More than 10,000 demonstrators rally against settlement freeze
Addressing Netanyahu, National Union MK Eldad says, 'Jews are not ice pops; you don't freeze us so fast.'
By Liel Kyzer and The Associated Press Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu Israel newsMore than 10,000 right-wing activists gathered near the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem Wednesday to demonstrate against the 10-month freeze in settlement construction announced last month.
"When Netanyahu speaks of a settlement freeze he means disengagement," MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) said at the rally.
"Jews are not ice pops; you don't freeze us so fast," he said, directly addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The people of Israel are telling you today: We are not frozen so fast and we are not beaten so fast."
Gershon Mesika, who heads the Shomron regional council in the West Bank, called on Netanyahu to retract the "anti-Zionist" order to suspend settlement construction.
"Bibi, remember that Israel has not forgiven those who have harmed us, as proven by looking at recent history and the distant past," Mesika said, using Netanyahu's nickname.
MK Danny Danon (Likud) announced the White House phone number and urged protesters to tell U.S. President Barack Obama to "get your hands off the Land of Israel and the people of the Land of Israel."
"The prime minister needs to tell President Obama: I am not compromising on the Land of Israel," said Danon.
Other political figures, including Knesset members and mayors of settlements in the West Bank, also attended the rally.
Settlers held signs and banners that read, "We will continue to build" and "Stop Iran's nukes, not our homes."
Settler leader Dani Dayan called the freeze unreasonable. "Not one Jewish home can be built now," he said. "We are not an obstacle to peace. We make peace more possible."
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the pals will move and there will be peace then. the pals have no claims whatsoever on Israel's land. Obama will be gone and so will Bibi but, Israel is forever.
A freeze is a form of racial apartheid designed to eliminate Jews from their homes......Try building on Israel Sovereign territory instead of someone elses. Plenty of room in Israel proper. It is aparteid to discriminate against Palestinians...Jews have plenty of unsettled land in Israel proper...enough to house the 500,000 illegal settlers on Palestinian territory that break International Law on a daily basis.
Only the twisted logic of the settler movement could cry foul because some temporary curbs are being placed on their land theft. Its hard to imagine a group of people less deserving of sympathy. It's not your land. Get off it.
I wonder how many would have been present if the gates to Jerusalem and the roads had not been blocked. My friends in Maale Adumin wanted to attend, but were prevented from doing so and they were a family of 25.
A freeze is a form of racial apartheid designed to eliminate Jews from their homes.
American Jews pay taxes too and THEY also deserve to have a say where THEIR money goes .. especially since they pay for public school that they don't even use.. All those thousands of dollars for years and years and years that was being used for public school that is not even being used by the Jewish public is at least being used to help the country that they hold in their heart.
only a handful of people in Israel campaign for a just peace. Peace Now is virtually irrelevant. But the settler-movement manages to stage such big rally's. It will only lead to a bigger distance between Israel and the rest of the world I'm afraid.
Yes, it must be hard for the settlers to have the tables turned on them... even if only for a while. Now they know what it must feel like for Palestinians who cannot get building permits on their own land.
Does over 10,000 mean 30--50,000. I was there, and it looked like a lot more than 10,000 to me. The police announced 30,000. I'm sure if it were a left wing demonstration the 10,000 would have metamorphasized into "nearly 100,000."
Rallies are symbolic acts.
Obama stand against the Jewish nation not Bibi. He can not win. Anyway in three years time Obama is gone and Bibi too.
Does anyone in the MIddle East know the difference between metaphor and reality any more, or is life to be conducted as one long caterwauling poetry slam? No, Gaza is not "one big prison," and the West Bank is not being "asphyxiated". And no, West Bank settlers are not, "popsicles" about to be "frozen" and put upstairs in the refrigerator freezer cabinet with the veggies and steaks. People must be doing pretty well to have such endless time for parades, pantomimes, and impromptu drama queen performances.
You said: Not sure why Obama is not tough enough with Bibi!! I would have thought you'd be thrilled with Netanyahu's decision.
As an American tax payer, I say to those rightis we pay the bills, so shut up and listen. Pease now in the middle east is vital for us at thess difficult times. We got two wars at hand with no end to be seen! Our cash flow to you has not stopped while millions of us are unemployed and struggling to make it!! Not sure why Obama is not tough enough with Bibi!!