Hebron leaders thank Netanyahu for supporting Jewish community

Hebron’s Jewish community presented the prime minister with tokens of appreciation, recognizing his role in developing the area.

By: World Israel News Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with leaders of the Jewish community in Hebron on Wednesday. The chairman of the Judea and Samaria (YESHA) Council, Hananel Dorani, also attended the meeting, at which the prime minister was presented with a certificate of appreciation in recognition of his efforts to further development in the region.

In addition to the certificate, Netanyahu was also presented with a medal commemorating the 50 year anniversary of the rebuilding of the Jewish community in Hebron, which was devastated by Arab pogroms and riots in 1929 during which Arabs murdered their Jewish neighbors, leaving scores dead. The Jewish community was finally able to return after Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six Day War.

The certificate included a passage penned by the prime minister in a past letter to Hebron’s Jewish community. Netanyahu declared in this letter, “Hebron is the city of Patriarchs. City of royalty. And the Jewish settlement in it is anchored with an ancient historical right as well as government decisions and international agreements of today. The Jewish nation continuously votes in favor of the continuation of the Jewish settlement in Hebron. We will carry on building.”

Other attendees at the meeting on Wednesday included Head of the Committee of the Jewish Community of Hebron, Avraham Ben Yosef, CEO of the Jewish Settlements in Hebron, Ori Karzan, former parliamentarian, Orit Sitruk, and community leader Hillel Horowitz.

The assembled leaders thanked Netanyahu for supporting the Jewish presence in Hebron, and specifically for promoting construction in the Hezekiah Quarter. While Hebron is home to one of Judaism’s holiest sites, the burial place of the patriarchs and matriarchs, the United Nations has attempted to undermine the Jewish state’s right to this territory by permitting its Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to pass anti-historical resolutions recasting Hebron as a “Palestinian cultural heritage site.”

The Jewish community in Hebron is also subjected to terror attacks and harassment by local Arabs.

The meeting on Wednesday focused on strengthening this community, and included the presentation to Netanyahu of a book from the Bar Ilan University summarizing the archaeological excavations in Hebron, where magnificent remains of the Second Temple-era Jewish settlement have been discovered, such as ritual baths, coins, and pottery.

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