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Ruth and Nadia Matar are co-chairwomen of , a grassroots women's movement dedicated to the security and Jewish heritage of historic Israel. (Nadia pictured)
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By Ruth and Nadia Matar
September 27, 2004
Dear Friends,
I received numerous replies to my Letter from Jerusalem of September 23. The following reply upset me greatly, especially since it came from a good friend of Women in Green, who supports us. I have changed the name of the city and state where our friend lives, because I do not want to divulge his identity, without his permission.
This letter made me painfully aware that even our good friends who live abroad are not able to put themselves in our shoes, because they do not have all the information that we have. The U.S. State our friend lives in was one of the thirteen colonies, and I have therefore chosen another one of the erstwhile colonies, Rhode Island, because one of its cities, Newport, has the oldest Synagogue in the United States, founded in 1763. The remnants of the Gaza Synagogues, by the way, are much older, because Jews have been in Gaza since Biblical times. (Gaza is Jewish Land promised by Hashem in the Bible as an everlasting inheritance. It was in fact apportioned to the Tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:47 and Judges 1:18) as part of Israel's eternal patrimony.)
The following is the letter from our United States friend in its entirety:
Dear Ruth and Nadia,
In your latest letter you wrote; (Thurs Sept 23, 04) "a letter written by the Judenrat (Jewish Council) to the Jews of Berlin in Germany in 1942. Nadia noted that the 1942 documents ended with an emotional plea by the Berlin Jewish leadership to behave calmly and thus ease the process of deportation.
Up to here I have no quarrel with you as it is simply stating historical facts and makes a auspicious point with deafening clarity.
"Nadia further accused Bassi that he is a modern-day version of the Judenrat and is, in fact much worse. During the Holocaust the deportation of Jews was forced .......etc. .....he assumed his position as head of Sharon's Evacuation Authority."
This was an unnecessary accusation and personal attack. You made your point in the first paragraph and then let it spill over into a rant. Too bad. Now you gave the opposing side the "crazy - fringy " ammunition that they were looking for, because, the settlers, Yevarech otam Hashem, [G-d should bless them. --R.M.] at worst will be moved to the Negev and the Galil and compensated with hundreds of thousands of dollars per family and all the compassion that Jews have typically afforded to their brethren be it, Soviet, Ethiopian, Yemenite, Iraqi, Ma'apilim, etc. Not the best situation, as we would prefer to hold onto any and all territories won with blood, but Bassi and the Government are not sending them inot exile to concentration camps and not even to refugee camps. Again, not an appropriate reference by you to the Nazis who sent the Jews off to the death camps.
Again, I send these criticisms with deepest respect and admiration for Ruth and Nadia, WIG, the Settlers, Zahal and Am Yisrael with greetings and salutations for G'mar Hatima Tova.
Truly,
A friend
Newport, Rhode Island [My substitution -- R.M.]
* * *
And this is my reply:
Dear Friend,
Thank you for your letter and also for your support in the past. I know that you write your criticism as a friend.
Nadia's comparison of Jonathan Bassi is not a comparison to the Nazis. The comparison is between Bassi's 2004 letter to his fellow Jews in Gaza and the 1942 letter of the Jewish Council (Judenrat) to the Jews of Berlin, asking them "to cooperate with the Germans and to leave in an orderly fashion."
How would you feel if your fellow Jewish Americans decided that it was in the interest of the rest of the country to drag your family out of its home, in order to make Rhode Island Judenrein, even though your family has resided there for many generations? And if your grandparents and great-grandparents were buried in a Newport, Rhode Island cemetery, and your government had made an agreement to remove Jewish remains from their graves in this cemetery, would you agree to let this be done? I am sure you would object vociferously, even if you would get "hundreds of thousands of dollars" for your family and all the compassion of Jews in the other 49 States, and even compassion from the all the Jews in the whole world.
Also, it seems to be generally ignored that Ariel Sharon is also at the same time planning to "unilaterally disengage" from Northern Samaria communities, and to make this area Judenrein as well. Sharon's Plan unfortunately may spell the beginning of the end for Biblical Gaza, Judea and Samaria as part of Israel.
Worst of all, Sharon has no mandate whatsoever, and in true dictatorial fashion refuses to let the Israeli people decide democratically the important question of their country's future.
Cordially,
Ruth Matar
Views expressed by the author do not
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