A few weeks back, Haaretz did a piece mentioning David Dudkevitch, a settler rabbi who says that Israel has stolen the state from the Jews. In 2004, Jeffrey Goldberg wrote a piece for the New Yorker called "Among the Settlers: Will They Destroy Israel?" that also mentioned Dukevitch.
I came across David Dudkevitch, a rabbi in
Yitzhar. Dudkevitch, a sour-faced man in his thirties who was dressed
in a black suit and a white shirt, is a person of influence among yet
another type of radical settler, the âhilltop youthââteen-agers and
young men who have built makeshift settlements, sometimes out of
nothing more than rusting shipping containers, on remote mountaintops.
They are seen as troublemakers by the Israeli Army and the
Palestinians, but some settlers consider them heroic. Many of the
hilltop youth are unruly high-school dropouts who are fluent in the
mystical concepts of the Kabbalah and are adept in marksmanship. They
also have a reputation for marijuana use.
I asked Dudkevitch whether the youth of Yitzhar were cutting down the Arabsâ olive trees.
âIâm not hearing you,â he replied. I asked again. âIâm not hearing
what youâre saying. You donât understand me. Iâm not hearing and I will
continue not to hear.â Then he walked away.
Thanks to Nim Chimsky for tip and headline.
