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Rabbi Moshe Levinger (born 1935 in Jerusalem) "was the first modern-day Jewish settler in Hebron," in the West Bank. He has been termed a "leader of Gush Emunim."

"Levinger first came to Hebron in 1968, after Israel seized the West Bank in the Six-Day War. He rented rooms in an Arab hotel, in order to hold a Passover Seder. Then he refused to leave. He struck a deal with the Israeli government, and moved his family and his followers to a hill just northeast of Hebron, where, with the state’s cooperation, they built the settlement called Kiryat Arba."

Levinger created a political party called "Tora Ve'eretz Yisrael" (Torah and Land of Israel) for the 13th Israeli elections in 1992, but did not receive enough votes to enter the Knesset. Levinger has a wife, 11 children and 50 grandchildren. Most of the family lives in the West Bank.

In 1988, Levinger was indicted on two separate criminal charges involving events in Hebron. On September 30, 1988, Palestinian store owner Khayed Salah was shot dead and a customer was wounded. Levinger claimed to have only shot into the air to defend himself against stone throwers. He was charged with "manslaughter, causing bodily harm in aggravated circumstances and intentionally damaging property". His trial began in August 1989, despite protests by 13 right-wing Knesset members and hundreds of supporters. Levinger pleaded not guilty to the charges but accepted a plea-bargain to the lesser charge of negligent homicide. He was sentenced to 5 months imprisonment, of which he served 92 days. During his imprisonment, he was given leave to attend a public event in Hebron. On his release in August 1990, he told Israel Radio, "If I'm in a situation of danger again, I'll again open fire. I hope that next time, I will be more careful and I won't miss the target."

In another case, which related to an event five months before the first, he was alleged to have assaulted a Palestinian woman and her two children after other Arab children had "made fun of" his daughter. At his trial in May 1989, the magistrate dismissed the evidence of the Arab witnesses on the grounds that they were "interested parties", and also dismissed the evidence of two IDF soldiers who testified to the assault. Six weeks after Levinger's release from prison on his separate negligent homicide conviction (see above), the Jerusalem District Court overturned his acquital on the earlier assault charges. He was sentenced to 4 months imprisonment, plus an additional 10 days for an outburst in court. He served about two months. On his release in March 1991, he said "Over the years, I've carried out dozens of actions and all of them were against the law. It was worthwhile to violate the law, as all these actions advanced the whole Land of Israel."

References

1. ^ ""Among The Settlers""., by Jeffrey Goldberg (The New Yorker, May 2004) Cite error: The named reference "New Yorker" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
2. ""The Evolution of Gush Emunim""., by Ian S. Lustick, University of Pennsylvania
3. AP, Apr 12, 1989 and JP, Dec 4, 1989.
4. Jerusalem Post, 15 Dec, 1989 and 17 Dec 1989.
5. Reuters, Jerusalem Post, etc, May 1, 1990.
6. AP, Aug 14, 1990.
7. Jerusalem Post, Aug 9, 1990.
8. AP and Reuters, Aug 14, 1990.
9. Jerusalem Post, May 5, 1989 and Oct 17, 1990.
10. Jerusalem Post, Sep 24, 1990 and Oct 17, 1990.
11. Jerusalem Post, Jan 15, 1991.
12. AP, Mar 26, 1991.

• Hebron, Americans for Peace Now (Settlements in Focus, Vol. 1, Issue 13 - 10/28/05)
• Friedman, Robert I. (1992). Zealots for Zion : Inside Israel's West Bank Settlement Movement, Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-2062-2 (paperback edition)

See also:

• Gush Emunim

• 1935 births
• Religious Zionist Orthodox rabbis
• Israeli activists
• People from Jerusalem