The post appeared after testimonies emerged from flotilla personnel arriving from Europe. Hairston wrote, "Just as murderers and rapists possess a right to exist in prison, so the Israeli leadership deserves long lives behind bars." She continued, "The testimonies of the detainees from the flotilla are horrifying. The genocide state in full display – beatings, being held kneeling with hands cuffed behind the back for hours, denial of medical treatment, degrading treatment, and threats. Not to mention that abducting the people from the flotilla in international waters constitutes a violation of international maritime law."

Tel-Hai College issued a response, "The lecturer's serious statements were written on her personal account and do not represent the position of Tel-Hai Academic College as an academic institution. Tel-Hai Academic College stands proudly with Israeli Air Force soldiers and security forces and thanks them for their dedication and protection of the State of Israel and its citizens. Many of our students served in the reserves during the past two years. During this period, as we return with excitement to our northern campuses after more than two years, the opening of the academic year represents the resilience of the region and Tel-Hai's deep commitment to the Galilee community and Israeli society."

Professors for a Strong Israel issued a statement, "Israeli academia must not function as a sanctuary for lecturers who slander the State of Israel. Following Dr. Ilana Hairston's statements from Tel-Hai College, comparing the State of Israel to the Third Reich, Professors for a Strong Israel warns that this represents a serious and persistent phenomenon of lecturers in higher education institutions who abuse freedom of expression to damage the State of Israel and Israeli Air Force soldiers."

Shachar Yifrach, chairman of the Tel-Hai Student Union, stated, "Dr. Ilana Hairston's post crosses a red line both clearly and publicly. The union vigorously condemns these statements. Comparing the State of Israel to the Third Reich is a perilous comparison that damages Holocaust memory and harms reserve soldiers, including our students who risked their lives for the state. The union adopted the IHRA definition against antisemitism last year, and we invite the college and other institutions nationwide to adopt the definition as we have."

The post College professor compares Israel to Third Reich appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A synagogue dating back some 2,000 years has been excavated at Migdal in northern Israel, the site of a large Jewish community in the Second Temple era as well as a modern moshava.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

This is the second synagogue excavated at Migdal and the first time that archaeologists have found evidence of two synagogues coexisting in a Jewish community at a time when the Second Temple was still in existence and in use.

Like many archaeological discoveries, the second synagogue at Migdal resurfaced as part of infrastructure work. In this case, it was a salvage excavation ahead of a project by Netivei Israel – National Transport Infrastructure Company Ltd. to widen a nearby highway.

"The discovery of a second synagogue at the Galilee community sheds light on social life and religion of Galilean Jews at that time, and shows the need for a special building to study and read Torah and hold social gatherings," explained Dina Avshalom-Gorni of the University of Haifa, one of the directors of the excavation.

"The discovery of the 'new' synagogue at Migdal, with its many findings such as clay lamps, glass bowls formed from molds, coins, and stone vessels used for purification rites, show the Migdal Jews' ties to Jerusalem and the Temple," Avshalom-Gorani said.

The main space of the second synagogue were covered in white and colored plaster and a large stone bench, also plastered, had been placed near the wall. The ceiling, which had apparently been made of wood, had been supported by six pillars, which stood on stone bases, two of which are still intact. In a small room on the southern side, archaeologists found a plaster-covered stone shelf, indicating that it might have served as a storage space for Torah scrolls.

Two millennia ago, Migdal, located on the northwestern edge of the Sea of Galilee, was a large Jewish town. It is mentioned in Christian texts as the birthplace of Mary Magdalene, whose last name derives from the name of the community.

The Israel Antiquities Authority excavated the eastern side of Migdal over a decade ago. The dig revealed a synagogue that dated back to the time of the Second Temple. In the middle of that synagogue, archaeologists discovered a unique stone that bore a relief of a seven-branched menorah, which researchers explained as a depiction of the Temple menorah. The stone is currently part of an IAA exhibit at the Yigal Allon Centre.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Road work leads to discovery of another 2,000-year-old synagogue at Migdal appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Israel's Upper Galilee region is positioning itself to become a global leader in foodtech. Several food-tech and agritech accelerators and companies have established themselves in Israel's northern "periphery," where the Israeli government provides incentives for individuals and businesses to establish themselves there.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The region boasts open and fertile land that brings forth some of Israel's top produce, as well as an ecosystem of budding infrastructure – public bodies and corporations, leading academic institutions, local and international philanthropic foundations, as well as startups and technology companies.

Recently, Israeli high-tech entrepreneur and investor Erel Margalit launched an international food-tech center in the Galilee that can serve as a magnet for other businesses, thereby bringing new talent and prosperity to the region.

"We are witnessing the next revolution in Israel. Food-tech is the next cyber, and I believe Israel is on its way to becoming a superpower in the field," said Margalit, founder and executive chairman of Jerusalem Venture Partners and Margalit Startup City Galil. "We are creating an economic growth engine that will change the lives of young people and families, with 30,000 high-paying technology jobs like in the center of the country, and another 70,000 ancillary positions."

Russell Robinson, CEO of the Jewish National Fund-USA (JNF USA) – a partner in these initiatives and which is helping develop land throughout Israel from the north to the south – said "From this day forward, Kiryat Shmona should never be called a 'development town.' No, Kiryat Shmona and the greater area of the Upper Eastern Galilee are part of the culinary and food-industry capital of Israel … this is no longer a dream, this is the reality."

Startup City will work to address some of the world's most urgent problems, including food security and the battle against climate change, through food-tech innovation and Israel's well-established know-how in agricultural innovation and water technology.

Reinvent culinary education, leverage hybrid learning

According to Nisan Zeevi, CEO of Margalit Startup City Galil, considering projected global population growth, food production will need to increase by 70%, requiring agriculture to find a way to grow more with less, startup companies to create groundbreaking solutions and food corporations to change or die. Meat production, in particular, Zeevi told JNS, is depleting the planet, and coupled with the dairy and egg industry, is responsible for more than 18% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Fourteen Israeli companies have already joined the Startup City accelerator, including several that work towards innovating the global meat industry, which Margalit posed as a "danger to the environment we live in." For example, PlanTeam produces a versatile soybean-based protein that has a similar texture, mouthfeel and taste (with the help of some seasoning) as meat without additives and preservatives.

Another startup, Blue Huna, produces alternatives to disposable plastic, including biodegradable and reusable straws from wheat stalks and cane.

According to Zeevi, these startups will result in more jobs and higher salaries in the Upper Galilee. The current reality, he told JNS, is that for every hour drive a worker lives from Israel's center, the average monthly salary plummets about 2,000 shekels ($620). Kiryat Shmona, about a three-hour drive from Israel's center, has an average salary of 8,100 shekels ($2,500), whereas Tel Aviv residents enjoy a salary of 13,200 shekels ($4,050).

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

Another local culinary initiative with an international approach, the new Galilee Culinary Institute (GCI), aims to reinvent culinary education with integrated, immersive systems and community-based educational experiences that leverage technology and hybrid learning. In collaboration with JNF-USA, the campus is preparing to open for its inaugural class in the fall of 2022 or early 2023. The 12-month accelerated program boasts impressive infrastructure, including multiple kitchens and a multimedia lab for content creation and food operations where students will apply the conceptual lenses of activism, storytelling and entrepreneurship to their experiential learning and technical training.

GCI will become the first international culinary school in Israel and afford students the opportunity to explore the region's rich diversity. The region is home to more than 80 cultures, it noted, as did Robinson – an ecosystem of industries, academia, entrepreneurship, startups and community – all while supporting local businesses and regional growth.

Through a certificate program and courses, CEO of GCI Nathan Hoffman shared his hope that the culinary school will "re-envision the north as the food capital of Israel and help students develop a personal and professional path – one that might empower students to be able to graduate and work in Michelin star restaurants."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

The post Foodtech, culinary innovation thrive in Galilee region appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Transportation Minister and Labor party head Meirav Michaeli is asserting that "for too many years, the State of Israel has been the Judea and Samaria state. The time has come for it to go back to being the Negev and Galilee state." 

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Speaking at a conference in the Galilee on Thursday, Michaeli said, "We will make an immense effort to bridge the infrastructure gap between Arab municipalities and those in the rest of the country. Together with the Social Equality Ministry, around 2 billion shekels (around $621 million) will be invested in infrastructure in Arab municipalities over the coming year. In addition, there is a plan, led by Ayalon Highways Ltd., that is beginning to be executed, within the framework of which roads will be paved inside Arab municipalities."

Commenting on infrastructure in the country's north, she said: "We realized that as soon as a road is built, it quickly becomes congested. For this reason, public transportation must be prioritized and that is why the region's light rail will come before the extension of Highway 6, which will be advanced later on."

Michaeli said her ministry would double the number of slow service buses in operation as well as bus service in the Galilee Region and the North.

"Likewise, there are local authorities where there are no sidewalks to walk on, that's unacceptable," she said. "We will create a standard so that every road that is paved, every station that is set up will come with the appropriate connectivity – a bicycle path, sidewalks, and infrastructure for light commercial vehicles."

Likud MK Fateen Mulla criticized Michaeli for her remarks, saying: "I have to correct you. The State of Israel is both [the state] of the Galilee and of Judea and Samaria."  

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Israel has been 'Judea and Samaria state' for too long, Labor MK says appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Thieves have stolen an iron cross outside a church in the northern Galilee where Christians believe that Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, a church official reported.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Last week, vandals pried the iron cross out of a basalt rock altar outside the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha, at the Sea of Galilee, said Georg Roewekamp, as reported by AFP.

Roewekamp, who represents the German Association of the Holy Land that owns the property where the church is located, denounced an "anti-Christian" act.

"It shows that people can invade and desecrate our property," he told AFP.

The Israel Police said it had launched an investigation into the incident.

The church at Tabgha – an Arabization of its original Greek name, Heptapegon – has been targeted before. In 2015, Jewish vandals torched the church, causing extensive damage, and spray-painted graffiti.

Roewekamp said the cross measured some 15 centimeters long (about six inches) and was embedded in a basalt rock altar at an outdoor prayer place on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

He said vandals might have arrived by boat, adding that he had little hope of finding the cross.

"Because the cross was fixed very well in the basalt stone, it was removed … not by coincidence," he added.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Church identified as site of miracle of the loaves and fishes plundered appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A scavenger hunt at a Talmud-era village in northern Israel took a surprising turn on Tuesday when an Israeli girl found a 1,500-year-old bronze coin.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The girl and her family were visiting the Korazim archeological park, near the Sea of Galilee, The Times of Israel reported.

During the game, the girl found the coin on the ground.

According to Korazim Park director Dekel Segev, the coin dates to the Talmudic period, between the fourth and fifth centuries CE. The park's website quotes Segev explaining that Korazim is a Jewish village some 2,000 years old, which reached its heights during the time of the Mishnah and Talmud.

According to Dekel, what makes Korazim special is not only its wealth of archaeological artifacts, but how intact it is. Korazim is one of the only sites in Israel that shows visitors an ancient Jewish farming community that boasts a synagogue, homes, a mikveh, olive oil presses, and a wine press.

In addition to refurbishing walking paths and creating the scavenger hunt activity, the park also offers curious visitors a chance to get their hands dirty by digging with a professional archaeologist in a program it calls "Digging Through Time."

Segev praised the girl for immediately handing the coin over to the park authorities.

"The young girl and her family showed good citizenship and brought us the coin because it is a national treasure," he said. "The piece will be forwarded to the Israel Antiquities Authority for further research and preservation."

This article was first published by i24NEWS

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Israeli girl finds ancient coin during scavenger hunt at Talmud-era village appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Israel Police raided Sunday morning the Tur'an village in the Galilee and arrested 145 suspects on suspicion of involvement in violent fights, arson, and shootings.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Some 250 policemen raided the village following a series of violent incidents that erupted over the weekend due to a family conflict over the upcoming Knesset elections.

Several suspects were apprehended carrying weapons. A number of officers remained in the village to prevent future violence that might erupt between the families involved.

The police reported that there had been violent incidents in the village in general, but especially conflicts involving people in public office.

The post Police raid Galilee village over election violence, arrest 145 appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

At that time, Jews were in a small minority in Safed compared to the number of Arab residents in the city's Muslim Quarter.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

"This is the only attack tunnel we know of from the time of the War of Independence [other than the sewers used by the Haganah forces in Jerusalem], and also the first attack tunnel in the history of modern Israel," says Dr. Nissan Sharifi, a researcher on the history of Safed.

A few years after the War of Independence, the ground near Ashtam Building was leveled to build a parking area for tourist buses bringing visitors to the old city.

Workers employed on a recent refurbishment of the area uncovered the tunnel, and initially thought they had stumbled across an antiquity. They contacted the Israel Antiquities Authority, which began a rescue excavation, which turned up findings from the 16^th century, the 19^th century, a water cistern from the Ottoman Period, and the tunnel, which had been filled it at the end of the war and later paved over.

The IAA, as well as many Safed residents, were worried that the city would opt to re-cover the tunnel as part of its project to improve tourist facilities.

Binyamin Geiger, 96, who served as the commander of Safed during the war, said that "If the Arabs had managed to blow up Ashtam Building, it would have ended us. The tunnel was the biggest strategic threat to the outpost, which was the most important one for our defense, and if it had fallen then, they would have gone into the Jewish Quarter and killed all the Jews."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

"It's really exciting for me that they found it, and I'm very worried it will be covered up again. We have to preserve it for the sake of future generations," Geiger said.

The tunnel, which became almost a myth for Safed residents, was described in various books published by commanders who served in Safed during the war, including Geiger.

"One night, when I was patrolling, I was summoned urgently to the central position. The guy who was permanently stationed there, Mussa Sarur, told me excitedly, 'Binyamin, listen to this, put your ear here on the earpiece, I can hear noise from the Arab market.'" Geiger wrote.

"I listened closely. It was dark and shots could be heard from every direction, all the time. Aside from the shots, I also heard a kind of noise, like a shovel digging, as if it came from far away," Geiger's memoir states.

Geiger informed Haganah commander of the city Meir Meivar, who sent him to neutralize what he suspected was a tunnel to be used in an Arab attack.

When Geiger set out, the noise stopped, and only after Safed was liberated did the Israeli fighters discover the tunnel.

"Later, we were informed that the heavy rains of that winter had caused the ground above part of the tunnel to collapse," Meivar wrote.

"The Arabs thought that we had discovered it, and were watching it, so they stopped digging. After the city was liberated, we discovered the tunnel, whose ceiling had caved in at a point about 10 meters [11 yards] from the Ashtam Building," Meivar recalled.

In light of public pressure to preserve the tunnel, the Safed Municipality has frozen work at the site.

"The city sees great importance in developing tourism in the city … After the discovery came to light, Mayor Shuki Ohana issued instructions to look into its significance, and to promote a plan to preserve it and turn it into a tourist attraction. From the moment it was discovered, the city hired architects, consultants, and architects to carry out in-depth research and prepare a detailed plan. We will publish the findings when they are available," a statement from the Safed Municipality announced.

The post 'Terror tunnel' dating back to 1948 unearthed in Safed appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Israel Hayom spoke with JNF Chairman Daniel Atar ahead of the Israel Hayom Forum for US-Israel Relations on June 27.

 Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

"The status and importance of US Jewry for Israel over the years cannot be overstated. The Jewish lobby and its influence on Congress and the Senate are also vital to Israel. Therefore, the relations between JNF-Israel and its partners in the US have been deep and warm for many years," Atar says. (US donations to the JNF exceed $150 million per year, compared to donations from everywhere else, which amount to about two-thirds of that sum.)

Q: When talking about Israel and the US, the term "special relationship" is mentioned. Does that apply to the relationship between JNF-Israel and the US, too?

"Naturally, we have many envoys spread across the US, and we support the activity of Jewish communities throughout America. We are also part of the fight against BDS. Five years ago, JNF International signed an agreement with JNF-USA that sets down rules for their relationship.

"We are working in complete harmony and cooperating well with JNF-USA in the vast majority of cases. This means that there is almost no field in which they don't support us or there is not cooperation between us, whether it's in academia, schools, youth movements, industry, handling the water crisis in Beersheba or the Arava, aid to farmers, and more. At this stage, we're trying to direct all our supporters to the Galilee and the Negev, with the goal of strengthening them and thereby strengthening Israel."

In addition to ongoing cooperation, the JNF has also decided to sue Hamas in a US court for the environmental damage that the terrorist group is causing in the western Negev. The lawsuit is currently in its final stages before being filed.

Looking for the next leaders

Atar says that the JNF is emphasizing what he defines as "our major struggle, which has existed for decades and more now than ever, against one of the phenomena that concerns us most – assimilation. In the US, it is increasing to over 70%, so the issue must be addressed and we must find the proper way of dealing with it."

Q: What does that mean?

"The main thing we're doing about it is informal education at JNF branches throughout the world. The goal is twofold: to strengthen Jewish identity and to strengthen ties to Israel. We are using a variety of methods: delegations, lectures, films, and youth movement programs, from the third grade until they reach adulthood, over the course of [many] years. Our goal is for at least some of them to become leaders in their own communities. It's obvious to us that those who become part of a world of Jewish 'content' through youth movement activity don't lose their Jewish identity and bond with Israel. Sometimes it is successful and sometimes, unfortunately, the objective numbers cause us to fail. Ultimately, US Jewry has enthusiastic Zionist supporters across the political spectrum and in this matter, the plurality of opinions is actually a source of great strength."

The land is still being redeemed

Sitting in the JNF building stirs up historic memories. It played an important role when Israel declared its independence. On Nov. 29, 1947, the United Nations declared an end to the British Mandate and that the land would be partitioned between a Jewish and an Arab state, and the leaders of the Yishuv gathered in the JNF building to confer on whether they would accept the resolution and declare an independent Jewish state. In 1988, a decision was made to turn most of the building into a museum devoted to JNF activity and its contributions to the State of Israel. The question of how relevant the JNF was came up even before the idea was floated.

"The JNF is more relevant today than ever," Atar says.

"Apart from the urgent issue of strengthening Jewish identity and links to Israel, the basic matter has not changed – we are still carrying out the commandment on which the JNF was founded: redeeming land. I discovered that a lot of people don't often know that, there are battles against strong forces who bring in money from abroad, the United Arab Emirates for example, that was raised to try and take control of land in our homeland.

"In the past year and a half, the JNF has invested about 500 million shekels ($150 million) in acquiring land, mostly for farmers who are on the verge of bankruptcy. We bought it and immediately leased it to them so they could keep working it. It won't go to waste, and we will keep producing food in Israel. That is how we defend the state's borders, our hold on the land, and the supreme value of Zionism. To that, add our support for youth movements worldwide, putting together work plans and training counselors … and ingraining Zionism, mostly through the delegations of teachers who teach at Jewish schools that we bring to Israel and expose to all the JNF's various activities."

Relocation to Dimona

The main tenet of the JNF's vision for the coming decades is its Israel 2040 plan. The plan is taken into account in all JNF activities and carries extra weight.

"The idea began to take form only a few months ago. The main goal is to bring half a million new residents to the Galilee and a million new residents to the Negev. I'm already waiting to talk with the finance minister in the next government about a budget and getting it started right away."

The plan's official and catchy name is "Relocation Israel – JNF is building the land of tomorrow." Atar is completely committed to it.

"The game-changer that we believe makes it possible to implement the plan is Israeli technology, which does wondrous things and is in demand worldwide. We intend to turn the Galilee into a world powerhouse of food-tech, agro-tech, and biotech. The Negev – in conjunction with the IDF's technology units, which are moving their bases to the South – will make it into a capital of cybertech, security and defense industry, and artificial intelligence."

Q: What are the main emphases of the plan?

"The important goal is to create a demographic change by bringing in a new, strong population that can depend on itself economically, unlike what is happening now. The stress will be on high-tech villages, science campuses, and high-end R and D centers. Alongside them, we'll set up smart cities that are capable of taking in a young, strong, and lively population, and supply everything they need. By doing so, we hope to attract investors and developers, engineers and programmers, young families and students from Israel and all over the world.

"Instead of relocating to Silicon Valley in California, they'll want to relocate to Beersheba and Kiryat Shmona, Nazareth Illit and Dimona. That's a real revolution, and it all stems from the understanding that the strategic strength of the State of Israel depends on there being a healthy and balanced Israeli population, not only in central Israel, which is what we have currently."

Atar is not forgetting the role Diaspora Jews will play in bringing the plan to fruition.

"I believe that Diaspora Jews can and should play a major role in achieving this goal. First of all by making aliyah and moving to those areas. That's not supposed to happen in a vacuum, but rather as part of a complete plan we'll be spearheading in the next few years. I am appealing to them directly: you can be part of meeting Zionism's biggest challenge in the next few decades, and join the many Jews who have already come to Israel in the years the state has existed."

Atar says that "on the most basic level, there's nothing like seeing for yourself to understand the importance of the JNF. It's not by chance that there are thousands of kilometers of bike trails and thousands of acres of trees that have made Israel the only country in the world in which the number of trees grows from year to year. We are present in every aspect of what Israel is: information education, youth activity, pre-army preparatory academies, and now, of course, the cherry on the cake – bringing people to live in the Galilee and the Negev.

"It gives me great satisfaction on a personal level, too. The vitality of the JNF increases every day, and as long as I'm in this role, we will do everything to reach that goal."

The post 'The JNF is more relevant today than ever' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

He isn't changing his agenda or apologizing for it. Even if his messages are hard for some of the population to hear, he still gives it to them straight-up.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Last Tuesday, a day after it was announced that he had been appointed transportation minister and a member of the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet, Smotrich was already sitting down with outgoing Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and spending hour after hour listening to representatives of the major transportation companies in Israel; the Israel Airports Authority; the Trans-Israel Highway; the Ayalon Highways Co.; and more. He sat, he listened, and he asked questions. He knows he was handed to lead the ministry for only three months ("maybe more, if I fall in love with it"), but he is already envisioning a train that leaves from northern Israel, makes a few stops in Samaria settlements, and continues southward.

"It appears that the ministry is functioning excellently," he says after a long day of meetings.

"What needs to happen is for everything to continue as is until I gain some insights. The minister sets the policy on some things, and those issues must be studied. For example, when there's a big [infrastructure] plan and a question about whether to build at night only to avoid traffic tie-ups, in which case it takes four years, or build around the clock and finish in six months at the cost of complicating citizens' lives. There are planning and budget questions. It's not easy," he says.

Q: Is there also a question about work on Shabbat?

"It hasn't come up. The matter of Shabbat has nothing to do with me. The one who approves work on Shabbat is the labor and welfare minister. I don't encounter that dilemma."

The Transportation Ministry was not Smotrich's first choice, but he appears to be enthusiastic, although he says he hasn't given up on the justice portfolio.

"The day after the election we'll see how strong we are politically, and then decide. But I'm going into the Transportation Ministry with a lot of passion, with sky-high motivation. If I see that I'm succeeding, I might stay there."

Smotrich says that his new ministry has almost unparalleled capabilities to carry out projects that affect Israelis' day-to-day lives: "Roads, streets, trains, ports, licenses, car checks. Above all, the Transportation Ministry can implement Zionist and settlement values."

"If you want to bring Jews to the Negev and the Galilee, you need more roads. If you want to bring another half a million people to Judea and Samaria, you need to make sure there are roads. Settlements comes after roads and public transportation. This ministry has great civil, Zionist, and settlement 'input.' The overreaching goal is to allow every citizen to get from one point to another in the fastest, cheapest, and safest way."

Q: You will be criticized for investing millions in building roads to remote settlements on the edges of Judea and Samaria.

"That doesn't scare me. In my four years in the Knesset, I've done what I believed in … There is a lot of room here to implement an ideology and a worldview. If you want to bring 20,000 Jews to the Golan Heights you need to create better transportation."

"When Yisrael Katz was waging fierce battles over building Highway 6 in the North, he did so because of a Zionist worldview. True, it was less financially feasible than building more public transportation routes in central Israel, but some things are more ideologically rather than financially sound."

"If you bring good highways to the south, within six or seven years you could build two more cities in the Arava. A train from Dimona to Eilat would be a revolution. By extending infrastructure, you can determine the face of Israel. Kiryat Gat used to be considered 'South,' and now it's a suburb of Tel Aviv, because there is transportation. If you want to break out of the confines of the area between Gedera and Hadera, the 'state of Tel Aviv,' it [transportation] is a great tool."

Q: Do you feel that people are afraid of you?

"On one hand, they're afraid of me, and on the other, everyone likes to work with me. I passed the most laws in the last Knesset, significant laws. I'm here to work. True, I'm an ideologue, I have a well-ordered outlook, I say what I think even when it upsets others. No one can deny that I'm here to work."

Q: Your name has become synonymous with the country becoming radicalized.

"'Smotrich' has become synonymous with someone who knows how to get things done, that's why they're afraid. There are people in politics who are eccentric, who make a lot of noise but don't work. No one is afraid of them. I get attacked because I'm here to work."

Q: You get attacked because of your nationalist-haredi, conservative, and extremist views. On the Friday evening news panels, they use the phrase "a government of Smotriches" to mean a government of extremists.

"[Journalist] Amnon Abramovich is an ultra-radical leftist. 'Extremist' is relative. I don't think I'm extremist. I'm religious, devout, right-wing, Zionist, nationalist, with a clear and determined worldview, with self-confidence. I don't get confused, don't apologize, and don't hide behind my positions."

"However, I'm very pragmatic. I understand the gap between ideology and implementation. The goal is to hold onto the great dream, the great vision, but know that implementing it means two steps forward and one step backward – through patience, dialogue, and compromise. The attempts to demonize me are ridiculous."

"I want to apply Israeli sovereignty to all of Judea and Samaria, step by step. Through one [settlement] regulation bill, then another. I don't run around, shout and wave flags. That's why I'm singled out: 'He doesn't just talk, he also does stuff.'"

Q: Maybe some people are afraid that bit by bit, the haredi-nationalist-religious camp will grow and Israel will become a state governed by Jewish law.

"This 'state of Jewish law' is a scare campaign. I don't know what a 'state of Jewish law' is. It's something that was made up by someone who has been in politics for 30 years and left no impression [a reference to Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman] and who is looking for attention and a way of making it past the minimum electoral threshold."

"Even my aspiration of seeing Israel progress toward redemption will happen only when the people want it. At least my remarks about a country run according to the laws of the Torah started a discourse. People are asking questions."

"All fear of me and fear of the word 'Torah' stem from ignorance. The values of the Torah are just, enlightened, moral, and humane. I see them as the right values. Rabbi Haim Navon wrote a nice post about how the laws of the Torah are being demonized. He argued that the rules of Jewish law are good ones. On road accidents, for example, Jewish law mandates that road laws be followed with exactitude."

Q: So there's no reason to fear you?

"Obviously, anyone who wants a Palestinian state and thinks that would be a good thing for Israel should be worried about someone who sees that as a terrible thing and is working to bring about the opposite. With God's help, I'll manage to do the opposite. Not alone, but with a lot of other people."

"Anyone who wants to turn Israel into a state of all its citizens should be worried about Bezalel Smotrich. Anyone who has no problem with the awful demographic balance in the Galilee, where 70% of the people are gentiles, should be afraid of Bezalel Smotrich, because with other people's help, I'll turn that around. I'm going to bring Jews to the Galilee. If I'm still transportation minister a few years from now, I'll build a network of roads and complete the revolution to allow hundreds of thousands of Jews to move there. That's a huge goal."

"Anyone who thinks that settlement in Judea and Samaria is a danger to peace should be afraid of Bezalel Smotrich. If I stay on as transportation minister, I'll ensure that there is a major multi-year plan that envisions another half million people in Judea and Samaria, including a train line, roads, and interchanges."

Q: Did you ever believe that you, a troublemaking 'hilltop youth,' would become a minister and cabinet member?

"I wasn't a 'hilltop youth.' That isn't something that existed in my time. I was a member of the Regevim movement … and I transitioned into politics. Why stand outside and shout, if you can go in and take the wheel? Sometimes you need to shout, and sometimes you need to take the reins and lead."

"I was an MK, I was a party leader, and now I'm a minister and a cabinet member. I hope I'll manage to learn [how to do] the job and do good for the Land of Israel. Did I plan, as a kid, to become a government minister? No. Everything I've done in public life was pretty much by chance."

Q: Do you regret your remarks about Torah law? Could they have cost you the justice portfolio?

"Using the speech about Torah law against me is just [political] spin. In any case, [the prime minister] wasn't running after me to offer me the justice portfolio even before that. He decided for his own reasons that it would stay within the Likud."

Q: Did you imagine what an uproar it would cause?

"No. I was giving a lecture at the Rav Kook Center, to a friendly audience, to mark Jerusalem Day. I spoke in the style of a beit midrash, because I was talking to beit midrash people. It got out. I don't have a shred of regret about it. That was the week of the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade. If they can wave flags for things that in my view are perverted, and their broken values, then I can also stand up for what I believe in with the same pride and power."

"My vision will bring us a better, healthier, and more positive future, and I'm at peace with it. I have no regrets, even if people got spooked and put my head on a platter. People gave interviews, discussed it, Jewish law became the matter of the house. In my opinion, that's great. If I paid a price for it, I do so with great love."

"The main thing that pained me in these past two weeks was discovering how deep [people's] ignorance about Judaism, the Torah, and Jewish law runs. People think that Jewish law means people being stoned to death."

"Jewish law eradicated the death sentence long ago. The Torah doesn't rest on enforcement, it teaches norms and values. A state that is run based on the Torah would be run in the freest manner with a lot less coercion and much more faith in people."

"People are scared of tradition, values, our culture that is thousands of years old. David Ben-Gurion said, 'We wanted to raise heretics, but we raised ignoramuses.' I propose that we stop being afraid and stop being populist and study more. I don't know of any other people that holds thousands of years of tradition in contempt."

Q: Will you change your party list for the September election?

"There must be one party to the Right of the Likud. Anyone who wants to come back and serve the state of Israel needs to unite on one party list. If we hadn't made the mistakes we did in the last election [when several small right-wing parties failed to pass the minimum threshold], which was a waste of votes, we would have a big, stable right-wing government without Lieberman. It would have implemented all the plans we have about governance, democracy, settlement, society, and the economy."

"There needs to be a single religious-Zionist party. Everyone needs to put the past behind them and join one party. Anyone who stays out of it will be unbelievably irresponsible, and condemned."

Q: Is Zehut leader Moshe Feiglin considered right-wing?

"Good question. In recent days, he's saying he is. How reliable is someone who switches ideologies? I don't know."

"We all need to sit down together, as soon as possible. I don't accept the view of [former education minister] Naftali Bennett, who says 'I won't negotiate now, only in the last week [to submit party lists for the election]. We can't busy ourselves with internal battles. The public is sick of it. I'm willing to give up my spot so that together,, we can get this going. The most important goal is to succeed in the election, with 60-plus seats, without Lieberman."

Q: Are you in favor of Ayelet Shaked heading the list?

"I think that Rabbi Rafi Peretz is excellent. He was party leader, and he should be party leader. But I'm not alone and I'm not forcing my opinion on anyone … We need to put personal considerations and ego aside."

Q: Would you join a government under Blue and White leader Benny Gantz?

"No. Benny Gantz is left-wing, full stop. Left-wing politically, left-wing economically, left-wing on the settlements, left-wing on security, left-wing when it comes to Jewish identity."

"We've already forgotten what it means for the Left to be in power, what it's like to have buses exploding all over the country, what irresponsible economic policy looks like. The deficit we have now isn't a fraction of what the Rabin government created. Let's hope we don't have a reminder of what a left-wing government looks like."

Q: Would you join a government with Lieberman?

"Lieberman isn't right-wing, Lieberman is Lieberman. He has no ideology and no path. He torpedoed a dream government, he behaved irresponsibly because of personal, populist considerations."

"There is a certain sector of the public that is turned on by hatred of Judaism and the haredim. So he chose to fight [by using that]. Lieberman is a dangerous, irresponsible man, who in 30 years … hasn't created any major [plans of action] for the state of Israel or passed any laws … One of the goals of this election is to make that man disappear from the political landscape."

"A dream government was around the corner. We could have made immense changes to democracy and governance, restored the proper balance between the Knesset, the government, and the courts. We could have turned back the wheel on the 'judicial revolution' that former Chief Justice Aharon Barak led here illegally, unjustly, illogically, and without any public debate. The Right has been in power for years, and hasn't really been able to implement policies because of these obstacles."

"We have the most supportive American government we've ever had, and instead of taking advantage of the chance to promote sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, we are wasting our time with another election and [party] negotiations. That's irresponsible. Someone like that [Lieberman] certainly isn't part of the Right."

Q: What is your position on the haredi conscription bill?

"In the negotiations, the haredim came a long way, gave Lieberman 95% of what he wanted. His obstinate insistence that quotas be set down in law rather than by the cabinet was nonsense. They went as far as they could. Politics is an art of compromise, of dialogue, and the compromise reached was just right."

"The number of haredim who enlist in the army and then join the workforce is growing. Anyone who thinks that social processes can be forced in one go is wrong. Doing that is like a bull in a china shop."

"The Tal Law resulted in positive social processes, but a combination of Yair Lapid's populism and the foolishness of the Supreme Court and Lieberman's lack of responsibility just set the whole situation back."

Q: What are your goals as member of the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet?

"I'm entering the cabinet with a great sense of responsibility. I'm here to learn, to listen to good, wise people with experience, and also to present my own worldview."

Q: And now you'll be part of a cabinet that gives money to Hamas.

"You can't have influence in any field, certainly not politics, if you play the game only when your position is accepted. There is a prime minister and a defense minister. I'm going to be part of that body. Thus far, I could present my opinion in the media and on Twitter, and now I have the privilege of having it heard by the prime minister and experts."

"I'll keep on stating my opinion, in the cabinet and outside it. Responsibly, not in a populist way."

Q: What do we do about the Gaza Strip?

"Gaza is a ticking time bomb with a self-destruct mechanism aimed at Israel. The only deep-rooted solution that will restore calm and security to the residents of southern Israel in the long term is to retake Gaza. Take responsibility for it, reestablish the settlements, and open the gates to emigration [out of the Strip.] Until we do that, we are destined to live from one round [of violence] to the next."

"I think we need to make them pay a higher price. For every rocket fired at Israel, we should take out 40 high-rises in central Gaza, so Hamas understands that it is paying an insufferable price and we take away its desire to attack us."

Q: Are you willing to fight a full-scale war? Because that's what you're saying.

"Definitely not. We can pound them from the air without sending a single soldier in. I'll try to state my position in the cabinet bit by bit. Will they accept it on the first day? Probably not. It's obvious to me that a strategic solution demands a change to how the public thinks, and legitimacy for the leadership to enact one."

Q: What is your opinion of Netanyahu's policy of "containment"?

"It's correct given the trap that Israeli policy is currently in, as long as we aren't willing to make the strategic move of returning to Gaza. I don't see any value in a ground incursion that would topple Hamas just to put Abbas in power.

"I'm done talk about bringing down Hamas because I don't know what would happen next. That's cheap populism that is more like Lieberman. Bring them down, and then what? Will we put Abbas in power? Will the IDF and its fallen put Abbas in power? So we handle the current reality.

Q: A reality in which arson balloons are released from Gaza every day.

"In my opinion, we need to exact a price for that, too. Anyone who sends an arson balloon into Israel is a dead man. I would create an automatic system that identifies incendiary objects and fires at the point of release. That means that if someone fires from inside a populated area, he is the one who pulls the trigger of the retaliatory fire."

The post 'People are afraid of me because I get things done' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.