Women in Green Lecture Tour

LECTURE TOUR
NADIA MATAR and YEHUDIT KATZOVER


Three years ago, after the expulsion from Gush Katif, two veteran Land of Israel activists joined together in an effort to reignite and reinvigorate the grassroots struggle against the post-Zionist expropriation of Israel. Most of the nationalist camp was exhausted and in despair, but they weren't. Together, Nadia Matar, leader of Women in Green, and Yehudit Katzover, leader and activist from Kiryat Arba-Hevron, initiated and led a host of new ventures to hold on to the Land of Israel and to strengthen Jewish Israelis’ innate understanding that the Land of Israel belongs to them.

Nadia and Yehudit will be in the States from March 12th through March 19th. The public is invited to come and hear them speak about the facts on the ground in Israel and why activism is so important for our future. They will speak in Los Angeles and in New York.

Women in Green would like to thank Alan Jacobs for helping to plan Nadia's and Yehudit's trip.

Los Angeles:

Shabbat, March 14: * Shabbat morning at the Beth Jacob Synagogue
* Seuda Shlishit at the Young Israel of Century City

Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 5:00 p.m.
Luxe Hotel Sunset Boulevard
11461 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90049

For reservations: Contact Doris Wise Montrose at: doris@cjhsla.org or call (818) 704-0523

New York:

Wednesday March 18th at 7:30pm
Safra Synagogue, Manhattan
11 East 63rd St., between 5th and Madison

Organized by Americans for a Safe Israel
Contact: afsi@rcn.com
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Bio-Nadia Matar

Born in Belgium, Nadia made aliyah at the age of 21. In 1987, Nadia married David Matar, pediatrician. Nadia and David live with their six children in Efrat, Gush Etzion.

In 1993, in response to the bombshell of Oslo, she founded Women in Green with her mother-in-law Ruth Matar.

Women in Green became one of the most visible and active grassroots groups on the Israeli scene. It spread its message about Jewish ownership of the Land of Israel and the danger of capitulation to the Arab enemy via fraudulent “peace agreements” by numerous means, including:

· Protests, demonstrations, and street theatre;

· Articles in newspapers and Internet media;

· Nadia’s popular radio show on Arutz 7;

· Solidarity trips to settlements and outposts in Yesha;

· Legal, monetary, and PR support for individuals facing political persecution by the government;

· Opposing the separation fence and other political decrees meant to harm and weaken the settlement enterprise;

· Creating and leading action committees in Judea as a force for localized grassroots activity.

· Actively fighting for keeping the Land of Israel: In 1995 Nadia, together with 9 other women from Gush Etzion, lead the struggle for the Dagan Hill in Efrat that was in danger of being given away to the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo 2 agreements. The women and their families, joined by hundreds of supporters, lived on the barren hill in difficult conditions, in the heat, with no water and no electricity. After two weeks, the authorities expelled them forcefully, but they came back ,again and again, and today, thank G-d, Dagan is a flourishing neighborhood of Efrat with tens of young couples. Nadia and fellow activists from Judea are now fighting for settling the hill of Eitam in Efrat.

In the spring before the expulsion from Gush Katif, Nadia moved with her husband and six children to Kfar Yam, together with other Women in Green activists, such as Anita Finkelstein and her family, and many others, including tens of youths. Together they helped lead the more activist wing of the struggle against the Expulsion.

Women in Green has galvanized politicians, public figures, and the public at large to these various causes and activities, and has faced political persecution along the way. Nadia has been arrested, beaten, and undergone numerous political trials, one of which is still pending.

Since the destruction of Gush Katif, Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katzover have undertaken a host of new projects and initiatives to empower the orange youth, reenergize a discouraged citizenry and increase the struggle for the Land of Israel. One such project is the struggle for a Jewish Shdema.

Bio ­ Yehudit Katzover

Born in Rumania in 1947,Yehudit made aliya with her parents and family at the age of 12.

Yehudit and her husband Tzvi were one of the founding families of Kiryat Arba and have taken a large part in its growth and development. Among other positions, Tzvi was mayor of Kiryat Arba for the past twenty years and Yehudit was vice-mayor from 1985 to 1990.

Yehudit was one of a group of women that opened Hebron to Jewish settlement despite an uncompromising governmental ban. In 1979, she and her three young children entered an abandoned Jewish building in Hebron together with nine other women and 37 other children. What followed was a standoff that lasted almost a year. No one was allowed into the building and the government declared that anyone that left would not be allowed back in. The women held out under shocking conditions for a year until the government finally capitulated and allowed for the renewal of the Jewish community of Hebron.

When not working at her “day job” as head of a teacher’s college in Kiryat Arba, Yehudit has worked tirelessly for Land of Israel causes.

In the early 80's Yehudit and her family moved to Yamit, to take part in the struggle against the abandonment of the Yamit region to Egypt.

In the 90's she absorbed the waves of immigration from the USSR as an ulpan teacher. Simultaneously, she led and participated in the different Land of Israel struggles like the struggle for the establishment of the Avraham Avinu synagogue in Hebron and the struggle for the establishment of the Hazon David outpost, destroyed by the authorities 34 times, and immediately rebuilt by Yehudit and her fellow activists.

In 2005, she led the very active Kiryat Arba-Hebron struggle against the Expulsion, and since the Expulsion has worked with Nadia on a host of local and national struggles and projects.

Such a project is the struggle for Shdema, a army camp abandoned by the government three years ago, 5 minutes away from Har Choma, overlooking the Jerusalem-Gush Etzion highway.

Arabs, helped, incited and funded by anti-Israel international organizations have been trying to take over Shdema.

Nadia and Yehudit have formed the Committee for a Jewish Shdema with members from Jerusalem, Kiryat Arba Hevron and Efrat Gush Etzion. Over the past year the Committee for Shdema has been very active. Every week activities are planned in Shdema. The purpose is to turn Shdema into a Cultural Educational Center teaching youth and adults the importance of the Land of Israel not only with lectures and cultural activities, but also with practical teachings of agriculture and how to build homes in order to go back to the value of Jewish labor.

Women in Green has been sponsoring and leading the activities in Shdema. The Gush Etzion local council has joined and is helping the Committee for Shdema too.

More details about the struggle for Shdema can be found at http://www.womeningreen.org/

To contact Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katzover and inquire about their speaking tour in the US please email nmatar@netvision.net.il

or call Nadia 050-5500834 or Yehudit 054-5866059


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Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org

State of Israel v. Nadia Matar

From Women in Green:

Dear Friends,
Below please find the summation of yesterday's court session in the Yonatan Bassi case.

Secondly, please register as soon as possible to our Women in Green Chizuk-Purim Shopping trip to Yad Binyamin to support our brothers from Gush Katif morally and financially. Details are posted below.

With Love for Israel,
Shabbat Shalom,

Nadia Matar Anita Finkelstein
Women in Green
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1) YONATAN BASSI ORDERED TO TESTIFY IN COURT ON JUNE 16,2009

Summation of the Magistrates' Court session,
State of Israel v. Nadia Matar, who is charged with "insulting a public servant" (Yonatan Bassi), today, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009, before Justice Mintz

criminal proceedings 001470/06

present: Adv. Yoram Sheftel, representing the defendant, and the defendant herself

Adv. Erez Padan, representing the prosecution

Yesterday morning, Thursday February 19th, Nadia Matar admitted to the facts of the charge sheet, without admitting guilt. (i.e. Nadia admitted she wrote the letter to Yonatan Bassi)

In order to prove her innocence, the defense attorney Adv. Yoram Sheftel stated his desire to examine Yonatan Bassi, in order to prove from Bassi's answers under cross-examination that the charge sheet should be canceled "on the grounds of justice."

The prosecuting attorney Adv. Erez Padan asked the Court to convict Nadia Matar, based on her admission to the facts in the charge sheet. The court rejected his request, in light of the defense attorney's statement of his intent to examine Yonatan Bassi.

Adv. Yoram Sheftel further stated that, as part of the defense, he intends to call Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz to deliver testimony in court, along with former State Attorney Eren Shender, who, too, will be asked to testify in court.

The Court rejected the prosecutor's request to immediately convict Nadia Matar, and ordered Yonatan Bassi to present himself to give testimony in the Court in its next session, on June 16, 2009, at 1 p.m.

For details please call Attn Yoram Sheftel at 03-7515001, Nadia Matar 050-5500834
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2) TUESDAY FEBRUARY 24, 2009 - SHOPPING FOR PURIM IN YAD BINYAMIN by the Gush Katif expellees

PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR AND MAKE SURE YOU COME ON THIS IMPORTANT AND MOVING TRIP!

Last month, during the Gaza war, Women in Green went to shop in Nitzan, one of the communities where our friends from Gush Katif have been expelled to. Our shopping was our way of showing support. The Nitzan people told us how this had strengthened them.

Now we will do the same but this time in Yad Binyamin where more of our friends from Gush Katif live.

We will leave the Jerusalem Inbal hotel at 8:45 am and spend the morning in the shopping center of Yad Binyamin where there will be a special pre-Purim shopping fair. Last year Women in Green came with a full bus and many private cars. Lets repeat this great mitzva this year too. Call your friends and family and urge them to join. There are many different stores in Yad Binyamin, a toy store, a store with presents, household items, etc. All stores are owned by our Gush Katif friends who have rebuilt their lives by opening those stores and need our moral and financial support.

We will stay in Yad Binyamin till 12:30 and drive back to Jerusalem.

In the afternoon, for those who wish to continue with Women in Green on a busy Eretz Yisrael day, we will drive to Shdema and meet a busload of Raanana friends led by our dear friend Ilan Hirshfeld, who will come and visit Shdema at 3:00pm.

Please reserve seats on the bus by calling Anita 050-5777254 or Nadia 050-5500834.

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Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org

Visiting Jewish Heroes (Women in Green)

Yesterday, Wednesday, September 24, 2008, tens of members of Women in Green went on a chizuk trip to the outposts in the Shomron and to Yitzhar.

Meeting today's Jewish heroes living in Samaria gave us all strength and even more determination to continue the struggle for the Land of Israel.

First we visited Halfon's factory for prefab houses. Halfon is a dear Jew active for the Land of Israel for the past 40 years. After visiting his factory located close to Karnei Shomron, we went to Shavei Shomron to see a house Halfon built.

Halfon developed a technique to build homes fast and relatively cheap to enable young couples to move to Judea and Samaria at a time when the Israeli government does not allow any Jewish building and expansion. (Arabs, on the other hand, build as much as they want, with the help of the European Union and other countries like Japan).

We urge you to click below on the link to Gemma Blech's pictures of our trip yesterday to enjoy the photos of our trip in general and of Halfon's sample house in particular.

Afterwards we went to Chavot Yair. Chavot Yair is a so-called "outpost" next to Yakir. Twenty families live in the community of Chavot Yair which is located in the most breath taking areas of Israel, in between the mountains of Samaria.

Famous Attorney Doron Nir Zvi lives in Chavot Yair with his wife Tamar. In response to the expulsion from Gush Katif, Doron and Tamar have built a beautiful coffee house in Havot Yair called "Hatzrif shel Tamari" . The coffee shop is open on Thursday evenings and Friday mornings. If you want to be imbued with renewed strength, you must come to Chavot Yair!

Attn Doron Nir Zvi was in the news not so long ago when the Civil Administration came to destroy the swimming pool he had built in Chavot Yair. Not deterred by the authorities, Doron rebuilt his pool within days with a very clear message: this land belongs to the Jewish people. We will live here, build here and even enjoy life like our brothers in Tel Aviv and Savyon, building swimming pools and coffee shops!

Women in Green brought a box full of toys for the children of Chavot Yair and continued on to Yitzhar.

In Yitzhar we went straight to the neighborhood of Shalhevet-Ya, where the Arab terrorist entered two Shabbatot ago, burnt down a house and stabbed a child. We were welcomed by Revital Ofan who, calmly, told us the entire story of the Arab attack on their homes. From the area of Yitzhar, located high up in the Samaria hills, we could clearly see Tel Aviv and Herzliya, within katyusha range. Anyone visiting Yitzhar understands what, G-d forbid, would happen to Tel Aviv and Herzliya if instead of Jews, the PLO-Hamas regime would be controlling those hills.

In Yitzhar we also met the sister of Tuvia, the nine year old boy who bravely fought the Arab terrorist. We gave her a book to give Tuvia. The book is Arieh Yitzhaki's book on the history of Kfar Darom (see below for more details) which is a book on Jewish heroism. We wrote in it:"To dear Tuvia, a book on Jewish pride and heroism to a modern day Jewish hero as yourself".

After Yitzhar we drove back to Jerusalem but before heading home we had one more stop: we drove to the Hawara checkpoint to strengthen our soldiers. The Hawara checkpoint is the IDf checkpoint at the entrance to Shchem (Nablus). Thousands of Arabs enter and exit that checkpoint and the IDF must check all of them thoroughly for otherwise terrorists would be able to go to Natanya and Gush Dan and blow themselves up there. Thus, the Hawara checkpoint is the place where the IDF makes sure Gush Dan is safe.

Unfortunately, the extreme left traitorous Israeli members of Machsom Watch come to Hawara daily to harass our soldiers and collaborate with the Arabs. A few days ago an Arab terrorist woman took advantage of the "humanitarian" lane at Hawara and threw acid in the face of one of our soldiers. The soldier lost his eye.

Women in Green felt it to be very important to come and strengthen the soldiers there. We arrived at the checkpoint, got off the bus and surrounded our IDF soldiers with love, cakes, singing and praises. Using our bullhorn we strengthened the soldiers telling them that the People of Israel thank them for their hard work and wish them a happy New Year. We told them how much we appreciate them for doing exactly what they have to do: that is to fight the Arab enemy. We also added that we hope, pray and expect that they would always only deal with securing the Jewish People in the Land of Israel and never have to deal with expelling Jews.

The soldiers were very moved and thanked us .Thus ended a long uplifting day. As usual we came to strengthen but thank G-d, we came back strengthened.Here is the link to Gemma Blech's pictures-please give credit if used.

http://picasaweb.google.com/gemmablech/WIGToTheSHOMRON24908

Lastly, below is a summary by Gemma Blech of Arieh Yitzhaki's book "222-The days of Kfar Darom 1948".

Women in Green strongly recommend to buy the book. It is a great present for Bar/Bat Mitzva- birthdays-holidays and in addition it helps our dear friends Arik and Datya Yitzhaki, expelled three years ago from kfar Yam in Gush Katif, temporarily living in Efrat until we, please G-d, will return to Gush Katif and rebuild the flourishing communities there.

With Love for Israel,
Nadia Matar - Anita Finkelstein
Women in Green
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The book, 222-The Days of Kfar Darom 1948, first published in Hebrew about a year ago, is now [in excellently translated] English. It tells the almost unknown story of a handful of Jews who stood against Arab terror, and outright Egyptian war, before and after the birth of Israel as a nation. Many of us know of the far briefer battles for Yad Mordechai, Kfar Etzion, etc, but only now has the full story of Kfar Darom been told. The author, Aryeh Itzhaki, is an historian and geographer with a wide range of books, publications and research papers to his credit. Formerly of Gush Katif and now living in Efrat, Itzhaki is an Israeli military historian and a senior lecturer in the field of military history in IDF courses for officers.

His book begins with 'defining supreme valor'. 'The height of bravery', we are told, 'is ongoing bravery. Not a momentary act where a person risks his life for a short while, 'but an act of bravery that stretches out excruciatingly and is measured in weeks or even months.'

The story of those 222 days of bravery in 1947 and 1948 is a book one does not easily put down. Even the details of the military campaigns and the names of people and places, are made simple enough for those who do not know Hebrew or the Israeli landscape.

Aryeh Itzhaki is married to Datia, whose father was one of the fighters for Kfar Darom, and who then became one of the core re-builders of Kfar Darom after the Six-Day war in 1967. The two of them later built and lived in Kfar Yam, another Gush Katif community, and became defenders again in 2005 when this time it was an Israeli government which became the destroyer of Jewish towns, homes and farms in Eretz Israel.

The book costs $20 or 75 NIS in English and 65 NIS in Hebrew ­ including the price of postage within Israel

TO ORDER, PLEASE SEND IN A CHECK TO POB 1265, Efrat 90435
Or contact Datya at datya@netvision.net.il
The book is very suitable as a birthday, Bar/Bat Mitzva present or indeed for Rosh HaShana and Sukkot etc.
=============================================
Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352,
Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.orghttp://www.womeningreen.org
To make a contribution through Paypal, go to: http://www.womeningreen.org
and click on the Paypal button