Israeli settler leader: Fires are divine punishment for planned settlement uproot

Rabbi Elyakim Levanon says God will withhold rain until ‘threat of eviction’ is lifted from Amona, other illegal outposts

A leader of Israeli settlers said that the fires raging in Israel, which officials partly attribute to arsonists, are really divine punishment for the government’s plans to uproot settlements.

Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, of the settler community of Elon Moreh, made the controversial assertion about the 250 fires recorded in recent days in Israel, in a pamphlet published Thursday, the news site Srugim reported.

Levanon wrote: “Strong winds usually carry rain but now all is dry and flammable. It is G-d’s hand that does it. The Israeli government is delaying the approval of the law for regulation,” he added in reference to a bill designed to legalize Amona and other West Bank outposts deemed illegal.

“Until the disgrace of the threat of eviction is lifted from Amona, Ofra and elsewhere, no rain will fall,” he wrote.