Israel Matzav

The Klein family's savior?

I've discussed a couple of times the possibility that the government will expel the widow and children of Roi Klein HY"D (may God avenge his blood) from their home in the Givat HaYovel neighborhood of the Samarian town of Eli on the ground that it constitutes an 'illegal outpost.' I last discussed it here. For those who have forgotten, Klein was killed when he fell on a grenade to save his men during the Battle of Bint Jbeil in the Second Lebanon War.

The Klein family may have a savior - I certainly hope that they do. He is Danny Danon, a young, energetic and (from what I can tell) principled MK from the Likud. Principled MK's are a rarity in Israeli politics, because the way the electoral system works, an MK is accountable only to his party and not to the voters.

MK Danny Danon (Likud) said Tuesday that he would work with the relevant authorities to ensure that the home of Ro'i Klein, a decorated IDF soldier who sacrificed his own life during the Second Lebanon War in order to save the lives of soldiers in his unit, would not be demolished. The government has been working towards getting demolition orders for homes in the Givat Hayovel neighborhood of Eli in Binyamin, one of which belongs to Klein's widow. Danon said he would personally see to it that the home was not torn down.

Danon said he had recently received guarantees from government officials that the Klein home and others in the neighborhood would be preserved.

You may recall that Danon also led a boycott by MK's of the American embassy's Independence Day celebration last year to protest the Obama administration's policies toward Israel, that Danon has called Peace Now a threat to Israel, that Danon has been in the forefront of Likud MK's attacking the 'settlement freeze,' and that even before he came to the Knesset, as the Chairman of World Likud, Danon opposed efforts to turn the Jewish Agency into a supporter of Arab settlement in Israel.

But preserving the Klein family home... that's a mitzva (good deed) of a different order. Go for it!

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:27 PM