Americans For a Safe Israel 1751 Second Avenue (91st Street) New York, NY 10128 Tel: 212-828-2424; 800-235-3658; Fax: 212-828-4538 www.afsi.org; afsi@rcn.com Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director January 19, 2012 AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL has consistently opposed the expulsion and destruction by the Israeli government of Jewish homes, synagogues, schools, community centers, and all the components of a community. We protested long and hard against the expulsion from Gush Katif in 2005, from which the former residents are still suffering. Now we see that many of the communities which we have visited on our recent Chizuk missions to Israel are experiencing the same brutal treatment that the Gush Katif communities suffered. We were in Mitzpe Yericho, Givat Assaf and Migron. We saw the desperate efforts of the people to prevent the destruction of their homes, and we saw the brave actions taken by those who rushed to the assistance of the newly homeless. At the same time that we read about IDF medics assisting an ailing Palestinian Arab, displaying humanitarian values above all else, we learn about the incredibly inhumane treatment of Jews by their fellow Jews. How and why is this possible? Please, everyone reading this email, and the many others put out by other organizations, PLEASE take the power that you have as a caring individual and write those emails and make those calls. We cannot sit idly by with folded hands. When the final accounting comes, and our children ask what we did to prevent these abominations, at least we can say we tried. Police Brutally Evict 5 Families from Yissa Beracha Outpost David Lev Police early Thursday morning evicted five families from the new community ("outpost") of Yissa Beracha, a new neighborhood of the town of Mitspe Yericho, located between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley. Police violently removed the families and beat protesters who had come to demonstrate against the eviction. Nine protesters were injured in the police violence. The operation, for all practical purposes, constituted a classic "invasion" of the neighborhood, with police sealing off the neighborhood for three hours before the eviction, while others blocked off access roads, preventing protesters from reaching the site, and beating them with clubs and sticks when they tried to reach the site. Police said that three officers were injured, after they fell off a roof they had climbed on in order to remove a resident. Three of the protesters sustained injuries to the head, and were taken to Hadassah Ein-Kerem Hospital for treatment. Protesters said that one woman was injured when she was run down by a security vehicle; another protester who was hit on the head by police was refused medical treatment, witnesses said, with police preventing doctors from treating him until the evictions and demolition of the structures in the neighborhood were finished. Protesters said that, as has been the case in recent outpost demolitions, police used Arab contractors who gleefully ripped down the structures, cursing and laughing at the Jews while they did their work. MK Michael Ben-Ari said that "the time has come for the national religious public to understand that the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is bad for the Jews. The obsessive and ongoing demolition of Jewish homes has reached the levels of the eviction of Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and northern Samaria. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are persecuting residents, evicting children from their homes, and injuring protesters - and afterwards they wonder why there are 'price tag' actions." Along with the demolition and eviction of five families in the new community of Yissa Beracha, a new neighborhood of the town of Mitspe Yericho, police and border guards also evicted the Slonim family in the Oz Tzion neighborhood of Givat Assaf. Police tore down the building, with police waving guns and rifles at residents during the eviction. Police deny the report

AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL has consistently opposed the expulsion and
destruction by the Israeli government of Jewish homes, synagogues,
schools, community centers, and all the components of a community. We
protested long and hard against the expulsion from Gush Katif in 2005,
from which the former residents are still suffering.

Now we see that many of the communities which we have visited on our
recent Chizuk missions to Israel are experiencing the same brutal
treatment that the Gush Katif communities suffered. We were in Mitzpe
Yericho, Givat Assaf and Migron.

We saw the desperate efforts of the people to prevent the destruction
of their homes, and we saw the brave actions taken by those who rushed
to the assistance of the newly homeless.

At the same time that we read about IDF medics assisting an ailing
Palestinian Arab, displaying humanitarian values above all else, we
learn about the incredibly inhumane treatment of Jews by their fellow
Jews. How and why is this possible?

Please, everyone reading this email, and the many others put out by
other organizations, PLEASE take the power that you have as a caring
individual and write those emails and make those calls. We cannot sit
idly by with folded hands. When the final accounting comes, and our
children ask what we did to prevent these abominations, at least we
can say we tried.



Police Brutally Evict 5 Families from Yissa Beracha Outpost
David Lev


Police early Thursday morning evicted five families from the new
community ("outpost") of Yissa Beracha, a new neighborhood of the town
of Mitspe Yericho, located between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.
Police violently removed the families and beat protesters who had come
to demonstrate against the eviction. Nine protesters were injured in
the police violence.


The operation, for all practical purposes, constituted a classic
"invasion" of the neighborhood, with police sealing off the
neighborhood for three hours before the eviction, while others blocked
off access roads, preventing protesters from reaching the site, and
beating them with clubs and sticks when they tried to reach the site.
Police said that three officers were injured, after they fell off a
roof they had climbed on in order to remove a resident.
Three of the protesters sustained injuries to the head, and were taken
to Hadassah Ein-Kerem Hospital for treatment. Protesters said that one
woman was injured when she was run down by a security vehicle; another
protester who was hit on the head by police was refused medical
treatment, witnesses said, with police preventing doctors from
treating him until the evictions and demolition of the structures in
the neighborhood were finished. Protesters said that, as has been the
case in recent outpost demolitions, police used Arab contractors who
gleefully ripped down the structures, cursing and laughing at the Jews
while they did their work.


MK Michael Ben-Ari said that "the time has come for the national
religious public to understand that the government of Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu is bad for the Jews. The obsessive and ongoing
demolition of Jewish homes has reached the levels of the eviction of
Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and northern Samaria. Netanyahu
and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are persecuting residents, evicting
children from their homes, and injuring protesters - and afterwards
they wonder why there are 'price tag' actions."

Along with the demolition and eviction of five families in the new
community of  Yissa Beracha, a new neighborhood of the town of Mitspe
Yericho, police and border guards also evicted the Slonim family in
the Oz Tzion neighborhood of Givat Assaf. Police tore down the
building, with police waving guns and rifles at residents during the
eviction. Police deny the report



Americans For a Safe Israel
1751 Second Avenue (91st Street)
New York, NY 10128
Tel: 212-828-2424; 800-235-3658; Fax: 212-828-4538
www.afsi.org; afsi@rcn.com
Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director
January 19, 2012