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6555
“Mk Katz: “mr. Obama, Please Don’t Ignore Our Democratic Choice"”
by Arutz Sheva - Hillel Fendel   
May 22nd, 2009

 Katz to Obama: We're Sovereign
Speaking from the Knesset plenum on Tuesday, MK Yaakov Katz asked U.S. President Obama to remember that Israel’s electorate voted against a 2-state solution.

MK Katz, head of the National Union party, received special permission from the Knesset Speaker to speak for 15 minutes on an “urgent motion for the agenda.” His topic: U.S. President Obama’s demand that Israel stop construction in Judea and Samaria.

“Mr. Obama knows that a full 47% of his country did not vote for him,” Katz said, “yet still and all, the moment that he was elected, it was his obligation to implement the agenda that he promised his people. The same must be true for Israel. We, as a nation, are sovereign to act the way we want, and once we decided to vote against the two-state solution, by voting for the nationalist parties by a wide majority, then the first thing Obama must do is to respect our choice, the choice of the democratic country of Israel.”

“Not to mention,” continued the freshman MK and veteran Judea/Samaria settlement leader, “that the areas in question have been our homeland for nearly 3,000 years – well before Islam was founded, and even longer before the Americans ever dreamed of founding their country. The entire monotheistic world – Christianity and Islam - knows that we were granted Divine rights to this land, and to say otherwise goes against the Bible, the Book of Books, and against G-d.”

“Mr. Netanyahu, on the whole, stood up proudly to the President, but on this matter of the settlement freeze, he appeared to be a bit bashful. If I was in his place," Katz said, "I would show great respect to President Obama, but I would tell him that, with all due respect, he cannot dictate to us our rights to build in the Land of Israel."

"We wish Mr. Obama well in his job, and hope that he succeeds, but we do not believe that he has the right, as the leader of the world’s largest democracy, to not show the required respect to our democratic choice.”

King David and Herod Reigned in Hevron Well Before Islam

Katz, and his three colleagues from the National Union, toured the ancient Biblical city of Hevron on Monday: “I met there with many representatives of the Arab media, from Al Jazeera and others, and I told them that we respect the prophet Muhammed and the millions of practitioners of Islam, but still and all, the fact is that King Herod built the Machpelah Tomb building atop the burial sites of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs hundreds of years before Islam was even founded. Not only that, but King David was King of Israel in this city of Hevron some 700 years before Herod!”

At this point, Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin interjected, “It was exactly 922 years earlier, not 700.”

Katz thanked him for the correction, and expressed the hope that the MKs would benefit from the important history they were learning. 

Praise for Netanyahu, Invitation to Emanuel

Katz concluded by praising, once again, Netanyahu for his general approach in Washington. He also invited top Obama-aide Rahm Emanuel, “the son of a Lechi fighter, to return to Israel, and we will be glad to have you live with us in Beit El.” 

Katz is a founding member and long-time resident of Beit El, the 10th-largest Jewish town in Judea and Samaria.

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