NYC Rally Statement

Hebron-Past, Present and Forever
by David Wilder                                                                    
NYC Rally Statement                                
May 1, 1996

Shalom from Hebron.
First, I must thank you for coming this evening to show your 
solidarity with the Jewish Community of Hebron.  Hebron does not 
belong to those of us who live in Hebron-Kiryat Arba.  Hebron belongs 
to all the Jewish People, thoughout the ages.  In spite of the fact 
that your are in NY and we are here in Israel, Hebron is as much a 
part of you as me.  
       This morning at 10:00, as we were getting ready to leave for 
Jerusalem, Kiryat Arba's ambulance sirens began shrieking.  Within a 
few minutes the reason was clear.  Seventy two year old Nisim Gudaei 
was stabbed in the back  by an Arab terrorist in Hebron.  The 
butcher knife was still sticking out of his back when he was taken to 
Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.
     Nisim Gudaei, still fighting for his life as I write, is a 
brilliant man, a first class Torah scholar, having studied at the 
Ponevitch Yeshiva.  He was the secretary of the Tel-Aviv Rabbinic 
Court, learned and taught in Kiryat Arba's Hesder Yeshiva, speaks 
many languages, including fluent Arabic, and it a frequent visitor to 
the Arab shuk in Hebron.  All the Arabs in the Kasba know Nisim - he 
buys from them for years, speaks their language, and is simply, a 
very nice person.  He cannot be called an extremist, or a problematic 
trouble-maker, even among the Arabs.
   So why should an Arab choose to stab him in the back?  Because he 
is a Jew, living in Eretz Yisrael, residing in Kiryat Arba, walking 
the streets of Hebron.  It is, in the words of a friend of mine, just 
like reliving 1929.
      We left Kiryat Arba-Hebron to protest the planned 
abandonment of Hebron.  We then traveled to the Knesset, where a special debate took 
place.  Reporters asked my, "Why bother - what do you accomplish by
standing here in the hot weather, with all your families - men, women
and children?"  My response is quite simple:  We cannot just stand by
and watch a 3,700 year old Jewish city be abandoned.  It is the
democratic right to protest.  We are fulfilling that right.  But it is
not only a right, it is an obligation.  If someone tried to break into
your home, and then claim that it belongs not to you, but to him,
wouldn't you have an obligation, not only to yourself, but to your
family, to prove him wrong?  That is our obligation.  Our home is
being taken from us, and our family is the entire Jewish People.  We
must not let it happen.
Later in the afternoon we went to  the Kotel. where we prayed 
before the Master of the  Universe, at the holiest site to the Jewish 
People.  Unfortunately, Temple Mount and the Western Wall are also on 
the terrorist's list.  If we will succeed in preventing the fall of 
Hebron, the chances are good that Jerusalem will remain united.  If, 
chalila, Hebron should fall, we all know what is next.
   
   Later on we continued to a demonstration in the center of 
Jerusalem.  We spent an entire day protesting, before the people of  
Israel, before the people of the world, before our  L-rd in Heaven: 
Hebron, the city of Abraham, the lifeblood of the Jewish People must 
not be turned over to Arafat. 

    In 1929 the Arabs massacred us, leaving 67 dead.  The British 
expelled the remaining survivors.  We waited almost 50 years to 
return.  Is is possible that a Jewish government will continue where 
the British left off?  No - it cannot be, and we will do all in our 
power to prevent it.
    Today, this morning, the attempted murder of Nisim Gudaei brought 
back shadows of 1929 to haunt us - the Arabs haven't changed.  They 
will still take any opportunity to try to kill us.  It makes no 
difference if we are 'their friends' or not.    
      In a month the Israeli People will go to the polls to make perhaps 
the most important decision  since the founding of the State.  We 
will have to decide if we want an Israel with Judaism or without 
Judaism, with Hebron or without Hebron, with Jerusalem, or without 
Jerusalem.  If any of you have Israeli citizenship, do your utmost to 
be in Israel on election day.  Every vote counts.  Everyone must do 
what they can - If not now - when?
     It would be very easy, after today's events, after the terrorist 
attack, after hearing Yossi Sarid promise to 'not only withdraw from 
Hebron, but also remove all its Jewish residents', to feel total 
despair.  However, I conclude, not on a note of despair, but rather on a note of hope, 
of optimism.  The road before us will not be easy, but we have faith 
that we weren't brought back to Israel, after a 2,000 year exile, 
only to be exiled again.   Thousands of people participated in 
today's protests, and there are hundreds of thousands  more, all over 
Israel, who will not agree to see Hebron fall, at the hands of a 
Jewish government.  
    The army offered us, in Hebron, different forms of protection, 
most of which resembled ghettoization.  We refused.  We will not, 
under any circumstances, return to a ghetto.  We have come back to 
Israel, we have come back to Hebron, we have come home, to live as a 
free people should live, in their home.  Our home is not a ghetto.  
Our home is the oldest Jewish city in the world, the roots of the 
Jewish People, the beginnings of the Kingdom of Israel - the home of 
David Melech Yisrael.  The eternity of Hebron, as is the eternity of 
Israel, is not a man-made gift - it is Divine.  And in spite of the 
seeming darkness, the seeming pit we are falling into, we will rise 
up, as we have in the past.  Eternity is a long time, eternity does 
not lie and with the help of G-d, - we will not fail in our mission.  
Your solidarity with Hebron, Hebron, coming from the word l'chaber, to join 
together, unites us - we are one - going forward for one cause - and 
we will succeed. 
Thank you again.

I look forward to seeing all of you as our guests in the Jewish 
Community of Hebron in the very near future.

With blessings from the city of the Patriarchs,
David Wilder