“Money goes to Jewish education in Honolulu and to Amona (outpost). The method doesn’t work.”
--MK Eli Alaluf, chairman of the Knesset Labor and Social Welfare Committee, blamed the government for the poverty of one-third of the population and said he won’t run again for elections.*

“In the Diaspora, the handful of rabbis did not damage Jewish identity, whereas today in Israel a swarm of rabbis practice as spiritual guides humming in our ears from circumcision to the grave. Many of them are immune to criticism, even if they are thieves, rapists, racist instigators, or attackers of IDF soldiers, as they relentlessly conspire to undermine democratic institutions. As secular law—which is becoming weaker day by day—tries to restrain them, these rabbis receive the support of Hassidic followers, politicians or corrupt government leaders smelling of fascism, who are ready to sell the good of the country for personal gain. Against the defiled trinity of corrupt government, devouring wealth and a violent messianic religion, the people stand helpless, paralyzed and confused.”
--Renowned Israeli author and President of The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Sami Michael, 90, writes in a biting Op-Ed examining where the country has gone since he immigrated in 1951 full of hope.**

You Must Be Kidding: 
"I’ll never come back to this place."
--A text message that the co-CEO of the Abraham Fund, an Israeli Jewish-Arab co-existence and equality organization, received from Maqsood Ahmed, a co-leader of Muslim Hands organization and who was decorated by Queen Elizabeth for improving interfaith relations. Ahmed wrote it on his way from the Shin Bet holding cell at Ben-Gurion Airport to the airplane after he was held overnight and refused entry to Israel to participate in Muslim Jewish co-existence activities at the invitation of The Abraham Fund.**

“The outline that the Government of Israel invented is based on a crime. They are transferring the people of Amona, who squatted on private property, to private property of other Palestinians."
--Adv. Michael Sfard of Yesh Din, legal rights organization.*

“I understand what it is to lose a home. After the 1999 elections, without any warning, my family and I were driven out of the [Prime Minister's Residence], just thrown on the street. We had to go to the Sheraton Plaza. It's a terrible feeling."
--Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu tried to show empathy towards Amona residents (who anyway are getting 1 million shekels per family to move off other people's land), according to a Yedioth report.*