- Target:
- Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israel Knesset (Parliament)
- Region:
- Israel
- Website:
- www.odyosefchai.org.il
“Save Our Yeshiva” is the name of the last-ditch campaign launched by students and supporters of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in Yitzhar to stop the demolition of the yeshiva building, a key Torah learning center located in Samaria, in the heartland of Israel.
The yeshiva replaced the former one located at the grave of Yosef Hatzadik in Shechem which was ransacked, smashed by pickaxes and set on fire by an Arab mob in October of 2000 after the then Prime Minister Ehud Barak ordered the army to vacate the tomb.
Under the order of the present Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, the IDF Civil Administration issued a demolition order against the 11-year-old yeshiva building. According to Israeli building practice, the Defense Minister needs to sign off on the project as a formality. Barak has refused despite amply documented early government authorization and funding for its construction. Ironically, the building commenced when Barak was Prime Minister. The building was built with private donations along with the Israeli government which invested 3-4 million shekels in the building.
Yeshiva staff, students and supporters, shocked by the May 9th demolition order, which many claim to be the result of politics within the Labor party, have mobilized to prevent the destruction of the 13,000 square foot Torah institution.
We, the undersigned, call on Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Knesset (Parliament) of Israel to put an immediately halt to the demolition order of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in the town of Yitzhar.
We furthermore call on the Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak to sign off on the authorization papers for the Yeshiva, without any further delay.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Save the Od Yoseph Chai Yeshiva from Destruction petition to Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israel Knesset (Parliament) was written by Itamar Posen and is in the category Religion at GoPetition.