Dozens of youth participated in another seminar of the Sovereignty Youth Movement to learn about proper advocacy, leveraging ideas, and how the media works. A central message common to all the speakers was: “Judea and Samaria are an existential need of the State of Israel.” The Sovereignty Movement held another seminar for key activists of Sovereignty Youth entitled: “Learning to Influence” at the Oz VeGaon Nature Reserve in Gush Etzion. Zvi Sukkot, a resident of Samaria and a Knesset candidate for the Religious Zionist party, addressed the participants regarding the youth’s capacity and ability to influence the various forms of media. He delineated for the youth the proper and effective manner to convey messages and information to the media, through familiarity with the editorial considerations of the various outlets. Sukkot began his talk by sharing his feelings in light of the dozens of youths participating in the seminar. He recalled the beginning of the Sovereignty Movement, approximately twelve years ago, when “the idea of sovereignty was considered, even by me, and I apologize for that, delusional. The talk then was how to prevent the next evacuation. However, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar convened conferences, disseminated the idea, published a Sovereignty Journal, and more. It appeared ludicrous for years, but the discourse of sovereignty reached as far as the President of the United States. It would not have happened without the initial push that began with the original foresight of these two women. Today, the Left is in a battle to prevent sovereignty from being applied. That is how matters progress.” Regarding the youth’s capability in the realm of advocacy and promoting ideas, Sukkot noted that, unlike adults who often find themselves busy with family, livelihood and sometimes also a feeling of sluggishness due to past failures, the youth have the power to bring about systemic change, said Sukkot. Sukkot shared insights with the seminar participants concerning the considerations of editors and editorial boards of the media outlets, when a news item is brought before them, elaborated on relations between journalists and their sources, the differences between news with the potential of drawing attention at the sectoral level and news that could find space in the general media, and the considerations in directing items to one or the other. Another speaker at the event was Tom Nisani , CEO of “ Beyadenu –Returning to the Temple Mount” movement, who presented several examples of events in which the necessary change in the status-quo was engendered by citizens who assumed responsibility and did not wait for the decision-makers to take action. “Ninety per cent of the public is certain that the State will resolve the problems or that, at least, it is the one that should resolve the problems, but this is not true,” Nisani stated. “Israeli governments over the years have not provided solutions, and problems remain in a variety of areas, ranging from education and real estate to Sovereignty and the Temple Mount. The expectation that the authorities will resolve the matter is simply incorrect.” Nissan presented a series of instances that prove his assertion. For example, he related about a thorn field that remained uncultivated in the heart of Nokdim because there was someone who characterized it as Palestinian territory. A later investigation revealed that there was no basis for this in the records or the law. Nevertheless, the State, with the encouragement of left-wing organizations, allowed the Arab families who claim ownership of the territory to come and cultivate it once a year. The initiative spearheaded by the Nokdim residents was to precede the arrival of those families and plant trees that, in Nisani’s view, could serve as the cornerstone of a future neighborhood of Nokdim. Nisani purchased trees with his own money, recruited students and teenagers for a planting initiative, and since then, for three years, there has been no Arab work performed at that site. Persistence, taking action without waiting for others, faith that ultimately, others will continue his path even if now the initiators are alone in the initiative, and careful planning of the action’s objective, are, according to Nisani, the central principles in facilitating change in the status quo. In the course of the seminar day, a pergola in memory of Rina Shnerb Hy”d was dedicated at the Oz VeGaon Nature Reserve. The event was attended by members of her family and the CEO of the Yesha Council, Shira Liebman , who delivered a speech in which she related her feelings in the presence of dozens of teenagers who chose to forsake their devices and their beds during their vacation and attend an event that connects them to the values of the Land of Israel and the vision of sovereignty, which is being transformed from a delusionary idea about which no one spoke until approximately a decade ago, into the political plan most spoken about in the corridors of government and the Knesset. At the ceremony, blessings from the chairman of the Yesha Council and the Gush Etzion Council, Shlomo Ne'eman , was broadcast to the members of the Shnerb family for their continued activity to disseminate goodness and light so characteristic of their daughter, to the entire Sovereignty Movement, and to the assembled youth, who gathered to bolster their spirit for continued activity in the movement for the Land of Israel. Brigadier General (Res.) Amir Avivi , CEO of the Bit ḥonistim movement, also participated in the seminar and in his talk, he presented an ideological security philosophy that views settlement in Judea and Samaria as vital for the survival and future existence of the State of Israel. Addressing the security significance of Judea and Samaria, Avivi stated that were any senior military officer in the world to be charged with the task of maintaining control of the territory in which the State of Israel is located, he would immediately determine that the first necessary step would be to control the mountains that overlook the coastal plain to the west and the Jordan Valley to the east. “The entire Jewish narrative transpires on the mountains. The discourse of concessions and withdrawals is disconnected from our values and history, but also from the security reality,” he said. Avivi also defined the Jordan Valley as an area without which Israel's existence would be endangered. “In order for Israel to exist, it must have the Jordan Valley, in its broadest sense, under its sovereignty." If so, he said, there are those who ask: Why are the territories of Judea and Samaria so crucial? To this he replies emphatically: "There is no existence for the State of Israel without absolute security control over the entire expanse of Judea and Samaria, and there can be no security control without massive settlement presence. What ensures control over Judea and Samaria is the settlement communities, not the army. Without the civilian presence in Judea and Samaria, the IDF could not maintain control over the territory. In that context, Avivi mentions the failures of the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, and also of Russia in Afghanistan, as well as the Israeli failure in Lebanon as examples of attempts to assert military control in places where there was no civilian presence. “The State of Israel is involved in three campaigns for its existence. The first campaign is the Iranian campaign that includes everything surrounding us beyond our borders – airborne systems, rockets, and more. These are weapons that are wreaking havoc in Ukraine. Hezbollah has 2000 of them. Israel will need to confront this challenge in the coming years. The second is the campaign against de-legitimization and anti-Semitism, against the attempt to undermine the justice of our path and assert that we are Europeans who have seized control over Palestine. This campaign is causing divisiveness in the Jewish world. In this campaign, we have an important role to play both internally and vis-à-vis the Jewish communities. We are involved in a huge struggle for the justice of our path.” Avivi adds, “The third campaign is over the entire Land of Israel, and it is transpiring in several arenas: The Palestinian takeover of Area C, the Bedouin takeover of land in the south, the takeover of lands in the Galilee in a coordinated and funded manner. The Arabs operate with the “Wall and Mosque” method and establish facts on the ground employing the same methods of settlement of the land by the Jews during the era of the British Mandate. There is an unrestrained takeover of the entire country here.” During the seminar, the participants practiced advocacy methods for promoting the concept of sovereignty in different places throughout the country in accordance with the characteristics of the various populations. Another speaker at the event was Or Reichert , who works in advocacy and advertising, and spoke to the youth about the right tools for war in the various media. Reichert guided the youth in the necessary steps to promoting an idea: Setting a definite goal for the advocacy struggle, determining the target audience, directing to the media in which one can encounter the target audience, and moving on from there to articulating the message in an efficient manner, which will reach as wide an audience as possible as quickly as possible. The seminar concluded with the heads of the Sovereignty Movement, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar , who briefly described the history of the State of Israel to the youth, addressing the hold on the territories of Judea and Samaria, and the political vacillation regarding these areas. Later, they presented to the youth the agenda of the Sovereignty Movement for the coming years based on four fixed principles: First, in the chapter on vision, deepening the knowledge regarding the justice of the path that this land belongs exclusively to the Jewish people and reinforcing Zionist ideals. Second, promoting the plan for Greater Jerusalem, as Jerusalem is the heart of the nation and at the heart of the conflict. The plan will address the grave demographic threat of a Jerusalem population of 60% Jews and 40% Arabs. The implementation of the Greater Jerusalem plan will add approximately 250,000 Jews to the capital. Third, promoting the application of sovereignty over the Jordan Valley which protects the country’s eastern border and prevents the possibility of the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Arab population in the Valley is sparse and, more importantly, there is a broad national consensus regarding the Jordan Valley. And fourth, promotion of the “Moving Eastward” program that calls for massive construction in Judea and Samaria to reach a population of two million Jews in these areas. This program will also address the high cost of housing and the overcrowding in the country’s center. Katsover and Matar emphasized in their talk that the movement supports the ministers of the incoming government who will need the support of the people. In that respect, the role of the youth is very significant. The challenge intensifies in light of the disclosure on Channel 13 of the document revealing the coordinated and funded activity of the European Union to promote Arab facts on the ground in Area C. “This is a war and ultimately we will emerge victorious,” they stated. The leaders of the Sovereignty Youth called on those present to use the knowledge they acquired in this seminar and previous ones, encouraged them to take action and become involved in activity in their immediate surroundings, in educational institutions and in youth movements, and distributed informational material. It should be noted that Sovereignty Youth members are scattered throughout the country and those at the seminar came from Tel Aviv, the Golan, Beersheba, Sederot, the communities in Judea and Samaria, Jerusalem, Givat Shmuel and more. The entire event ended with the kindling of the third Hanukka candle, under the leadership of the head of the “Derech Emunah” rabbis, Rabbi Baruch Efrati, and with the communal recitation of a chapter of Tehillim for the healing of Rabbi Haim Druckman.
