Judea & Samaria Represented at AIPAC

(PHOTO: YIshai Fleisher speaks at the AIPAC Yesha event.)

Over 350 people attended an event hosted by the YESHA Council during the 2017 AIPAC conference in Washington DC last week. Dubbed "50 Years of Rejuvenation in Judea and Samaria" several top level Israeli elected officials spoke including:

- Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Galant (Kulanu Party)
- Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud Party)
- Minister of Communications Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud Party)

- Deputy Defense Minister Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan (Jewish Home Party)
- Mayor of Efrat Oded Revivi
- Consul General of Israel in New York Dani Dayan

It was the first time Israeli elected officials attended an event on behalf of Judea and Samaria during an AIPAC conference. The annual event sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was the largest ever with over 18,000 in attendance.

The YESHA event was hosted by Yishai Fleisher, international spokesperson for the Jewish Community of Hebron.

"Did you see the protesters outside?" Mr. Fleisher asked at the opening remarks to the event. "They all said the same thing, occupation, colonization, etc.," Fleisher noted.

"And here's the answer that we hear so often to the accusation that we have stolen somebody else homeland: 'But we invented the cell phone, we have fantastic high-tech.' They say 'you have stolen our land' and we say, 'ok, but we have gay rights.' They say 'you've stolen our land' and we say, 'but we sent aid to Haiti," Fleisher said.

He continued, "these are fantastic things that the State of Israel has achieved, but it's not an answer to the question. Today at this gathering we give the simple answer: no, it's our land. We were living in it, and we will live in it."

"We are not going to sweep these issues under the rug. We want to talk about it. We are going to be living in Judea and Samaria in the future. Our great history is a work in progress and the people in this room are part of it."

"This event is not a protest, it is a celebration for a great miracle that happened 50 years ago -- the Six Day War, the return to our ancestral homeland to places like Hebron, Beit El, Shilo, the places of the Bible where our people-hood was formed. "

The event ended with a wine tasting featuring wines from Judea & Samaria.

This year's Hebron Passover Music Festival feature special events for the Jubilee anniversary of Hebron's liberation during the Six Day War. The concert will take place Thursday April 13, 2017.

(PHOTO: A pro-Israel artist displays his creation outside of the AIPAC conference with Eve Harow, left, Mark Prowisor of the One Israel Fund and Yishai Fleisher, right.)

(PHOTO: Yoav Galant, Housing and Construction Minister and former IDF commander of the Southern Command. "There is no way that Israel can exist without the high mountains of Judea and Samaria.")

(PHOTO: Tzachi Hanegbi, Minister of Communications: "Defense is important & security is important but the most important thing is the moral claim of Israel and we are committed to living in our regional land.")

(PHOTO: Tzipi Hotovely, Deputy Foreign Minister: "We need to go to a million settlers in Judea and Samaria - with a US embassy in Jerusalem. We need to think of new ways of thinking that will include Judea & Samaria under Israeli sovereignty forever.")