Rabbinic delegation visits Beit Anot hill after demolition, urges formal recognition

A delegation of rabbis from the “Good Land” settlement committee visited Beit Anot in the Hebron Hills on Friday morning after the Civil Administration demolished buildings there earlier this week. The rabbis met with the three families living at the outpost and said they had come to strengthen them after the destruction.

The visit included Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Schwartz, the rabbi of Kiryat Arba, Rabbi Noam Waldman, head of the Nir hesder yeshiva, and Rabbi Yinon Klein, rabbi of the community of Givat Assaf. They protested the demolition and called for the settlement to be regulated.

Schwartz said the delegation came on behalf of the rabbis of “Good Land” to support the residents and described the site as strategically important for settlement. He said he was confident a permanent Jewish community would eventually be established there.

“We are here this morning, three rabbis, like a rabbinical court, and we are saying publicly that a Jewish settlement will yet rise here,” Schwartz said. “This is a strategic and extremely important point for settlement.” He also urged the residents to continue their efforts despite opposition from parts of the security establishment, adding that those opponents would leave after a short time while the families would remain. He concluded by calling for Beit Anot to be formally recognized and, in his words, turned into “an important city in Israel.”