Orit Struk, 59, does not look like the average Israeli politician. The mother of 11 children, Struk has lived in Hevron ever since the evacuation of Yamit in 1982.
Known as a tireless worker, she prefers to remain behind the curtains, letting her younger, more photogenic comrades in the Yamina Party grab the headlines. In addition to serving from 2013-2015 as a Knesset Member for Tkuma, she has led the Knesset Land of Israel Caucus for the last decade and lobbied endlessly for the rights of the uprooted evacuees from Gush Katif.
Busy on the campaign trail, with the election just a few days away, she took time to speak with The Jewish Press.
The Jewish Press: Before we discuss next week’s election, can you tell us why you decided to become a baal teshuvah in your youth?
Struk: That’s an answer that would take a few hours. Maybe after the election, I will have more time.
I can tell you that I thank Hashem every day, 10 times a day. The connection to the Ribbono Shel Olam makes everything in life more meaningful. I can no longer imagine life without Torah. It’s everything – from your relationship to yourself, to your husband and family, to what you do in life, and to your connection to Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael.
What’s new in Hevron?
Of course, we were happy to hear from Prime Minister Netanyahu on Sunday that he has approved plans to build 2,000 new housing units in Kiryat Arba. What Bibi hasn’t done to advance building in Yesha and Jerusalem for the past 10 years, he is frantically doing now before the elections to draw more votes from the Right to Likud.
Since Hevron and the Me’arat Hamachpelah are not a part of Trump’s Israel sovereignty map, the Yamina Party is demanding that Netanyahu correct this disgrace and insult to Am Yisrael.
Other news is that the Knesset Committee for Foreign Affairs and Security announced the long-awaited go ahead from the Defense Department to install an elevator in Me’arat Hamachpelah for the handicapped and elderly. Now that Naftali Bennett has become the defense minister, I’m sure construction will begin shortly.
Similarly, Naftali is moving forward on the construction of 100 new housing units in Hevron, 70 in the long-deserted Jewish Market. Naftali is the first defense minister in a long time to use his authority to get things done in Hevron.
Are there families waiting to move in?
[Laughs] For each apartment, there are between 10-20 applicants.
If the political Left wins next week’s election, could it freeze the building in Hevron?
What will be in Hevron is only a tiny part of the disaster we will be facing because of the Trump plan with the territorial concessions Israel will have to make and the creation of a Palestinian terror state with Jewish communities enveloped within it.
The Blue and White Party, and the other parties on the Left, have welcomed the package, lock, stock, and barrel.
What grade would you give Prime Minister Netanyahu’s reaction to Trump’s peace plan?
Any Israeli prime minister who agrees to this proposal endangers the future of the State of Israel. To my chagrin, Netanyahu doesn’t oppose the possibility of a Palestinian state, nor giving away substantial parts of the Jewish homeland.
That’s why it’s vital to support Yamina, which will be the watchdog on the far right of the Likud, making sure it doesn’t make disastrous concessions to please Trump and the Arabs.
You are number 10 on the Yamina list, behind some candidates who lack your uncompromising commitment to Torah and the Land of Israel. How will it feel if you don’t get elected and can’t join the battle?
My personal feelings are not important. Whether I am an MK or not, I will continue to do whatever I can. The country has reached a critical crossroads, which will be decided by the election and our response to the Trump plan.
We can either go forward by establishing our exclusive rule over Eretz Yisrael, or retreat to being a truncated, constantly threatened Israeli ghetto in the Middle East.
With their own Palestinian state, no matter what guarantees of demilitarization there are on paper, the Arabs will be able to launch their homemade rockets down at Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Netanya, and Ben Gurion Airport after manufacturing them in Ramallah under our noses. The whole country will become an easy target, including Jerusalem.
Everyone in Israel is talking about three things: the Trump plan, the coronavirus, and next week’s election. Do you think the almost daily Palestinian terror attacks from Gaza are designed to draw attention back to them?
I believe this is the beginning of a new wave of terror. Every Arab who leaves his home to carry out a terror attack knows he and his family will be generously reimbursed by Abu Mazan. Hamas and Islamic Jihad see how their missiles have weakened the fighting spirit of the country.
The Left wants a quiet, material existence more than they want Eretz Yisrael. If the Left should win the upcoming election, it will be a disaster.
Naftali Bennett is now Israel’s Minister of Defense, but despite his bold promises to wipe out Arab terror, there doesn’t seem to be any change on the ground.
Naftali is widely respected by our soldiers, so they feel much freer now to react to terror attacks in a no-nonsense fashion, without worrying about being court martialed. He’s prepared the IDF for a big operation in Gaza, and only Bibi’s eternal hesitation stands in the way.
Prime Minister Netanyahu says he made Naftali Bennett defense minister so that he wouldn’t make a pact with the Blue and White Party. That means Bennett was considering the move.
Naftali has stated clearly on several occasions that he won’t join a government led by Gantz. Should a unity government be formed, the only thing that will prevent the creation of a Palestinian State and the loss of vast tracts of Eretz Yisrael is a strong Yamina Party.
Itamar Ben Gvir insists the only way to insure that the Right will form the next government is by voting the Otzma Yehudit into the Knesset.
If Otzma Yehudit wins representation in the Knesset, the Right will certainly be more powerful. I have nothing negative to say about Itamar, but the reality is that Otzma does not have a chance to pass the election threshold. Once again, all of its votes are going to end up in the wastebasket, bringing the entire Right down with it.
If that happens, Ben Gvir maintains Yamina is to blame as it chose to oust him and his 70,000-plus supporters from the right-wing coalition.
Personally, I am not happy with the way things were handled, but there is nothing to be gained by crying over spilled milk. In the best interest of the national camp and the country, Ben Gvir should recede from the race. The settlement enterprise will be gravely endangered should the Left come to power, along with the Jewishness of the Jewish State.
This is not the moment to play games and take chances. The great majority of rabbis have called for people to vote for parties that are certain to pass the threshold. This election is a matter of life and death – both physically and spiritually. A victory of the Left will be a giant boost in the arm for terror and for the forces who seek our destruction.
It will also endanger all our Torah institutions, schools, and the Jewish foundations of our nation by giving the secular, liberal, anti-religious forces in the country the power to further undermine our belief in the vision of Israel set forth in the Torah and promulgated by the Prophets of Israel, including Israeli sovereignty over all of the Holy Land’s borders.
We have to put all past disagreements and personal conflicts aside and let pure pragmatism and clear reason lead the way to the correct decision in the voting poll.
Some polls suggest that Otzma Yehudit is approaching the threshold.
In my opinion, those polls are misleading and can’t be trusted. Similar predictions in the past proved to be wrong.
There are grassroots campaigns within the dati leumi community calling on people to vote for Likud or charedi parties.
I live in Hevron. It was Bibi Netanyahu and Likud who gave the city away to the Arabs. I was in Yamit when Likud gave up the Sinai. As far as the faithfulness of charedi parties to Eretz Yisrael, it was Shas who gave a kosher stamp of approval to Oslo, and if the charedim hadn’t abstained from the Knesset vote on Gush Katif, it would not have been evacuated and destroyed.
A huge effort is needed to keep Likud faithful to Eretz Yisrael, and only a large and strong Yamina can do that.