronomy 18:12). This applies to stealing from anyone: both Jews and non-Jews.
“Appropriation of lands” or any number of other terms are merely attempts at dressing up theft and robbery in a costume of legitimacy. The Knesset can polish and shine the bill till it shines like the noonday sun but the reality remains unchanged. This bill is nothing more than a clod of dirt covered with a coat of shiny spray paint, unconvincing even for those who so sorely wish to believe it’s validity. Though many Israeli MKs are not friends of the Torah and commandments, that in no way effects their obligation to abstain from taking that which isn’t their’s. Larceny is prohibited by every system of belief and it is universally accepted throughout the globe that for a society to function it’s citizens must adhere to a basic set of conduct.
The State of “Israel” was designed with the uprooting of the Torah in mind, striving to remove the holiness that effected a Jews every move throughout the millennia. The Israeli governments despicable actions tear off the mask that the Zionists tied on with the flimsiest of strings, revealing what lies beneath. A vast nothingness.
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