According to its Facebook page, Einot Kedem farm is an educational agricultural farm in the southern Jordan Valley. The farm is home to teenagers who have been rejected from their original environments and they get there a connection to nature, agriculture, and love of the land, which in turn endow them with values: their Israeli identity and meaning for their lives.
The farm, which was established about two decades ago, offers fine organic produce online, as well as hospitality in rural B&Bs within the farm area.
On Shabbat, a special unit’s soldiers who were on a training course were hosted with their commanders at the farm, which, according to the state, is an illegal outpost, Reshet Bet radio reported Sunday morning.
Carmela Menashe, the Kan 11 veteran military correspondent (she is 73, may she live to 120), who happens to be one of the more left-leaning, anti-settlement reporters in the public broadcasting corporation, reported that the fighters of the operational mobility unit who had been in field training in the south of the country over the last two weeks, stayed on Shabbat at the “Omer’s Farm” outpost, a.k.a. Einot Kedem farm, located in the areas north of Jericho.
The farm was established by Omer Atidia, a reserve officer in the unit, who invited the soldiers to stay there for Shabbat.
Carmela Menashe stressed that the military-security system, government ministries, and the regional council are familiar with the farm, and IDF commanders also know that this is “an illegal outpost that has demolition orders against it and a pending High Court ruling.” Nevertheless, she said, “the IDF soldiers and their commanders who are responsible for law enforcement in Judea and Samaria stay there as part of their training routine, the very same soldiers who may be required to evacuate the farm if a decision to that end is made by the political echelon.”
The IDF spokesperson stated that the matter will be investigated and dealt with. A military official told Carmela that when the investigation is over, its details will be passed on to her.
MK Ram Ben Barak (Yesh Atid), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told Reshet Bet Sunday morning: “They talk a lot about governance here, it starts with the state turning a blind eye to illegal things. The ‘change government,’ too, because of its problematic composition, also sinned in this regard. It would have been appropriate for the army not to be [hosted] in an illegal place without regulation and state approval.”
In December 2021, Carmela Menashe sued two radio jocks for making fun of her on air, claiming the satirical show amounted to sexual harassment. She asked for NIS 6.2 million. So, not a champion of free speech.
Last, year, Menashe tweeted that IDF soldiers helped the settlers in Yitzhar to harvest their grapevines. Turned out the “settlers” was an injured IDF veteran who asked members of his former unit for help.
