Leib Schaeffer: Exclusive Gush Katif Interview

JRTELEGRAPH spoke with Leib Schaeffer, a well known member of the Boston and Worcester Jewish communities. Leib made international news when he  brought a group of 25 Americans to Gush Katif.

Here is the interview:

JRT: Leib, we all read about your group entering Gaza through the Kisufim Crossing. How did it happen?
LS: We came, 25 Americans -- Chabad, Reform, people without affiliation, Jews and non-Jews. We came to show our support to the Jewish people, and show them an example of American values in the spirit of Martin Luther King. We wanted to show that determined, civic-minded people can achieve big changes. When we came to Kisufim Crossing we were told that we can not go. We insisted and went through the chain of command to a three star Israeli general. We said that we must cross, or otherwise we would not leave the crossing. This three star Israeli Jewish general said no. But then another general -- a two star Druze general got involved. He told me that things are too hectic and that I should come back the next morning at 8:00 AM. I thought it was a ploy to get rid of us, but decided to give him a chance. We slept in a nearby kibbutz and came the next morning at 8:30 am. The general was already there and greeted me by saying -- "Schaeffer where have you been? I have been waiting for you."
He looked me straight into the eye and said -- "you can go, but you should give me your word -- that everybody who comes with you will leave with you." I shook his hand and promised. This man said to me -- "you should let people inside know that the army does not want to do it." He never said a word about how long we were supposed to stay there.
JRT: So, how long did you stay and what did you do there?
LS: We stayed for eight days. We traveled all over the place, we met with hundreds of people. We brought the message of American civic spirit and of rugged American individualism. We were the only large group who came so openly. People were coming in tiny groups. Our mission was to infuse people with fire and energy. Once we got there we put on t-shirts -- Americans against expulsion. Let me tell you one little story which will show you the power of our mission. I saw in Gush Katif a Jew, an American who came to Israel ten years ago. He was in charge of setting a Kiddush for one thousand people. This is a huge responsibility. I thought he lived there. It turned out that he came from Jerusalem the day before. I asked him why did he do that and he answered -- "What do you mean?! I was sitting in Yerushalaim and then I heard in the news about 25 Americans coming all the way from the States to help. I could not sit in my apartment anymore I had to come." He had to crawl on his hands and knees to get in. Here is another example of an American attitude -- he came last night and was immediately in charge.
JRT: Leib, what was the attitude of the police and the army? We got conflicting messages -- the media showed dignified, mournful, crying soldiers. People from the location were telling stories about brutality.
LS: As far as I'm concerned it really does not matter how they felt. I could not care about their feelings. What counts is that at the end of the day they did their job -- they expelled people. They did so coldly and reliably. For four weeks people were crying and begging them not to do this, not to throw them out of their houses. Women were showing them pictures of children. It did not matter. You know what is the punishment for an Israeli soldier for refusing the order? 28 days of jail. Big deal! 28 days of jail. 99.8% of them did what the authorities expected of them. They followed orders. There was no violence what so ever on the part of residents. When kids were burning tires, then Ysamniks (special police units) were taking the kids and beating them really badly. Soldiers and policemen would cry and kiss the Torah when we were carrying the Torah in the synagogue -- four hours later the same soldiers were throwing people out of their houses. This was surprising to me about the Israelis. I expected a lot of chutzpah. What I saw was that they are trained to obey and to follow the orders.
JRT: What about the leadership, the Settlement Council? There are various impressions about their performance starting from incompetence and ending with accusations of outright treason.
LS: This I can say straight -- I believe that theYesha Council is outright evil. They collaborated with the disengagement authorities from the beginning to end. They would bring people to the gates to protest but as soon as military vehicles would appear they would tell people to clear the road and to let the disengagement vehicles pass. Indeed it turned out to be a vicious psychological torture. You know, the Yesha council are employed by the state. They care above all about the state. The same is true about their Rabbis. They made it easier for the Army and Police to do the job. People in America collected $2 million to fight against expulsion. They spent this money to buy tents for refugees. They are true villains in this story. Israelis were insensed. But they did nothing.
JRT: What did you accomplish?
LS: We accomplished a lot -- we left our comfortable living in America, our families and children to come to a war zone, to this very dark situation to be with our brothers, to bring them encouragement and support. Americans can teach Israelis a lot about freedom.
JRT:Thank you, Leib. Yasher Koach from the depth of our hearts. You have accomplished a lot indeed.

Leib Schaeffer about the picture in the newspaper:

"This was taken after I TWICE cut the speaker and microphone wires with
scissors of the Settlement Council momzer who kept screaming over his
speakers to "clear the road", "let the Army jeeps thru", "do not touch any container truck", "the people of Neve Dekalim want to move and start their lives again somewhere else", "the Jewish way is not to block the roads"...and much more. Most of the protesters there were demanding he"shut up" but he had the speakers and microphone to shout down
everyone."

posted by: jrtelegraph

 

Comments

[Jewish Mother]

Thank you Leib for your courage! You became our representative in Gush Katif. We need leaders like you in this country and in Israel. I think that the problem with Jewish leaders is the same in America and in Israel- “they are not leaders”!!!
Now when people from Gaza lost their houses and sleep outside in the tents why CJP and other local organizations don’t collect money? What is going on? Are these Jews with little children do not deserve American Jewish community protection because they are religious? Or because they are not left wing, they don’t live in Tel-Aviv and don’t belong to Israeli elite?!!! Why people get arrested in Israel left and right for civil disobedience or for having anti-disengagement web sides and Leaders of American Jewish Community do not say a word? Former Jewish Refusniks and teenagers get arrested and kept in jails. I want to ask Barry Shrage, Nancy Kaufman and Larry Lowenthal: Do you know about it? And if you do, what are you planning to do about it?
You won’t remain in charge of your agencies if you choose to do nothing. This much we can promise you.
Please give us an answer.

[Faige Lobel, Public Relations Director, Manhigut Yehudit USA]

Dear Editor:

Now available for interviews: Shmuel Sackett -- uniquely qualified to speak on the Gaza expulsion and the future of the Jewish State.

* Veteran civil rights leader in Israel, Co-founder of Zo Artzeinu
* Co-founder and International Director of Manhigut Yehudit - the Jewish Leadership Movement
* Member of the powerful Likud Central Committee - he represents 32 Israeli settlement communities
* Accomplished speaker and frequent “scholar in residence” across America
* Debated and interviewed countless times - in the United States and Israel

Shmuel is an American who moved to Israel with his family in 1990, settling in the beautiful Shomron community of Karnei Shomron. In the early 1990's, realizing the dangers inherent in the Oslo Accords, Shmuel and his neighbor, Moshe Feiglin founded Israel’s first non-violent, civil disobedience protest movement, known as Zo Artzeinu (This is Our Land) – in the style of Martin Luther King. Together they led 200,000 Israelis into the streets, blocking roads, bringing traffic in Israel to a halt. Most protests ended with the peaceful demonstrators and their leaders being attacked and beaten by the police. Several years later, when politically expedient, Sackett and Feiglin were convicted on charges of sedition!

Today, Moshe Feiglin is a candidate for Prime Minister of Israel. He is the only candidate running on a platform based on Jewish identity and authentic Jewish beliefs! Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership), successor to Zo Artzeinu, is now the fastest growing political faction in the Likud, Israel’s ruling party, with more than 15,000 active members in Israel alone.

I invite you to speak with Shmuel Sackett. Learn about the program of Manhigut Yehudit, building alternative leadership for Israel that will – simultaneously – have the strength to deal with the world, while not compromising its Jewish identity, religious belief or core values. More information can be found at www.jewishisrael.org.

You are a leader in the Jewish/Russian newspaper and web media. Surely it will be important to you, in the interests of ethics, truth and honest reporting, to present a totally different side of the story (as opposed to the Israeli government position). You have an opportunity to counter the lies and propaganda of the mainstream press in a very meaningful way.

I will be most happy to help you set up an interview with Shmuel Sackett. I thank you and look forward to your immediate reply.

Sincerely yours,

Mrs. Faige Lobel

Director of Public Relations, Manhigut Yehudit USA

1175 Broadway, Suite 30

Hewlett, NY 11557

(516) 295-3222, (718) 467-2084