Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
ZOA strongly opposes Israel essentially rewarding terrorists by deciding to destroy the 15-year-old Homesh Yeshiva, a few days after six Arab terrorists murdered Homesh Yeshiva student Yehuda Dimentman, a beloved young Jewish husband and father of a 3-year-old toddler.
On December 22nd, 100 rabbis called for the Israeli government to prevent the destruction of the Homesh Yeshiva. On December 23, at the conclusion of Shiva for Yehuda Dimentman, 15,000 Israelis (including several Knesset members) went to Homesh to join Yehuda Dimentman’s family in a protest to prevent the yeshiva from being demolished.
Israeli Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar also supported keeping the Yeshiva intact, and legalizing it, and correctly stated that removing the yeshiva following the deadly attack on Yehuda Dimentman would send a message rewarding terror and give the attackers an undeserved victory.
But the IDF, Border Police, and the Israeli Civil Administration began razing modular structures at Homesh around the yeshiva, and stopped water containers from getting in to Homesh, leaving 70 yeshiva students and four families, including 10 children, without water.
