Binyamin Settlers Decry High Court’s Decision to Destroy their Natural Springs

Photo Credit: Binyamin Regional Council

Anar Springs in Binyamin.

Residents of West Binyamin in the liberated territories have launched a campaign against the High Court of Justice’s decision to demolish within the next few months the Anar Springs complex of canals and pools that has been renovated by Israeli youth in the years since 2014, near the settlement of Neria.

On December 17, 2024, the High Court of Justice ruled that the pools must be sealed with dirt and the water supply must be blocked.

According to archaeologist Dr. Aharon Tabgar, until approximately 2008, the site comprised a single spring that fed a single ancient pool. Residents of the nearby outpost of Zeit Raanan began cleaning the spring and renovating the pool and discovered that at least four other different springs were located along the spring line, all of which feed ancient water pools that existed in the days of the First or Second Temple.

Around 2007, the architect of Palestinian statehood Salam Fayed brought along the EU’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Baroness Catherine Ashton on a highly publicized visit to the renovated springs. Shortly thereafter, some 40 Arab rioters arrived from nearby villages, uprooted sheds, broke the pools, burned ancient vine and fig trees, and destroyed the paths.

Because it’s what Palestinians do.

The destroyed site was renovated by youth from the settlement of Neria.

Because it’s what Jews do.

Anar Springs in Binyamin. . Binyamin Regional Council

And then, in December 2017, two anti-Israel NGOs, Emek Shaveh and Yesh Din, appealed to the High Court of Justice, demanding that the site be destroyed once again, this time by government professionals. The appeal was rejected because of the Settlements Regulation law, but as soon as the court revoked the law, on June 9, 2020 – because it’s what high court judges do, sabotage Jewish life – the court ordered the government to demolish the springs within 90 days.

Because it’s what Jew-haters do.

In March 2021, the state changed its position and decided not to demolish the site, after the Binyamin Regional Council agreed to dismantle the sheds and signage at the site. On December 17, 2024, the High Court ruled that the pools must be destroyed completely, even though some of the pools and canals are ancient, and predate the 2014 construction activity cited in the petition by thousands of years.

Because it’s what high court judges do.

Anar Springs in Binyamin. / Binyamin Regional Council

Incidentally, according to NGO Monitor, the group Emek Shaveh receives its funding from the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, HEKS(Switzerland), Cordaid (Netherlands), Oxfam GB (UK), CCFD-Terre Solidaire (France), Oxfam Novib (Netherlands), and the New Israel Fund.

Yesh Din is funded by the European Union, United Kingdom, Norwegian Refugee Council, Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), HEKS (Switzerland), Norway, Ireland, Germany, and Oxfam Novib (Netherlands).

Yisrael Gantz, Head of Binyamin Regional Council and Chairman of Yesha Council, sharply criticized the court’s decision: “The ruling does injustice to all the residents of the region and leaves behind only devastation and destruction. The High Court judges have joined forces with the extremist left-wing activists who seek to bring about the destruction of the Jewish settlement enterprise, the destruction of 2,000-year-old antiquities, and the destruction of the natural pearls of grace in Judea and Samaria.”

Except, of course, the High Court judges have not joined forces with the extremist left-wing activists, the are the extremist left-wing activists.