During and after the Likud primaries Bibi spent an inordinate amount of time and effort convincing everyone that Moshe Feiglin's name on the Likud Knesset list would drive 'centrist' voters away from the Likud. Not surprisingly to those who really understand what is happening in Israel, just the opposite occurred. On the day following Feiglin's election to the 20th spot on the Likud list, the Likud actually gained two mandates in the polls.
But now that Bibi has maneuvered Moshe Feiglin down to the 36th spot on the list, the opposite phenomenon is taking place. The Ha'aretz poll taken yesterday shows once again that the Likud has lost six mandates to more rightist parties. In other words, disenfranchised Feiglin supporters will not vote for the Likud if Moshe is not on the list and they now favor other rightist parties.
The following is the article that appeared today on the Ha'aretz website:
Support for Likud falling among right-wing voters, survey finds By Yossi Verter, Haaretz Correspondent. Support for the Likud is falling, with a projected 15 percent of its former electoral supporter planning to vote for other right-wing parties, a poll commissioned by Haaretz and performed by the survey company Dialogue found Wednesday.
The poll found the Likud would receive 30 seats in the Knesset compared to 36 in a previous survey by the same pollster.
Apparently, all the votes that make up the six-seat difference went to Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas and Habayit Hayehudi - all of which could boast a significant increase in constituents.
On the whole, the rightist bloc is still leading over the centrist Kadima and the
leftist Labor by some 12 seats. The Pensioners Party managed to garner more support compared to the December 10 poll, bringing it to a total of two seats.
A possible explanation as to why Likud hemorrhaged votes can be found in the controversy surrounding hardliner Likudnik Moshe Feiglin's election to the relatively high 20th spot during the party's primary election last week.
Invoking various technical and legal amendments in the party's charter, Netanyahu managed to bump Feiglin down by more than 15 seats in what commentators described as a bid to prevent Likud from losing votes due to an overly-hawkish public image.
Now it appears that Feiglin's ousting from a Knesset seat has backfired, causing rightist voters to abandon Likud for sectarian and hardliner parties.
But according to the Dialogue survey, which was conducted over the phone and included 475 participants, Likud's decline adds nothing to Kadima's base of support. In fact, Tzipi Livni's party has continued its steady but slow decline of one seat every fortnight. It now holds 26 seats, compared to 27 two weeks ago and 28 last month.
Just as Kadima cannot claim to profit from Likud's misfortune, so Labor cannot boast any achievement at Kadima's expense. If Ehud Barak's party - which is currently Israel's fifth largest - is responsible for Kadima's one-seat loss, then it has probably lost that seat to Meretz, which rose by two seats over the past two weeks and may now command the support of enough voters to give it eight Knesset seats.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Why I Will Not Appeal the Likud Decision to Bump Me to 36th Place
1. I have received numerous phone calls from attorneys urging me to appeal the Likud Elections committee in court. They assured me that the committee does not have a legal leg to stand on and that I will surely win the case.
2. Please be aware that I have not thrown my victory into the waste bin. I have turned it into something much stronger and more significant. From a faith-based perspective, it might very well be that G-d has orchestrated that I would be number 20 on the Likud list precisely for this reason: to test my conviction and assure that we triumph and lead this nation much sooner than we would have otherwise believed.
3. What has happened here is much more than just a race for a Knesset seat. It's bigger than me, than Bibi and than the Likud. What is being determined here is not if Feiglin will be in the Knesset or how many seats the Likud will get. What is being determined here is if the State of Israel will return to the People of Israel or remain captive in the hands of the faceless tyrant who will continue to drive it to ruin. The court is the home turf of the invisible tyrant. It is the playing ground of the media, financial and security elites who now control Israel and are leading it to doom.
4. This is all being accomplished with the rightist votes of the Jewish majority in the Likud. The elections create the illusion that there is actually a democracy here. But in reality, the faceless tyrant assures that the head of the Likud will do his bidding. That way everybody is happy. The Jewish majority wins the elections, but Israel remains in the hands of the destructive elites.
5. If I had not run for the head spot in the Likud in the past and if it would not be completely clear that I plan to do so in the future, Bibi would have no problem with me. But Bibi and the faceless tyrant know that I am not just another MK in the Likud. They understand that I am creating alternative leadership from within the Likud - leadership that will unchain Israel from the leftist tyranny.
6. That is why Bibi does not want me in the Knesset. True, we helped to create an excellent roster of rightist Likud candidates. But if there is no alternative leadership to Bibi in the Likud - all the rightists will not be able to overcome him, just as they could not overcome Sharon.
7. In that case, it would seem that I really should have appealed the decision and assured myself a seat in the Knesset. But in reality, the opposite is true. I have already announced time and again that I have no faith in the current court system. If I would have now entered the Knesset due to a court decision, I would not be standing up for my convictions. If the Supreme Court would have rejected my appeal, I would not be able to complain. After all, I was the one who appealed to the court. And if the Supreme Court would have ruled in my favor, I would not have been able to work to replace it, as I would already have recognized it.
8. In order to lead the revolution to free Israel from the grasp of the faceless tyrant, I must be elected by the voters. I cannot lead the revolution if the chains of the tyranny are wound firmly around my neck.
9. We are at the beginning of a huge revolution. Bibi does not have the tools to deal with the challenges that face him. No matter how strong the government he establishes will seem to be, there will soon be another race for the leadership of the Likud. This race will come in the midst of a deep crisis. If we remain true to our ideology, the people will put their trust in us. Even now, I have merited unimaginable levels of public support. We cannot stray from our path by even a bit. With G-d's help, we are winning and we will keep winning in a big way.
10. To accomplish this victory, I need your dedication, prayers and trust. Bibi is pushing me out of the list to push the entire Jewish majority out of the playing field. He does not want you to restore control of Israel to the Jewish people. We are facing a great test. Will we abandon the Likud to Bibi and allow him to destroy our country, or will we join forces and conquer the Likud for the people of Israel - making it a Likud of building the Land and saving the Jewish People?
11. Bibi is a passing phenomenon. Don't let him lead you to despair and push you to vote for a small sectarian and irrelevant party! Now is the time to register for the Likud , to vote Likud and to be sure that I am elected to the Likud. That is the way to ensure faith based leadership that will not destroy, but will build and save Israel.
May we perfect the world in the Kingdom of the Almighty,
Moshe Feiglin
2. Please be aware that I have not thrown my victory into the waste bin. I have turned it into something much stronger and more significant. From a faith-based perspective, it might very well be that G-d has orchestrated that I would be number 20 on the Likud list precisely for this reason: to test my conviction and assure that we triumph and lead this nation much sooner than we would have otherwise believed.
3. What has happened here is much more than just a race for a Knesset seat. It's bigger than me, than Bibi and than the Likud. What is being determined here is not if Feiglin will be in the Knesset or how many seats the Likud will get. What is being determined here is if the State of Israel will return to the People of Israel or remain captive in the hands of the faceless tyrant who will continue to drive it to ruin. The court is the home turf of the invisible tyrant. It is the playing ground of the media, financial and security elites who now control Israel and are leading it to doom.
4. This is all being accomplished with the rightist votes of the Jewish majority in the Likud. The elections create the illusion that there is actually a democracy here. But in reality, the faceless tyrant assures that the head of the Likud will do his bidding. That way everybody is happy. The Jewish majority wins the elections, but Israel remains in the hands of the destructive elites.
5. If I had not run for the head spot in the Likud in the past and if it would not be completely clear that I plan to do so in the future, Bibi would have no problem with me. But Bibi and the faceless tyrant know that I am not just another MK in the Likud. They understand that I am creating alternative leadership from within the Likud - leadership that will unchain Israel from the leftist tyranny.
6. That is why Bibi does not want me in the Knesset. True, we helped to create an excellent roster of rightist Likud candidates. But if there is no alternative leadership to Bibi in the Likud - all the rightists will not be able to overcome him, just as they could not overcome Sharon.
7. In that case, it would seem that I really should have appealed the decision and assured myself a seat in the Knesset. But in reality, the opposite is true. I have already announced time and again that I have no faith in the current court system. If I would have now entered the Knesset due to a court decision, I would not be standing up for my convictions. If the Supreme Court would have rejected my appeal, I would not be able to complain. After all, I was the one who appealed to the court. And if the Supreme Court would have ruled in my favor, I would not have been able to work to replace it, as I would already have recognized it.
8. In order to lead the revolution to free Israel from the grasp of the faceless tyrant, I must be elected by the voters. I cannot lead the revolution if the chains of the tyranny are wound firmly around my neck.
9. We are at the beginning of a huge revolution. Bibi does not have the tools to deal with the challenges that face him. No matter how strong the government he establishes will seem to be, there will soon be another race for the leadership of the Likud. This race will come in the midst of a deep crisis. If we remain true to our ideology, the people will put their trust in us. Even now, I have merited unimaginable levels of public support. We cannot stray from our path by even a bit. With G-d's help, we are winning and we will keep winning in a big way.
10. To accomplish this victory, I need your dedication, prayers and trust. Bibi is pushing me out of the list to push the entire Jewish majority out of the playing field. He does not want you to restore control of Israel to the Jewish people. We are facing a great test. Will we abandon the Likud to Bibi and allow him to destroy our country, or will we join forces and conquer the Likud for the people of Israel - making it a Likud of building the Land and saving the Jewish People?
11. Bibi is a passing phenomenon. Don't let him lead you to despair and push you to vote for a small sectarian and irrelevant party! Now is the time to register for the Likud , to vote Likud and to be sure that I am elected to the Likud. That is the way to ensure faith based leadership that will not destroy, but will build and save Israel.
May we perfect the world in the Kingdom of the Almighty,
Moshe Feiglin
Why Doesn't Moshe Feiglin Appeal the Likud Decision in Court?
Dear and Beloved Brothers and Sisters,
I am writing to thank you from the bottom of my heart. We are still too close to the momentous events of the last few days to fully analyze them. But we already know that something extraordinary happened on Election Night.
They are trying so hard to prevent the Jews from taking their fate into their own hands. They are so afraid that we will emerge from our Religious Zionist or settler shtetls. But suddenly, the Jewish majority has burst onto the scene.
"We'll stop them with this trick or that shtick," they proclaim. Feiglin - maligned on this TV station and demonized on that - has nevertheless opened the Likud to the entire Jewish majority, which can now enter the arena and take its fate into its own hands.
Something big is happening here - something historic. The wholesale panic of the leftist, secular elite is proof of that. The current leaders of the Likud are ideologically unequipped to deal with the mudslinging. They quake in fear. That is understandable and we don't have to feel anger towards them. They wallow in the mud that the Left hurls at them, obsequiously denying that they have anything to do with Feiglin. "We are against Feiglin!" they quiver. "He is not the
Likud!" they quake.
The people, though, do not seem to agree. Today's Ha'aretz newspaper declares: Despite Netanyahu's Fears, Latest Poll Shows Likud Gaining Strength. Just think how many Knesset seats the Likud would get if its leader would not work against me!
In short, dear friends, I want you to know that I love and appreciate you. I know how hard you worked to achieve this wonderful success. But this is just the beginning. We have broken through the iron curtain that has separated the state from the Jewish majority. We have opened the way for the Jewish majority to return en masse to the ruling party and to make sure that Israel's leaders will remain loyal to the values of the people who elected them.
It is very simple. Those who register for the Likud save the Land of Israel, the Nation of Israel and - yes - the Torah of Israel. We need the self sacrifice that you displayed on Election Day on a daily basis!
What we need to do now is to REGISTER as many people as possible for the Likud. Click here for the registration form in Hebrew. To register in the USA - http://www.thelikud.org/
This is a sha'at ratzon, a time when people's hearts are open to hear what we have to say. Later may be too late.
In Admiration,
Moshe Feiglin
Page
I am writing to thank you from the bottom of my heart. We are still too close to the momentous events of the last few days to fully analyze them. But we already know that something extraordinary happened on Election Night.
They are trying so hard to prevent the Jews from taking their fate into their own hands. They are so afraid that we will emerge from our Religious Zionist or settler shtetls. But suddenly, the Jewish majority has burst onto the scene.
"We'll stop them with this trick or that shtick," they proclaim. Feiglin - maligned on this TV station and demonized on that - has nevertheless opened the Likud to the entire Jewish majority, which can now enter the arena and take its fate into its own hands.
Something big is happening here - something historic. The wholesale panic of the leftist, secular elite is proof of that. The current leaders of the Likud are ideologically unequipped to deal with the mudslinging. They quake in fear. That is understandable and we don't have to feel anger towards them. They wallow in the mud that the Left hurls at them, obsequiously denying that they have anything to do with Feiglin. "We are against Feiglin!" they quiver. "He is not the
Likud!" they quake.
The people, though, do not seem to agree. Today's Ha'aretz newspaper declares: Despite Netanyahu's Fears, Latest Poll Shows Likud Gaining Strength. Just think how many Knesset seats the Likud would get if its leader would not work against me!
In short, dear friends, I want you to know that I love and appreciate you. I know how hard you worked to achieve this wonderful success. But this is just the beginning. We have broken through the iron curtain that has separated the state from the Jewish majority. We have opened the way for the Jewish majority to return en masse to the ruling party and to make sure that Israel's leaders will remain loyal to the values of the people who elected them.
It is very simple. Those who register for the Likud save the Land of Israel, the Nation of Israel and - yes - the Torah of Israel. We need the self sacrifice that you displayed on Election Day on a daily basis!
What we need to do now is to REGISTER as many people as possible for the Likud. Click here for the registration form in Hebrew. To register in the USA - http://www.thelikud.org/
This is a sha'at ratzon, a time when people's hearts are open to hear what we have to say. Later may be too late.
In Admiration,
Moshe Feiglin
Page
10 Reasons Israel Needs Feiglin:
10 Reasons Israel Needs Feiglin:
Because Israel needs...
1- A leader who will ensure that Israel remains a Jewish state.
2- A leader loyal to you - the Jewish majority in Israel.
3- Jewish Education for every Jewish child.
4- A modern and open economy based on Jewish values.
5- To defeat its enemies - not to flee from them.
6- A leader to restore justice to the justice system.
7- A courageous leader to deal with Israel’s Arabs.
8- Unbiased media open to the entire nation.
9- A moral society.
10- A leader who believes in G-d.
Why I'll be Voting for Feiglin: By David Wilder
Following the brutal expulsion of Jewish families from Beit HaShalom in Hebron, former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu proclaimed, "We must act with an iron fist against the outlaws." http://www.ynetnews.com/
It is quite clear: should Netanyahu be again elected Prime Minister with a parve Likud list, he will continue in the footsteps of one of his predecessors, namely one Bibi Netanyahu, who signed away 80% of Hebron to Arafat terrorists, and continued by agreeing to the infamous Wye Accords.
Today's menu includes Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and just about all of Yehuda and Shomron. Without any strong brakes to stop him, Netanyahu is liable to form a coalition with Ehud Barak as his Defense Minster and Tzippy Livni as his Foreign Minister. This threesome will undoubtedly get along quite well with Obama, Clinton and Co. The only way to prevent this catastrophe is push the Likud from center-left as far right as possible. And the only way to do that today is to vote for Moshe Feiglin and the entire Manhigut Yehudit list.
Moshe Feiglin represents the paradigm Jewish leader: a man of faith and conviction, with a proven track record. The other candidates on the Manhigut Yehudit Likud Knesset list are of the same caliber, made of the same material. Shmuel Sackett, co-founder of this pair's first venture into public activism, Zu Artzenu, will be a tremendous boost to a floundering, faithless Knesset. These two men, together with others on the list, will be a true Kiddush HaShem, bringing to Israeli leadership what has long been so lacking: a belief and understanding of the 'holy triangle' of Am Yisrael - the Jewish people, Eretz Yisrael - the Land of Israel, and Torah. Their official entrance into formal leadership of the Jewish people will finally put an end to calls for the replacement of the State of Israel by an alternative "Medinat Yehuda." They will be living proof that it is possible to utilize the existing framework of the State of Israel within the boundaries of Kedusha - holiness, thereby bringing about a major 'tikkun' - rectification of the current failings of leaderless leadership.
Tomorrow I'm going to proudly cast my vote for Moshe, Shmuel and ten others, who, when elected to the Knesset, will represent the values and priorities we believe in, and actively work to bring our dreams to reality.
David Wilder is a spokesman for the Jewish Community of Hebron.
Let's get Moshe Feiglin elected to the Knesset!The Tyranny Behind The Democratic Facade
By Moshe Feiglin - jewishpress.com - December 10, 2008
If a Martian would land in Israel and see men dressed in black uniforms sneaking up on the home of a sleeping family in the middle of the night - breaking into the home, beating the parents and throwing them out into the cold night in their pajamas - what would he think? If he would see the black-uniformed men bringing bulldozers and tractors and destroying the house - with all the family's possessions still inside - and destroying the goat pen with the goats inside, where would he think he had landed?
Our Martian sees the shocked family, standing near the ruins of their home. They are not acting very nicely. They are even cursing the black-uniformed men that destroyed their home. Not nice, unpleasant to hear. But with the backdrop of the destruction, it is understandable.
At this point, the already strange scenario takes an unexpected twist. The media and public opinion spinners focus their cameras, microphones and public interest on the curses and not on what evoked them. Everybody shakes their heads in disgust at the children driven from their home and at the parents who built it with love and devotion. Nobody remembers that human beings are supposed to have elementary human rights. Would these warriors of home-destruction etiquette say the same thing about a woman who curses the man who is attacking her? Would they ignore the attack and focus on her less than complimentary description of her attacker?
If our Martian has a bit of human intelligence, he will understand that he has landed in a society that has a tyrannical predisposition - yet cultivates a facade of democracy. There is no law and certainly no equality here - and a complete lack of elementary human rights. A society that is brainwashed to believe that a particular sector does not have the basic human rights afforded to all other citizens is anything but a democracy.
The naive Jews who paid a huge sum of money to buy a building in Hebron in the most legal of procedures thought that the law would uphold their purchase. They didn't understand that the sector to which they belong was stripped of its basic human rights long ago. Their property rights turned to dust in Gush Katif. Now they have also been stripped of their right to protest.
Whoever sits in his home in Petach-Tikva or Rishon Lezion and thinks that this "democratic" totalitarianism is the problem of the settlers alone does not understand what is transpiring. Elections are just around the corner. You can certainly choose between candidates - but not between ideas. The one and only national agenda is dictated by the tyranny. And every candidate had better understand that.
Our Martian has reentered his spaceship to continue his search for a free country elsewhere. But we don't have that privilege. We must free the State of Israel from the clutches of the tyranny.
If a Martian would land in Israel and see men dressed in black uniforms sneaking up on the home of a sleeping family in the middle of the night - breaking into the home, beating the parents and throwing them out into the cold night in their pajamas - what would he think? If he would see the black-uniformed men bringing bulldozers and tractors and destroying the house - with all the family's possessions still inside - and destroying the goat pen with the goats inside, where would he think he had landed?
Our Martian sees the shocked family, standing near the ruins of their home. They are not acting very nicely. They are even cursing the black-uniformed men that destroyed their home. Not nice, unpleasant to hear. But with the backdrop of the destruction, it is understandable.
At this point, the already strange scenario takes an unexpected twist. The media and public opinion spinners focus their cameras, microphones and public interest on the curses and not on what evoked them. Everybody shakes their heads in disgust at the children driven from their home and at the parents who built it with love and devotion. Nobody remembers that human beings are supposed to have elementary human rights. Would these warriors of home-destruction etiquette say the same thing about a woman who curses the man who is attacking her? Would they ignore the attack and focus on her less than complimentary description of her attacker?
If our Martian has a bit of human intelligence, he will understand that he has landed in a society that has a tyrannical predisposition - yet cultivates a facade of democracy. There is no law and certainly no equality here - and a complete lack of elementary human rights. A society that is brainwashed to believe that a particular sector does not have the basic human rights afforded to all other citizens is anything but a democracy.
The naive Jews who paid a huge sum of money to buy a building in Hebron in the most legal of procedures thought that the law would uphold their purchase. They didn't understand that the sector to which they belong was stripped of its basic human rights long ago. Their property rights turned to dust in Gush Katif. Now they have also been stripped of their right to protest.
Whoever sits in his home in Petach-Tikva or Rishon Lezion and thinks that this "democratic" totalitarianism is the problem of the settlers alone does not understand what is transpiring. Elections are just around the corner. You can certainly choose between candidates - but not between ideas. The one and only national agenda is dictated by the tyranny. And every candidate had better understand that.
Our Martian has reentered his spaceship to continue his search for a free country elsewhere. But we don't have that privilege. We must free the State of Israel from the clutches of the tyranny.
Monday, December 8, 2008
A Jerusalem Post Interview with Moshe Feiglin
December 6, 2008
The following interview with Moshe Feiglin appeared in this weekend’s Jerusalem Post. It is an accurate portrayal of what Moshe and Manhigut Yehudit stand for, and it explains our positions and ideology perfectly.
One on One: Judaism, not Jabotinsky
Dec. 4, 2008Ruthie Blum Leibowitz , THE JERUSALEM POST
'I don't like the term 'religious,'" says Likud primary candidate and Manhigut Yehudit faction leader Moshe Feiglin. "I'm a Jew, plain and simple."
Taking issue with being labeled as belonging to a certain sector because he wears a kippa, has a beard and lives in a settlement (Karnei Shomron in Samaria), Feiglin explains that this is a perfect example of what is wrong with Israeli society today. Well, that and much else, according to the 46-year-old married father of five and grandfather of two, who has become both famous and infamous for his outspoken right-wing views.
Ironically, however, it is not from the Left that the co-founder of Zo Artzeinu - the "this is our country" movement established in 1993 to protest the Oslo Accords - has gotten the most flak for his flagrance. In fact, if he's making anyone uncomfortable these days it's the people in his own party, particularly those at the top counting on the encouraging polls to enable them to start chalking up the mandates. So apparently perturbed are they by Feiglin - who ran for party chairman once in December 2005 and again in August 2007 - that prior to a mass rally the "father of civil disobedience" held last week, Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu's advisers warned party members not to attend. Though this didn't prevent hundreds of supporters from descending upon Jerusalem's Ramada Hotel to take part in the "festivities" - which, by the way, could be heard resounding throughout the lobby - the silence from those who stayed away was no less deafening.
Feiglin, who claims he's tried repeatedly to straighten things out with Netanyahu over the years, made an appeal to him from the podium. "My hand is stretched out to you," he said. "Our goal has to be to return to the days when we had 48 MKs, and the way to do that is to unite and open our arms to everyone."
So far, this appeal hasn't had stellar success. It would seem that Netanyahu's strategy of aiming for the center - evidence of which can be seen in the "dream team" he has been assembling to run in Monday's primary - cannot sustain someone so associated with political troublemaking that in March he was banned from entering Britain.
Still, Feiglin, who has published two books, and numerous articles for the right-wing American periodical The Jewish Press, and the less so Hebrew daily Ma'ariv, says that during his days of demonstrating against Oslo ("a unique display of democracy"), he was "very liked in the Likud."
In an hour-long interview, Feiglin gives his take on why he arouses such animosity among people whose party's constitution, he claims, most closely represents his worldview.
But it is Judaism, more than Jabotinsky, that he believes is the core - and the cure.
In an interview with the Post last Friday, Likud candidate Bennie Begin said that political differences among party members are not important at the moment, because there is consensus that no peace deal can be reached with the Palestinians in the near future, and that what is needed is a focus on the immediate challenges. Do you agree?
First let me emphasize that I consider Bennie Begin's return to Likud as extremely important, and I welcome it. But, with regard to that specific statement of his, I would disagree. This isn't the first time we've counted on the other side, and on dead-end negotiations [as a solution]. Begin's view here is one the national camp held up until the Oslo Accords. We said to ourselves, "What difference does it make if it's [Yitzhak] Shamir or [Yitzhak] Rabin? After all, the Arabs aren't going to allow anything to progress."
The result was twofold: For its part, the Left espoused a strong ideology of deconstruction, according to which we should relinquish territory and reach an agreement with the Arabs at all cost. The national camp, meanwhile, developed the idea that precisely because of this ideology, there was nothing to worry about.
So, what is your position now?
That the way to counter the ideology of deconstruction is with an ideology of construction, based on solid foundations. Only then will we be able to be at peace. We cannot achieve this through passivity. We can only achieve it through faith in our justice and legitimacy - not through faith in the fact that our enemy is certain to stumble.
Is this possible while there is so much controversy over what constitutes our "justice and legitimacy" - over which territory actually belongs to us?
The watershed dividing Israeli society today is not territorial. Nor is it a question of Right vs Left, religious vs secular or security vs peace. It is a question of Jewish identity. Do we want to connect to our Jewish identity on a national and cultural level? Do we want it to be fundamental - the national wellspring - or do we want to escape it and treat it as some kind of burden?
Immigrants to Israel may be able to grasp this principle, but can native Israelis really do so? Is it really possible to instill such a sense of national and cultural Jewish identity in the next generation?
I believe it is. And I'm not talking about creating a state based on Halacha or on religious coercion of any kind. What I'm talking about is connecting to our justice as the Jewish people.
We are always asking ourselves why our enemies are so successful at international hasbara [public diplomacy] - why we are always failing, in spite of having much better tools and embassies and emissaries all over the world. The answer is that our enemies operate out of a sense of justice, while we operate from a point of pragmatism. They demand justice; we demand pragmatic solutions.
I'll give you an example that relates to territorial issues. Suppose someone breaks into your apartment and announces that it is his. Suppose that instead of calling the police and trying to kick him out, you begin negotiating over how to divide the rooms. Anyone observing the incident would be convinced that the apartment belonged to the intruder.
The point is that we can explain to the world over and over again how Western, modern and enlightened we are, and how we do everything in our power not to hurt women and children, etc., but it makes no difference. Because the other side says, "It's mine," and we are unable to say that. And if we're not able to say that, we will lose it all - not Judea and Samaria, but Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Sderot. So, we have to educate the younger generation on the source of our right to live here at all. That source has to be based on Judaism. Basing it on the past 100 years is not enough. We have to base it on our history that goes back 4,000 years. We have to base it on the Book of Books from which the entire world derives its moral base. If we don't do that, we're lost.
Speaking of 4,000 years of history, is there anything new about this kind of watershed you believe is dividing Israeli society? Perhaps such tension is inherent in the Jewish people?
hat is inherent is the ambivalence between the people of Israel and God. From time immemorial, there have been opposing forces at work within every Jew: the desire to be relieved of our burden and be like all other nations, on the one hand; and the return to ourself on the other. This is the process that is going on today. From that point of view, you're right that it's nothing new. But one could say that during the biblical period, the distancing from Judaism took the form of idolatry, and today it takes the form of a desire to distance ourselves from those among us who are connected to their identity and therefore to the Land of Israel.
The role of Yasser Arafat during the Oslo process was simply to relieve us of what [former Meretz MK] Yossi Sarid referred to as "those accursed territories."
For our part, willingness to relinquish those territories did not derive from a desire for peace, but rather from the desire to be rid of the Jewish identity placed on us by them. Proof of this lies in the fact that even after trying to rid ourselves of "those accursed territories" - in spite of all the promises made by Rabin and others that the minute the enemy fired on us, we would immediately return to them, and in spite of all the bloodshed that ensued from the move - the process keeps going. The same applies to prisoner releases. The process is, in fact, determinist, iconic. Regardless of the results, we continue with the experiment. This leads to the obvious conclusion that the stated goal of peace is not the real goal. The real goal of handing over territory is to hand over territory.
The desire to be relieved of our identity is not widespread. In fact, it comes from a very small group of elites - less than 10 percent of the population - who dominate the national agenda. This elite consists mainly of the Supreme Court, much of the media, think tanks and academia. This has been going on for about 80 years now, since the Second Aliya.
For this group, Jewish identity is a burden. I don't blame them. It's natural, after 2,000 years of pogroms and such, for Jews to want to be like everyone else. And the territories don't frighten them as an "obstacle to peace" or because of the "demographic problem." That's all nonsense, and I can prove it, which I've done so many times that I'm sick of talking about it already. The truth is that their desire to be rid of the territories is really an attempt to give the Jewish state a universal, as opposed to Jewish, identity.
This applies not only to the territories, by the way, but also to the settlers, because the settlers represent the connection between the Jew and his identity - the connection between the Jew and reality, without giving up on his Judaism. Haredim don't pose a problem, because they remain in their ghetto. The settlers do, because while they do not sever their ties to their Judaism, they also serve enthusiastically in the army and till the soil. They represent the antithesis to being a nation like all other nations. That's why they have to be eliminated. And that's why Gush Katif was evacuated. It was so clear to everyone that peace would not ensue, but peace wasn't the aim. The aim was the sacrifice of the settlements and the settlers. [TV and print journalist] Yair Lapid even wrote this openly.
This is a culture war between the Jews and the Jews, not between the Jews and the Arabs. The Arabs are merely an excuse.
Netanyahu would likely agree with most of what you say here. What is your assessment of his opposition to your making it to the Knesset on the Likud list? Are you taking it upon yourself to be a "Bibi-sitter" from within the party, as the now defunct NRP-NU claimed it was being from without?
[He laughs] No, not a "Bibi-sitter." I believe I could work with Netanyahu in harmony - up until the point, heaven forbid, that he decides to do something like [former prime minister Ariel] Sharon did, though it's hard for me to believe that he would.
Look, his attacks on me are very bad. Beyond that, his blatant intervention in the written rules of the electoral process is illegal, and I'm dealing with it accordingly. [The Likud response: "Every activity carried out by Likud is done in accordance with the law, whether in relation to Moshe Feiglin or any other issue. As someone who calls for sedition, unrest and for disrespecting the law, he is not worthy to be included in Likud - a democratic, law-abiding movement."]
A year and a half ago, when I ran for head of Likud - and received an impressive 24 percent of the vote - then, too, there was an attempt to block me. And when the primary was over, I went to shake Netanyahu's hand, as is customary, but he wouldn't shake mine. Since then, I've made every attempt to talk to him. But to no avail.
This doesn't concern me from a personal point of view. I don't need his handshake in order to sleep at night. Furthermore, whenever I shook his hand in the past, it wasn't easy for me, since it was a hand that shook the hand of Arafat. But I got over it.
The question of his attitude toward me is one I ask myself all the time, and it's one for which I don't have a clear answer. I can only assume that it's because he was told that if I get in, he'll be treated as the opposite of what Channel 2's Amnon Abramovich called an "etrog" [when referring to the media's "coddling" of Sharon, to enable him to carry out disengagement unfettered by bad press].
I don't believe politics are behind his behavior. Politically, I know that I add mandates to the Likud. If I am on the list for the Knesset, many people on the Right who no longer have a political home will come out to vote for Likud. Netanyahu knows this, too. Therefore, his opposition to me is not electoral. It's much deeper than that. On the one hand, it's hard for me to explain, and on the other hand, it's a constant signal to me that I'm on the right path - that I'm touching on the root of the problem in which Israel finds itself right now. There is what I call an "invisible tyrant" in this country. We live in a democracy of people, but a dictatorship of ideas. It's a situation in which many people compete for your vote, but ultimately they're only allowed to express one idea. It's gotten to the point where if you vote Left, you get Left, and if you vote Right, you also get Left. My exposing this seriously frightens that "invisible tyrant."
Isn't it hard for you to be a member of a party you consider susceptible to this "invisible tyrant"? And can your ideology jibe with that of, say, of the more dovish Dan Meridor?
To answer that, two things have to be examined. The first is what Likud actually is. When you read the party's constitution, you see that what is written points to total loyalty to all parts of the Land of Israel. There's even a clause saying that Israel has to apply its sovereignty over all parts of the Land of Israel in our hands at a given time. In other words, according to the Likud constitution as it stands today, Israel has to apply its law - as it did to the Golan Heights and Jerusalem - to all parts of Judea and Samaria in our hands, and, of course, to the Temple Mount. That's the Likud. So, the person who's the closest to what the Likud actually stands for is me.
The second thing that has to be examined is loyalty to the party. I was never a "prince," nor do I ever intend to be one, but the question of how consistent and loyal you are to your movement also determines how much you belong to Likud.
As for Dan Meridor, he'll pull in his direction, and I'll pull in mine. The real question is not how we'll be able to work together, but what would happen in my absence. In such an event, the only pressure applied would come from the Left - from Dan Meridor, Uzi Dayan and Assaf Hefetz - without any coming from the other direction, except from Bennie Begin, who, unfortunately, doesn't seem to grasp the root of the argument.
Begin claims that he sees eye-to-eye with Meridor about the need to strengthen the Supreme Court. How do you feel about that?
You'll be surprised to hear that I, too, favor a strong Supreme Court. But the argument isn't over the strengthening or weakening of the Supreme Court. The question is what value system the court bases its decisions on. Eight years ago, when I saw the direction [former Supreme Court president] Aharon Barak was taking the court, I wrote that he was cutting off the branch on which the court was sitting. In other words, it's not [Justice Minister] Daniel Friedmann who is hurting the legal system [by trying to reform it]. It was Barak who was hurting it. He attacked Jewish values, decision after decision. What we need is to return the public's faith in the courts. How can we do this? By creating a situation whereby judges are given a hearing, like in the United States. And they should be appointed to reflect the makeup of the public. So, yes, there should be a judge on the Supreme Court who represents the values of Meretz, but not only judges who do.
What, in the final analysis, keeps you in Likud? Is Revisionist movement founder Ze'ev Jabotinsky really your mentor?
Though I'm certainly an admirer of Jabotinsky's writings, I'm not a Jabotinskyite. In any case, the Likud is not solely about Jabotinsky.
What gives me the strength to continue in Likud, despite what is being done to me in the party, is that it genuinely represents the people of Israel. Sociologically, when I'm with Likud, I'm with Israel. In any other party, I would feel like part of a narrow sector. That the Likud establishment is under pressure from the Left and fights me is hard, but it proves that I'm in the right place. What I bring to it is the Jewish issue. We are the national movement. And what nation is that - one which, in the best case, is like a piece of folklore hanging on the wall of a museum, or one which has Judaism as its cultural-national source? It is the latter that will give us the strength to confront the challenges we face today.
Which brings us to the age-old question of whether it is true that it is only the Right which can sign peace treaties and the Left which can go to war? Is there no reason for concern on your part that Netanyahu, who made the Hebron deal and who has brought in all kinds of more moderate faces to Likud, will end up making a deal with the Palestinians?
There is definitely cause for concern. That's why they have to have me there. Period.
Rob Muchnick, US Director
The following interview with Moshe Feiglin appeared in this weekend’s Jerusalem Post. It is an accurate portrayal of what Moshe and Manhigut Yehudit stand for, and it explains our positions and ideology perfectly.
One on One: Judaism, not Jabotinsky
Dec. 4, 2008Ruthie Blum Leibowitz , THE JERUSALEM POST
'I don't like the term 'religious,'" says Likud primary candidate and Manhigut Yehudit faction leader Moshe Feiglin. "I'm a Jew, plain and simple."
Taking issue with being labeled as belonging to a certain sector because he wears a kippa, has a beard and lives in a settlement (Karnei Shomron in Samaria), Feiglin explains that this is a perfect example of what is wrong with Israeli society today. Well, that and much else, according to the 46-year-old married father of five and grandfather of two, who has become both famous and infamous for his outspoken right-wing views.
Ironically, however, it is not from the Left that the co-founder of Zo Artzeinu - the "this is our country" movement established in 1993 to protest the Oslo Accords - has gotten the most flak for his flagrance. In fact, if he's making anyone uncomfortable these days it's the people in his own party, particularly those at the top counting on the encouraging polls to enable them to start chalking up the mandates. So apparently perturbed are they by Feiglin - who ran for party chairman once in December 2005 and again in August 2007 - that prior to a mass rally the "father of civil disobedience" held last week, Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu's advisers warned party members not to attend. Though this didn't prevent hundreds of supporters from descending upon Jerusalem's Ramada Hotel to take part in the "festivities" - which, by the way, could be heard resounding throughout the lobby - the silence from those who stayed away was no less deafening.
Feiglin, who claims he's tried repeatedly to straighten things out with Netanyahu over the years, made an appeal to him from the podium. "My hand is stretched out to you," he said. "Our goal has to be to return to the days when we had 48 MKs, and the way to do that is to unite and open our arms to everyone."
So far, this appeal hasn't had stellar success. It would seem that Netanyahu's strategy of aiming for the center - evidence of which can be seen in the "dream team" he has been assembling to run in Monday's primary - cannot sustain someone so associated with political troublemaking that in March he was banned from entering Britain.
Still, Feiglin, who has published two books, and numerous articles for the right-wing American periodical The Jewish Press, and the less so Hebrew daily Ma'ariv, says that during his days of demonstrating against Oslo ("a unique display of democracy"), he was "very liked in the Likud."
In an hour-long interview, Feiglin gives his take on why he arouses such animosity among people whose party's constitution, he claims, most closely represents his worldview.
But it is Judaism, more than Jabotinsky, that he believes is the core - and the cure.
In an interview with the Post last Friday, Likud candidate Bennie Begin said that political differences among party members are not important at the moment, because there is consensus that no peace deal can be reached with the Palestinians in the near future, and that what is needed is a focus on the immediate challenges. Do you agree?
First let me emphasize that I consider Bennie Begin's return to Likud as extremely important, and I welcome it. But, with regard to that specific statement of his, I would disagree. This isn't the first time we've counted on the other side, and on dead-end negotiations [as a solution]. Begin's view here is one the national camp held up until the Oslo Accords. We said to ourselves, "What difference does it make if it's [Yitzhak] Shamir or [Yitzhak] Rabin? After all, the Arabs aren't going to allow anything to progress."
The result was twofold: For its part, the Left espoused a strong ideology of deconstruction, according to which we should relinquish territory and reach an agreement with the Arabs at all cost. The national camp, meanwhile, developed the idea that precisely because of this ideology, there was nothing to worry about.
So, what is your position now?
That the way to counter the ideology of deconstruction is with an ideology of construction, based on solid foundations. Only then will we be able to be at peace. We cannot achieve this through passivity. We can only achieve it through faith in our justice and legitimacy - not through faith in the fact that our enemy is certain to stumble.
Is this possible while there is so much controversy over what constitutes our "justice and legitimacy" - over which territory actually belongs to us?
The watershed dividing Israeli society today is not territorial. Nor is it a question of Right vs Left, religious vs secular or security vs peace. It is a question of Jewish identity. Do we want to connect to our Jewish identity on a national and cultural level? Do we want it to be fundamental - the national wellspring - or do we want to escape it and treat it as some kind of burden?
Immigrants to Israel may be able to grasp this principle, but can native Israelis really do so? Is it really possible to instill such a sense of national and cultural Jewish identity in the next generation?
I believe it is. And I'm not talking about creating a state based on Halacha or on religious coercion of any kind. What I'm talking about is connecting to our justice as the Jewish people.
We are always asking ourselves why our enemies are so successful at international hasbara [public diplomacy] - why we are always failing, in spite of having much better tools and embassies and emissaries all over the world. The answer is that our enemies operate out of a sense of justice, while we operate from a point of pragmatism. They demand justice; we demand pragmatic solutions.
I'll give you an example that relates to territorial issues. Suppose someone breaks into your apartment and announces that it is his. Suppose that instead of calling the police and trying to kick him out, you begin negotiating over how to divide the rooms. Anyone observing the incident would be convinced that the apartment belonged to the intruder.
The point is that we can explain to the world over and over again how Western, modern and enlightened we are, and how we do everything in our power not to hurt women and children, etc., but it makes no difference. Because the other side says, "It's mine," and we are unable to say that. And if we're not able to say that, we will lose it all - not Judea and Samaria, but Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Sderot. So, we have to educate the younger generation on the source of our right to live here at all. That source has to be based on Judaism. Basing it on the past 100 years is not enough. We have to base it on our history that goes back 4,000 years. We have to base it on the Book of Books from which the entire world derives its moral base. If we don't do that, we're lost.
Speaking of 4,000 years of history, is there anything new about this kind of watershed you believe is dividing Israeli society? Perhaps such tension is inherent in the Jewish people?
hat is inherent is the ambivalence between the people of Israel and God. From time immemorial, there have been opposing forces at work within every Jew: the desire to be relieved of our burden and be like all other nations, on the one hand; and the return to ourself on the other. This is the process that is going on today. From that point of view, you're right that it's nothing new. But one could say that during the biblical period, the distancing from Judaism took the form of idolatry, and today it takes the form of a desire to distance ourselves from those among us who are connected to their identity and therefore to the Land of Israel.
The role of Yasser Arafat during the Oslo process was simply to relieve us of what [former Meretz MK] Yossi Sarid referred to as "those accursed territories."
For our part, willingness to relinquish those territories did not derive from a desire for peace, but rather from the desire to be rid of the Jewish identity placed on us by them. Proof of this lies in the fact that even after trying to rid ourselves of "those accursed territories" - in spite of all the promises made by Rabin and others that the minute the enemy fired on us, we would immediately return to them, and in spite of all the bloodshed that ensued from the move - the process keeps going. The same applies to prisoner releases. The process is, in fact, determinist, iconic. Regardless of the results, we continue with the experiment. This leads to the obvious conclusion that the stated goal of peace is not the real goal. The real goal of handing over territory is to hand over territory.
The desire to be relieved of our identity is not widespread. In fact, it comes from a very small group of elites - less than 10 percent of the population - who dominate the national agenda. This elite consists mainly of the Supreme Court, much of the media, think tanks and academia. This has been going on for about 80 years now, since the Second Aliya.
For this group, Jewish identity is a burden. I don't blame them. It's natural, after 2,000 years of pogroms and such, for Jews to want to be like everyone else. And the territories don't frighten them as an "obstacle to peace" or because of the "demographic problem." That's all nonsense, and I can prove it, which I've done so many times that I'm sick of talking about it already. The truth is that their desire to be rid of the territories is really an attempt to give the Jewish state a universal, as opposed to Jewish, identity.
This applies not only to the territories, by the way, but also to the settlers, because the settlers represent the connection between the Jew and his identity - the connection between the Jew and reality, without giving up on his Judaism. Haredim don't pose a problem, because they remain in their ghetto. The settlers do, because while they do not sever their ties to their Judaism, they also serve enthusiastically in the army and till the soil. They represent the antithesis to being a nation like all other nations. That's why they have to be eliminated. And that's why Gush Katif was evacuated. It was so clear to everyone that peace would not ensue, but peace wasn't the aim. The aim was the sacrifice of the settlements and the settlers. [TV and print journalist] Yair Lapid even wrote this openly.
This is a culture war between the Jews and the Jews, not between the Jews and the Arabs. The Arabs are merely an excuse.
Netanyahu would likely agree with most of what you say here. What is your assessment of his opposition to your making it to the Knesset on the Likud list? Are you taking it upon yourself to be a "Bibi-sitter" from within the party, as the now defunct NRP-NU claimed it was being from without?
[He laughs] No, not a "Bibi-sitter." I believe I could work with Netanyahu in harmony - up until the point, heaven forbid, that he decides to do something like [former prime minister Ariel] Sharon did, though it's hard for me to believe that he would.
Look, his attacks on me are very bad. Beyond that, his blatant intervention in the written rules of the electoral process is illegal, and I'm dealing with it accordingly. [The Likud response: "Every activity carried out by Likud is done in accordance with the law, whether in relation to Moshe Feiglin or any other issue. As someone who calls for sedition, unrest and for disrespecting the law, he is not worthy to be included in Likud - a democratic, law-abiding movement."]
A year and a half ago, when I ran for head of Likud - and received an impressive 24 percent of the vote - then, too, there was an attempt to block me. And when the primary was over, I went to shake Netanyahu's hand, as is customary, but he wouldn't shake mine. Since then, I've made every attempt to talk to him. But to no avail.
This doesn't concern me from a personal point of view. I don't need his handshake in order to sleep at night. Furthermore, whenever I shook his hand in the past, it wasn't easy for me, since it was a hand that shook the hand of Arafat. But I got over it.
The question of his attitude toward me is one I ask myself all the time, and it's one for which I don't have a clear answer. I can only assume that it's because he was told that if I get in, he'll be treated as the opposite of what Channel 2's Amnon Abramovich called an "etrog" [when referring to the media's "coddling" of Sharon, to enable him to carry out disengagement unfettered by bad press].
I don't believe politics are behind his behavior. Politically, I know that I add mandates to the Likud. If I am on the list for the Knesset, many people on the Right who no longer have a political home will come out to vote for Likud. Netanyahu knows this, too. Therefore, his opposition to me is not electoral. It's much deeper than that. On the one hand, it's hard for me to explain, and on the other hand, it's a constant signal to me that I'm on the right path - that I'm touching on the root of the problem in which Israel finds itself right now. There is what I call an "invisible tyrant" in this country. We live in a democracy of people, but a dictatorship of ideas. It's a situation in which many people compete for your vote, but ultimately they're only allowed to express one idea. It's gotten to the point where if you vote Left, you get Left, and if you vote Right, you also get Left. My exposing this seriously frightens that "invisible tyrant."
Isn't it hard for you to be a member of a party you consider susceptible to this "invisible tyrant"? And can your ideology jibe with that of, say, of the more dovish Dan Meridor?
To answer that, two things have to be examined. The first is what Likud actually is. When you read the party's constitution, you see that what is written points to total loyalty to all parts of the Land of Israel. There's even a clause saying that Israel has to apply its sovereignty over all parts of the Land of Israel in our hands at a given time. In other words, according to the Likud constitution as it stands today, Israel has to apply its law - as it did to the Golan Heights and Jerusalem - to all parts of Judea and Samaria in our hands, and, of course, to the Temple Mount. That's the Likud. So, the person who's the closest to what the Likud actually stands for is me.
The second thing that has to be examined is loyalty to the party. I was never a "prince," nor do I ever intend to be one, but the question of how consistent and loyal you are to your movement also determines how much you belong to Likud.
As for Dan Meridor, he'll pull in his direction, and I'll pull in mine. The real question is not how we'll be able to work together, but what would happen in my absence. In such an event, the only pressure applied would come from the Left - from Dan Meridor, Uzi Dayan and Assaf Hefetz - without any coming from the other direction, except from Bennie Begin, who, unfortunately, doesn't seem to grasp the root of the argument.
Begin claims that he sees eye-to-eye with Meridor about the need to strengthen the Supreme Court. How do you feel about that?
You'll be surprised to hear that I, too, favor a strong Supreme Court. But the argument isn't over the strengthening or weakening of the Supreme Court. The question is what value system the court bases its decisions on. Eight years ago, when I saw the direction [former Supreme Court president] Aharon Barak was taking the court, I wrote that he was cutting off the branch on which the court was sitting. In other words, it's not [Justice Minister] Daniel Friedmann who is hurting the legal system [by trying to reform it]. It was Barak who was hurting it. He attacked Jewish values, decision after decision. What we need is to return the public's faith in the courts. How can we do this? By creating a situation whereby judges are given a hearing, like in the United States. And they should be appointed to reflect the makeup of the public. So, yes, there should be a judge on the Supreme Court who represents the values of Meretz, but not only judges who do.
What, in the final analysis, keeps you in Likud? Is Revisionist movement founder Ze'ev Jabotinsky really your mentor?
Though I'm certainly an admirer of Jabotinsky's writings, I'm not a Jabotinskyite. In any case, the Likud is not solely about Jabotinsky.
What gives me the strength to continue in Likud, despite what is being done to me in the party, is that it genuinely represents the people of Israel. Sociologically, when I'm with Likud, I'm with Israel. In any other party, I would feel like part of a narrow sector. That the Likud establishment is under pressure from the Left and fights me is hard, but it proves that I'm in the right place. What I bring to it is the Jewish issue. We are the national movement. And what nation is that - one which, in the best case, is like a piece of folklore hanging on the wall of a museum, or one which has Judaism as its cultural-national source? It is the latter that will give us the strength to confront the challenges we face today.
Which brings us to the age-old question of whether it is true that it is only the Right which can sign peace treaties and the Left which can go to war? Is there no reason for concern on your part that Netanyahu, who made the Hebron deal and who has brought in all kinds of more moderate faces to Likud, will end up making a deal with the Palestinians?
There is definitely cause for concern. That's why they have to have me there. Period.
Rob Muchnick, US Director
Friday, December 5, 2008
JPost is Correct: Feiglin will Not Surrender the Land of Israel
December 4, 2008
The Jerusalem Post editorial of December 3rd accurately states that Moshe Feiglin will not continue the [suicidal] Land for Peace process that has affected each and every Jewish citizen of Israel.
As a consequence of the policies of the current and previous Israeli governments, virtually every citizen of Israel personally knows and cries for Jewish victims who were murdered by Muslim terrorists and for others who have been maimed for life. More than 12,000 Jews have been murdered or maimed by the process which has at various times been called “The Oslo Accords”, “Land for Peace”, “Reciprocity”, “The Road Map”, “Disengagement”, “Annapolis”, and “Convergence”. Since the Arab enemy has no rights to the Land of Israel, whether legal, moral or historical, these titles are only Orwellian euphemisms which convey one message to the Arabs and that is: terror pays, and it pays good.
In response to seeing Bibi Netanyahu unleashing his entire arsenal of dirty tricks against Moshe Feiglin to try to keep Moshe and his affiliated candidates off the Likud’s Knesset list this coming Monday, those in the non-Likud nationalist camp may very well be saying "I told you so" right now to Feiglin. However, the nationalist camp has not been on the front lines in trying to present a leader to become the Prime Minister of Israel. The only thing that this “right” has accomplished since the Oslo Accords were signed is to negotiate better terms of surrender – they have not tried to achieve victory.
So why is Netanyahu so afraid of Feiglin? What does the Likud charter say and who really represents it? The Likud Charter actually calls for Israel to annex and settle all parts of the Land of Israel, and for Israel to be run in accordance with Jewish Values. Netanyahu’s personal platform does not include these planks. Voters must question Bibi as to why his platform opposes his own party’s Charter, and why he is so desperately trying to bring unapologetic leftists into the Likud and keep out those who support the Charter – namely Moshe Feiglin and his affiliated candidates.
It seems that Netanyahu’s goal is to ingratiate himself with the forces of the extreme left which control Israel’s media, governmental bureaucracy and its “justice” system. Feiglin's platform is one that represents Jewish values, Jewish education, family values, building up and not tearing down the Land of Israel, no concessions to our enemies, and no negotiating of Jewish Land. Moshe Feiglin stands in the way of Netanyahu connecting with these forces of the left.
Moshe Feiglin believes that the average Likud rank-and-file voter believes similarly to the Likud charter. Feiglin sees that these Likudniks have had enough of “Land for Peace”, which has only brought death and destruction to Israel, and that they are yearning for a leader who will cling to their heritage and not run away from it. Feiglin believes that these Likudniks will see through the dirty tricks and put Moshe Feiglin onto the Likud's Knesset list on Monday in a spot from where he will be elected to the Knesset on February 10th.
Bibi Netanyahu is afraid that Moshe Feiglin’s message of Jewish pride and hope – which is in line with the Likud’s own Charter - is becoming more and more mainstream and accepted by Likudniks and Israeli society in general.
Moshe Feiglin has outstretched his hand to Bibi Netanyahu in the hope that the Likud can and will represent what is best for the people of Israel. Unfortunately for us all, Netanyahu has so far refused to outstretch his hand back.
Rob Muchnick, US Director
The Jerusalem Post editorial of December 3rd accurately states that Moshe Feiglin will not continue the [suicidal] Land for Peace process that has affected each and every Jewish citizen of Israel.
As a consequence of the policies of the current and previous Israeli governments, virtually every citizen of Israel personally knows and cries for Jewish victims who were murdered by Muslim terrorists and for others who have been maimed for life. More than 12,000 Jews have been murdered or maimed by the process which has at various times been called “The Oslo Accords”, “Land for Peace”, “Reciprocity”, “The Road Map”, “Disengagement”, “Annapolis”, and “Convergence”. Since the Arab enemy has no rights to the Land of Israel, whether legal, moral or historical, these titles are only Orwellian euphemisms which convey one message to the Arabs and that is: terror pays, and it pays good.
In response to seeing Bibi Netanyahu unleashing his entire arsenal of dirty tricks against Moshe Feiglin to try to keep Moshe and his affiliated candidates off the Likud’s Knesset list this coming Monday, those in the non-Likud nationalist camp may very well be saying "I told you so" right now to Feiglin. However, the nationalist camp has not been on the front lines in trying to present a leader to become the Prime Minister of Israel. The only thing that this “right” has accomplished since the Oslo Accords were signed is to negotiate better terms of surrender – they have not tried to achieve victory.
So why is Netanyahu so afraid of Feiglin? What does the Likud charter say and who really represents it? The Likud Charter actually calls for Israel to annex and settle all parts of the Land of Israel, and for Israel to be run in accordance with Jewish Values. Netanyahu’s personal platform does not include these planks. Voters must question Bibi as to why his platform opposes his own party’s Charter, and why he is so desperately trying to bring unapologetic leftists into the Likud and keep out those who support the Charter – namely Moshe Feiglin and his affiliated candidates.
It seems that Netanyahu’s goal is to ingratiate himself with the forces of the extreme left which control Israel’s media, governmental bureaucracy and its “justice” system. Feiglin's platform is one that represents Jewish values, Jewish education, family values, building up and not tearing down the Land of Israel, no concessions to our enemies, and no negotiating of Jewish Land. Moshe Feiglin stands in the way of Netanyahu connecting with these forces of the left.
Moshe Feiglin believes that the average Likud rank-and-file voter believes similarly to the Likud charter. Feiglin sees that these Likudniks have had enough of “Land for Peace”, which has only brought death and destruction to Israel, and that they are yearning for a leader who will cling to their heritage and not run away from it. Feiglin believes that these Likudniks will see through the dirty tricks and put Moshe Feiglin onto the Likud's Knesset list on Monday in a spot from where he will be elected to the Knesset on February 10th.
Bibi Netanyahu is afraid that Moshe Feiglin’s message of Jewish pride and hope – which is in line with the Likud’s own Charter - is becoming more and more mainstream and accepted by Likudniks and Israeli society in general.
Moshe Feiglin has outstretched his hand to Bibi Netanyahu in the hope that the Likud can and will represent what is best for the people of Israel. Unfortunately for us all, Netanyahu has so far refused to outstretch his hand back.
Rob Muchnick, US Director
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Manhigut Yehudit Supports the Jews of "Peace House"
December 3, 2008
Hebron, the original capital city of King David and burial site of the Jewish patriarchs, has once again become the flashpoint in the battle between the forces of light and darkness in Israel.
Brave Jews have assembled inside the Bet HaShalom (Peace House) in the holy Jewish City of Hebron. In a political move designed to demonstrate the current government's willingness to harm its own citizens (in order to hold onto power by destroying the Jewish attachment to the Land of Israel and our Jewish holy sites) the Yassam (riot police who were paid bonuses to evict Jews from Gaza in 2005 and sent 325 Jews to hospitals while destroying the Jewish town of Amona in 2006) have once again been sent to throw Jews out of their rightful homes.
Besides Hebron being part of the Land of Israel, the Peace House was legally purchased by Jews. Just as the first Jew Abraham documented clearly his purchase in Hebron of the Machpela Cave to bury his wife, Sarah, so did the Jewish owners of the Peace House painfully document their ownership so as to be beyond dispute. However, the anti-Jewish Israeli government has chosen to disregard all of the indisputable evidence and commence with the violent Expulsion of the Jews living in the Peace House.
Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora must hold the Israeli government leaders responsible for this latest attempt of ethnic cleansing of Jews – namely Ehud Olmert, Tsipi Livni and Ehud Barak and their Kadima party. They must withhold their support for any government officials responsible for any harm that comes to Jewish citizens in Hebron. The Kadima party must be voted out of power (as they wish to "vote out" the Jewish presence in Hebron) at the upcoming general election in February.
Lovers of Israel throughout the world should view the undemocratic and unethical attack on the Jews of Peace House in the gravest terms.
Israel needs new leadership which will cling to its land and its heritage. Israel needs new leadership which is willing to stand up to “the nations” and declare that Hebron, Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria (our biblical heartland) belong to us, and will always remain with us.
The only candidate for Knesset - who is aiming to lead the country from the Prime Minister’s office in the near future - who feels this way is Moshe Feiglin.
Rob Muchnick, US Director
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
INVERTING THE TRUTH
December 1, 2008
The Kadima party and left-wing elements of the Likud party are vilifying Moshe Feiglin, head of the Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction of Likud, and calling him a member of the "extreme right."
What has Feiglin done to earn such a title? He has taken the “extreme right” position that a leader of the state of Israel must govern in accordance with Jewish values. Feiglin supports values such as: an hour of Jewish education for every child, upholding the family, zero tolerance for terrorism, building up (not tearing down) all of the Land of Israel liberated in 1967, and actually defeating (instead of appeasing) our enemies.
The media inflames the problem by dropping their impartiality and becoming the cheerleaders for the left by supporting the idea that sound policies, Jewish identity, Jewish pride, and Israeli survival are “extreme” concepts.
But what of Kadima and other Israeli “leaders”? They have released terrorists with Jewish blood dripping from their hands, engage in corruption with a laundry list of criminal indictments, supported expelling 10,000 Jews from their homes, sit idly by when the terrorists that replaced the expellees send thousands of rockets into Israeli cities, and refuse to allow any Jewish education into public schools. Are they not the “extremists”?
The fear and paranoia of the left and others who feel they must appease the left show how desperately they are trying to disguise the truth in order to hold onto the reigns of power. The more they protest, the easier it is to see through their plans to continue with a process that has cost thousands of Jewish lives and threatens the security of Jews worldwide. These “leaders” have thrown off the yoke of their Jewishness choosing instead to make Israel into the Shimon Peres dream of a "new Middle East" with no borders and no religion.
It is most unfortunate that having a Jewish Nation with a strong and proud Jewish identity that will be a light to the nations is the last thing on their minds.
So what has Moshe Feiglin done to earn the title of “extremist?” He has dared to run for Knesset through the Likud party and has laid plain his plans for becoming Prime Minister of Israel in the near future. Moshe Feiglin is labeled an “extremist” simply because he threatens to end the hegemony of the anti-Jewish, appeasement-favoring “leaders” of Israel forever.
Rob Muchnick, US Director
Mumbai Massacre: Concessions Fuel Global Terror
December 1, 2008
Last week’s horrific massacre in India claimed the lives of nearly 200 victims including six Israelis brutally murdered. In the aftermath of the attack, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has once again demonstrated that he steadfastly refuses to fight our enemies except by appeasement and has pledged to release another 250 terrorists.
In Mumbai, the terrorists specifically targeted the Chabad House and murdered the beautiful Jews Rabbi and Rebbetzin Holtzberg and their four Jewish visitors. The fact that the government in the Jewish homeland releases terrorists as a "goodwill gesture" only empowers the terrorists and makes citizens of free countries worldwide susceptible.
Olmert’s actions clearly create a situation that could precipitate more attacks globally.
Olmert, Foreign Minister Livni, Defense Minister Barak and the other Israeli leaders who all claim to be in the mainstream but are really left-wing extremists advocate rewarding terror with further concessions of Jewish land and by releasing murderers.
These leaders, who will do anything to cling to power - except clinging to their Jewish heritage - have already demonstrated that their "Land for Peace" plans only lead to dead and maimed Jews and the loss in the belief of the justness of our cause by Jews in Israel and worldwide. In order to deflect attention from their lack of interest in Israel’s survival, they attempt to portray Likud candidate for Knesset Moshe Feiglin in a negative light. In actuality Feiglin is the only leader in Israel who has a cogent platform that is in tandem with the stated American goal of fighting and defeating terror.
Feiglin opposed (and remains opposed to) the Oslo Accords which rewarded evil by reinventing a mass murderer, Yasser Arafat, as a “man of peace” and giving him huge sections of Israel – free of Jews - in which most of our Jewish holy sites are located. Oslo resulted in thousands murdered throughout Israel, and suicide bombers then made their way next to U.S. soil on 9/11.
The United States would never adopt a land for peace platform on its own homeland to appease Al Qaeda. Why should Israel?
Rob Muchnick, US Director
Last week’s horrific massacre in India claimed the lives of nearly 200 victims including six Israelis brutally murdered. In the aftermath of the attack, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has once again demonstrated that he steadfastly refuses to fight our enemies except by appeasement and has pledged to release another 250 terrorists.
In Mumbai, the terrorists specifically targeted the Chabad House and murdered the beautiful Jews Rabbi and Rebbetzin Holtzberg and their four Jewish visitors. The fact that the government in the Jewish homeland releases terrorists as a "goodwill gesture" only empowers the terrorists and makes citizens of free countries worldwide susceptible.
Olmert’s actions clearly create a situation that could precipitate more attacks globally.
Olmert, Foreign Minister Livni, Defense Minister Barak and the other Israeli leaders who all claim to be in the mainstream but are really left-wing extremists advocate rewarding terror with further concessions of Jewish land and by releasing murderers.
These leaders, who will do anything to cling to power - except clinging to their Jewish heritage - have already demonstrated that their "Land for Peace" plans only lead to dead and maimed Jews and the loss in the belief of the justness of our cause by Jews in Israel and worldwide. In order to deflect attention from their lack of interest in Israel’s survival, they attempt to portray Likud candidate for Knesset Moshe Feiglin in a negative light. In actuality Feiglin is the only leader in Israel who has a cogent platform that is in tandem with the stated American goal of fighting and defeating terror.
Feiglin opposed (and remains opposed to) the Oslo Accords which rewarded evil by reinventing a mass murderer, Yasser Arafat, as a “man of peace” and giving him huge sections of Israel – free of Jews - in which most of our Jewish holy sites are located. Oslo resulted in thousands murdered throughout Israel, and suicide bombers then made their way next to U.S. soil on 9/11.
The United States would never adopt a land for peace platform on its own homeland to appease Al Qaeda. Why should Israel?
Rob Muchnick, US Director
December 1, 2008
Weak Israeli leaders create an atmosphere in which terrorists understand that they receive a reward for terror. Whether it is releasing murderers from prison cells, offering Jewish land for the illusion of peace, or persecuting Jewish citizens who cling to their heritage and their holy Land of Israel, a signal is sent out that terror pays and pays big.
Yesterday, Yechiel Leiter - the alleged “right-winger” and former Benjamin Netanyahu campaign manager who is running for the Likud’s Knesset list - made an astounding statement that should be a wake-up call to those who love the Land of Israel. Leiter publicly and unashamedly stated that, “If I have to choose between receiving 0% and receiving 50% [of Judea and Samaria], I choose the latter.” He added that, “if we don't declare our own borders they will be declared for us.”
Yechiel Leiter's clear implication is that Israel is not a sovereign nation but just a puppet of the nations of the world. Leiter’s statement comes on top of his own “Leiter Plan” in which he advocated the destruction of 11 Jewish towns. He added that, “We will tear our clothing in mourning [for these towns]. We will sit shiva but the nation will accept it. There will be only 2% who won’t accept it.” Ostensibly, Leiter does not include his town among those who he deems eligible to be destroyed.
The Jewish Nation has already "sat shiva" for thousands of Jews who have been murdered as a result of the sin of giving away parts of our G-d-given Land of Israel.
David Ben-Gurion said that no Jew has the right to give away any of the Land of Israel. Menachem Begin assured us that by giving away the Sinai we would forever keep all of Judea and Samaria. Yitzhak Rabin only pledged autonomy to the Arabs.
Manhigut Yehudit officials ask Yechiel Leiter why it is by his word that the Jewish People should forever give away to our sworn enemies the Land which we have been given by our Creator. We ask by what hubris (and by what logic) does Yechiel Leiter – who touts himself as a religious Jew who has been instrumental in the settlement enterprise – think that he is the one to "save Israel" by creating a terror state in our biblical heartland.
Leiter's statements that concessions are inevitable further the minority, leftist, suicidal plan to amputate the biblical heartland of Israel. Leiter's words not only are dangerous to Israel’s physical existence, but they also contradict the official Likud Charter which calls for the annexation of all areas of Israel liberated in the 1967 War.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Schneerson, a true Torah giant and Jewish leader of this generation, warned of the danger to Jewish lives of negotiating Jewish Land. He also explicitly stated that it is forbidden to cede to a non-Jew, even a tiny strip of the Land of Israel. Unfortunately his warnings continue to be unheeded by most of those leading Israel.
Less than 48 hours after two of the Rebbe's emissaries were brutally murdered in India for the sole “crime” of being Jewish, Yechiel Leiter dishonored their memory by speaking of further concessions.
Israel needs new leadership that will cling to its heritage and its land in the example of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his emissaries.
On December 8th, Likud voters can choose such a candidate. No, it is not Yechiel Leiter. It is Moshe Feiglin, who will restore Jewish values and Jewish pride to the state of Israel. He will stay true to the Land of Israel (and to the Likud Charter's statement on the Land), the Jewish People, and our Creator.
When Moshe Feiglin enters the government in the party which controls the country, he will do everything in his power to move Israel in this direction. A “belief-based” Knesset Member like Feiglin in the Likud party – with clear aspirations for the Prime Minister’s office in the near future – will set off a revolution of thought throughout Israel that it is possible (and necessary) for Israel to change course, to survive, and to thrive by clinging to its heritage.
Rob Muchnick, US Director
Monday, December 1, 2008
Feiglin’s “Jewish Leadership” Fields Immigrant Candidates
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) The 21st and 30th slots on the Likud list of Knesset candidates, both of which are considered to have realistic chances in the upcoming national elections, are reserved for new immigrants. Eleven Likud members, including two from the Jewish Leadership faction, are running.
Meanwhile, the Likud court has ruled in favor of Jewish Leadership and against Binyamin Netanyahu, banning any changes in the way primaries will be held unless the Central Committee approves them
Founded by Oslo-protests leader Moshe Feiglin in the mid-90’s, Jewish Leadership became a faction within the Likud Party in the year 2000. Feiglin has long explained that the road to national leadership, for which he says the faith-based religious-Zionist camp must strive, runs through a large, national party such as the Likud. He believes that small, sectarian parties, such as the National Religious Party or the new Jewish Home, will never be able to provide a platform for national leadership.
Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu has made no secret of his displeasure at the growing influence within the Likud of Feiglin and his camp. Netanyahu’s successful wooing of nationally accepted centrist figures such as Assaf Cheifetz, Dan Meridor, and Uzi Dayan has been an attempt to give the party a middle-of-the-road hue – something that Feiglin’s presence works against.
Netanyahu Warned: Don’t Support Feiglin
Netanyahu even sent a message last week, warning his fellow Likud members that he would “view gravely” their participation at an upcoming Feiglin rally.
Jewish Leadership members are accusing Netanyahu and other Likud officials of trying to torpedo their chances in next week’s party primaries via a series of “tricks.” These include increasing the number of candidates for whom each member can vote; removing polling stations from areas where Jewish Leadership’s support is great, such as in Judea and Samaria; and separating the balloting for the new immigrant slots from the national vote.
Court Rules Against Netanyahu
But, the Likud Court ruled on Monday that Netanyahu's proposal to separate the balloting for the new immigrants would decrease the Jewish Leadership candidates’ chances and therefore cannot be made without the approval of the 3,000-member Likud Central Committee. Netanyahu is therefore likely to forego proposing the change.
Two Immigrant Candidates
The two Jewish Leadership candidates for the new immigrants’ slots are Shmuel Sackett and Asya Antov.
Antov, married and mother of three children, has an M.A. in mathematics and political science, immigrated from Russia in 1991, and lives in Karnei Shomron. She writes regularly for the Russian-language press in Israel, manages an internet portal in Russian for the Jewish nationalist sector, and is very active within the Russian immigrant community. Antov has been involved with Feiglin ever since his Zo Artzein (This is Our Land) anti-Oslo protests, and has also run many Likud party Russian-language activities, such as the “Russian Speaking Likud Loyalists” forum. Jewish Leadership claims polls showing her inclusion on the Likud Knesset list will significantly increase the number of votes for the Likud in the national elections.
Shmuel Sackett, 47, made Aliyah from New York in 1990. Married and father of six, he co-founded, with Feiglin, the Zo Artzeinu protest movement – the largest anti-Oslo Accords movement in Israel.
The only native English speaker running for a “new immigrant” spot, Sackett is said by Jewish Leadership to be “a dedicated ideologue and also a pleasant and sociable person, with a sense of humor and natural charisma. The inclusion of people like him with a clear ideology will increase the voters’ trust in the party. People who don’t take the time to go out and vote because ‘they’re all the same’ will take the time to vote for the Likud if they know that its list contains idealistic and loyal people like him, who will work to ensure that the Likud does not act like a pale imitation of the left.”
Ze'ev Elkin
Another of the 11 candidates for the new immigrant slot is current Knesset Member Ze’ev Elkin of Gush Etzion, who recently left the Kadima Party. Elkin said Kadima had become too left-wing for him. Candidates running for a specific slot do not forfeit their chance to be placed even higher on the list, if their vote total warrants it.
Monday, November 24, 2008
US supporters of Israel -
If you could vote in the upcoming national elections, who would you vote for and why?
As an American Jew or Jewish American, do you wear Israeli Colored Glasses?
If no, why?
If you are Jewish, you must feel the connection to Israel in many ways.
One of them has to be as a safe place to escape. Are you prepared to make Aliyah?
If not, why not? What if you had to, what would you do? Would you go to
Nefesh B'Nefesh? http://www.nbn.org.il/index.php
Consider all possibilities.
B*H*
As an American Jew or Jewish American, do you wear Israeli Colored Glasses?
If no, why?
If you are Jewish, you must feel the connection to Israel in many ways.
One of them has to be as a safe place to escape. Are you prepared to make Aliyah?
If not, why not? What if you had to, what would you do? Would you go to
Nefesh B'Nefesh? http://www.nbn.org.il/index.php
Consider all possibilities.
B*H*
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Awakening Monster: By Moshe Feiglin
What did you think, dear Hebronites? That if you paid an outrageous price, photographed and filmed the transaction for the 'Peace House' and the Arab seller standing on his head and swearing by the tail of the horse of Muhammad that the building is his and he is selling of his own free will - that you could rest easy? Did you think that the law would be on your side? That the Supreme Court would answer Amen? What, beloved brothers, did you think?
You simply do not understand that we are currently facing destruction. As far as Israel's decision makers are concerned, Hebron and all of Judea and Samaria no longer exist. Israel's 'leaders' are completely subservient to the legal/media/cultural/financial/security/academic elite that vigorously clutches the steering wheel of our Titanic.
In the good old days of Gush Emunim, Zionism still existed. There were forces in the Zionist Left that supported settlement throughout Israel. Gush Emunim took full advantage of that breach and with a combination of determined settlement of the land and legal and bureaucratic toil - it dotted Yesha with Jewish settlements.
But today we are on a completely different page. The elites have conquered the country and closed all the breaches. Gush Katif - established by the Labor party in the most legal of procedures - is dust. The elites are just waiting for their next opportunity. After Amona, Kadimah's popularity took a plunge and Olmert withdrew his Convergence plan and the continued struggle against the settlers. But it seems that the period of grace is drawing to an end. What is happening now at the Peace House is the awakening of the monster.
So now what do we do?
First, we must understand that the main objective of the government mechanism today is the destruction of all the settlements in Judea and Samaria. Our Sages teach that in times of shmad, destruction, we must not make the slightest retreat. It is a zero sum game and every retreat will be used to facilitate further destruction.
Second - and much more important. There is no relevant political arena outside the Likud. The Likud is not just another party. It is the national battle field. The rightist parties that were and that will be are completely irrelevant. We saw solid proof of that last week, when former head of the National Religious Party Eitam knocked on the door of the Likud and was not accepted.
The faith based public must connect to the large national camp and make its voice heard inside the Likud. The direction that the Likud takes is determined by its members. If just a fraction of the energies of the faith based public was redirected from struggling over every house to making its influence felt in the Likud - we could have been assured an impressive number of faith based Likud MKs and a much more Jewish-values oriented Israel.
Now you will remind me that the Likud destroyed Yamit and that the Likud destroyed Gush Katif. That is completely true. But the responsibility for that is on the shoulders of those people who ran off to hide in their sector-based parties instead of joining up with the broad national camp and wielding their influence there. Just think of the Likud as the parliament of the entire national camp. Everybody is welcome to join and to vote. Instead, we prefer to stay outside and demonstrate.
The monster that has awakened now in Hebron may wait until after the elections to rear its head again. It doesn't even care who wins.
What to do now? Run to register for the Likud!
Let's get Moshe Feiglin elected to the Knesset!
Let's make Israel the Jewish state that we've always dreamed of!
You simply do not understand that we are currently facing destruction. As far as Israel's decision makers are concerned, Hebron and all of Judea and Samaria no longer exist. Israel's 'leaders' are completely subservient to the legal/media/cultural/financial/security/academic elite that vigorously clutches the steering wheel of our Titanic.
In the good old days of Gush Emunim, Zionism still existed. There were forces in the Zionist Left that supported settlement throughout Israel. Gush Emunim took full advantage of that breach and with a combination of determined settlement of the land and legal and bureaucratic toil - it dotted Yesha with Jewish settlements.
But today we are on a completely different page. The elites have conquered the country and closed all the breaches. Gush Katif - established by the Labor party in the most legal of procedures - is dust. The elites are just waiting for their next opportunity. After Amona, Kadimah's popularity took a plunge and Olmert withdrew his Convergence plan and the continued struggle against the settlers. But it seems that the period of grace is drawing to an end. What is happening now at the Peace House is the awakening of the monster.
So now what do we do?
First, we must understand that the main objective of the government mechanism today is the destruction of all the settlements in Judea and Samaria. Our Sages teach that in times of shmad, destruction, we must not make the slightest retreat. It is a zero sum game and every retreat will be used to facilitate further destruction.
Second - and much more important. There is no relevant political arena outside the Likud. The Likud is not just another party. It is the national battle field. The rightist parties that were and that will be are completely irrelevant. We saw solid proof of that last week, when former head of the National Religious Party Eitam knocked on the door of the Likud and was not accepted.
The faith based public must connect to the large national camp and make its voice heard inside the Likud. The direction that the Likud takes is determined by its members. If just a fraction of the energies of the faith based public was redirected from struggling over every house to making its influence felt in the Likud - we could have been assured an impressive number of faith based Likud MKs and a much more Jewish-values oriented Israel.
Now you will remind me that the Likud destroyed Yamit and that the Likud destroyed Gush Katif. That is completely true. But the responsibility for that is on the shoulders of those people who ran off to hide in their sector-based parties instead of joining up with the broad national camp and wielding their influence there. Just think of the Likud as the parliament of the entire national camp. Everybody is welcome to join and to vote. Instead, we prefer to stay outside and demonstrate.
The monster that has awakened now in Hebron may wait until after the elections to rear its head again. It doesn't even care who wins.
What to do now? Run to register for the Likud!
Let's get Moshe Feiglin elected to the Knesset!
Let's make Israel the Jewish state that we've always dreamed of!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Excellent Achievements at Likud Central Committee
Sunday's Likud Central Committee meeting brought good news for Moshe Feiglin and his supporters. These achievements are the fruits of long and hard behind-the-scenes efforts. First, the list of eligible Likud voters was closed at approximately 96,000 eligible voters. We successfully blocked the motions to allow 'registration by crate' in which a particular candidate registers thousands of people who have no affinity to the Likud just so that they can vote in a particular election.
In addition, we successfully blocked the attempt to save preferred spots on the Likud list for 'all-star' candidates. Along with other Central Committee members, we also successfully blocked the merger of Uzi Dayan's Tafnit party with the Likud, thus preventing the 5,000 Tafnit voters from voting in the upcoming Likud primaries.
The Central Committee decided that every voter will vote for 10 candidates on the general list and one candidate in his district. This decision works in our favor.
The stage for our success is set. Now it is up to us to get Moshe Feiglin and associated faith-based candidates elected to the Likud Knesset list!
Despite the fact that the chances that I would also be elected to the Knesset are good, I have decided not to run this time and to dedicate 100% of my efforts to Moshe Feiglin's success. Moshe Feiglin is a symbol. His election to the Knesset will create a new political power balance in Israeli society.
The struggle to get Moshe elected will not be easy. There are a lot of popular people trying to get into one of the 19 relevant slots on the Likud list. We call upon each and every one of our friends and supporters to do whatever you can to help. Every small donation counts. We also need people to call or visit the homes of Likud members and talk to them about voting for Moshe Feiglin, and volunteers to be at the polling places on voting day.
Our readers in Israel may already have received phone calls from various candidates asking for their support. Please ask them one question: "Will you be helping Moshe Feiglin?" If the answer is "yes" and they will call upon their supporters to vote for Moshe, we can support them. If not, not. All of our energies are focused on a clear goal. Politicians understand this logic very well: Help Feiglin and we will help you.
In addition to Moshe Feiglin, we will also be supporting other Manhigut Yehudit associated candidates:
Sagiv Asulin on the young people's slot, Asya Anatov on the olim slot (the olim have slots number 21 and 30, and Asya's chances to be elected are excellent.), and Shmuel Sackett on the Yesha slot. Shmuel Sackett co-founded the Zo Artzeinu movement together with Moshe Feiglin and is the International Director of Manhigut Yehudit.
We are all in this together. We need to pray, donate, convince others, do all that we can – and G-d will help us.
Michael Fuah
Let's get Moshe Feiglin elected to the Knesset!
Let's make Israel the Jewish state that we've always dreamed of!
In addition, we successfully blocked the attempt to save preferred spots on the Likud list for 'all-star' candidates. Along with other Central Committee members, we also successfully blocked the merger of Uzi Dayan's Tafnit party with the Likud, thus preventing the 5,000 Tafnit voters from voting in the upcoming Likud primaries.
The Central Committee decided that every voter will vote for 10 candidates on the general list and one candidate in his district. This decision works in our favor.
The stage for our success is set. Now it is up to us to get Moshe Feiglin and associated faith-based candidates elected to the Likud Knesset list!
Despite the fact that the chances that I would also be elected to the Knesset are good, I have decided not to run this time and to dedicate 100% of my efforts to Moshe Feiglin's success. Moshe Feiglin is a symbol. His election to the Knesset will create a new political power balance in Israeli society.
The struggle to get Moshe elected will not be easy. There are a lot of popular people trying to get into one of the 19 relevant slots on the Likud list. We call upon each and every one of our friends and supporters to do whatever you can to help. Every small donation counts. We also need people to call or visit the homes of Likud members and talk to them about voting for Moshe Feiglin, and volunteers to be at the polling places on voting day.
Our readers in Israel may already have received phone calls from various candidates asking for their support. Please ask them one question: "Will you be helping Moshe Feiglin?" If the answer is "yes" and they will call upon their supporters to vote for Moshe, we can support them. If not, not. All of our energies are focused on a clear goal. Politicians understand this logic very well: Help Feiglin and we will help you.
In addition to Moshe Feiglin, we will also be supporting other Manhigut Yehudit associated candidates:
Sagiv Asulin on the young people's slot, Asya Anatov on the olim slot (the olim have slots number 21 and 30, and Asya's chances to be elected are excellent.), and Shmuel Sackett on the Yesha slot. Shmuel Sackett co-founded the Zo Artzeinu movement together with Moshe Feiglin and is the International Director of Manhigut Yehudit.
We are all in this together. We need to pray, donate, convince others, do all that we can – and G-d will help us.
Michael Fuah
Let's get Moshe Feiglin elected to the Knesset!
Let's make Israel the Jewish state that we've always dreamed of!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Campaign Up and Running
Above is the latest Moshe Feiglin sticker/logo. Loosely translated, it says:
Feiglin - You can believe!
Moshe Feiglin's campaign is up and running. Moshe and his staff are busy meeting with Likud leaders and voters throughout Israel. In addition to the smaller, daily meetings, the Moshe Feiglin campaign headquarters will be holding a central rally on Wednesday, the 28th of Cheshvan, (Nov. 26) at 6:30 p.m. at the Jerusalem Renaissance Hotel. For those of you who live in Israel, this is your opportunity to meet Moshe, associated faith-based candidates who will be running for slots on the Likud ticket and other public figures who will be there to express their support for Moshe. It is also your chance to donate and volunteer. Most importantly, the rally is your chance to show your support for faith based leadership for Israel!
The following is Moshe Feiglin's latest Hebrew movie. The movie opens up with famous political journalist Ayalah Hasson's television appearance in which she declares that Moshe Feiglin may be elected to one of the top five slots on the Likud list. She is followed by Moshe Feiglin's appeal to his supporters to come to the rally, to donate to his campaign and to make sure that Ayala Hasson's projection will become reality.
------------------
Don't Vote for Leftist Opportunists
It seems like every day, more and more public figures are joining in the race for a slot on the Likud ticket. The fact that a diverse array of nationalists will be running in the primaries is a positive phenomenon. It means that the Likud is a broad-based national movement. We must strive to make the Likud the political home of the entire national camp - from Yisrael Beiteinu to Shas.
Not surprisingly, though, a number of leftist opportunists have also joined in the primaries race - among them Expulsion supporters Dan Meridor and former Police Chief Asaf Chefetz. It is fine for candidates who represent a broad spectrum of views to run in the Likud primaries. We can only hope that the Likud members will not be dazzled by the media hype surrounding these men, and will vote for the candidates who truly represent the nationalist camp!
Friday, November 7, 2008
The Jews Who Got Obama Elected: By Moshe Feiglin
For some reason, it is always the Jews who are deeply involved and sometimes responsible for the revolutions in the world. It is the Jews who are inexplicably driven to perfect the world in the name of some cause. If they are not busy perfecting the world for the Kingdom of the One G-d of Israel, then they will throw themselves into the perfection business in the name of communism, liberalism or some other ism. Whenever you peek behind a real revolution, you will discover a Jew – pulling the strings.
Barack Obama's meteoric rise to power is a revolution. It is difficult to describe this revolution because it has gone to great lengths not to describe itself. Time will tell exactly what revolution we dove into this week. But one thing is for sure – it is a revolution, indeed.
Who are the Jews who got Obama elected?
On the surface, the answer is simple. Obama's campaign manager - the brains behind the brilliant campaign of the young candidate who has never filled an executive position in his life – belong, of course, to a Jew - David Plouffe. Jews were prominent at every level of the Obama campaign, as well.
But I do not think that it is the Jews on Obama's staff who created the revolution. The two Jews who got Obama elected are in completely different places. They are two Prisoners of Zion.
The Jew more responsible than any other person for Obama's victory is my friend, Natan Sharansky. Sharansky is a man to be admired. His personal biography, captivating personality and uncompromising integrity have won him wide acclaim. If given the choice, Sharansky may not have chosen the path onto which G-d put him, but his image has become synonymous with the small man whose courage broke the Iron Curtain. Whether he intended to or not, Sharansky has become a cultural icon in the U S – a beloved hero. He is the man who defeated America's challenger – the USSR – and proved that the human spirit can triumph against evil. Sharansky promotes traditional American values - the values that inform the Republicans in general, and Bush in particular.
Bush and Sharansky became close friends. It was easy for Bush to adopt the former Prisoner of Zion's doctrine as the resounding proof of the wisdom of his world view. Sharansky's book "The Case for Democracy," became Bush's second bible. According to Bush, the book became a permanent fixture on his night table and he referred to it often. Sharansky became a frequent and welcomed guest at the White House. Admirably, this modest man did not publicize the many meetings and personal relationship that he had with the US president.
What does this have to do with Obama?
Bush seems to have received the inspiration or reinforcement for his ill-advised quest to democratize Iraq from Sharansky. Bush Senior understood that the US could not enforce its values on a Muslim society. He made some serious mistakes in the First Gulf War – but he did not entangle his country in an attempt to create an impossible reality on the basis of an appealing, but patently unrealistic theory.
There is not and will never be democracy in Arab Muslim society. Democratic and Muslim values are mutually exclusive. America's embroilment in Iraq is not the result of poor military planning (although that is party of the problem) as the American Right attempted to claim. America's embroilment in Iraq stems from an unfounded and even childish world view. The mis-attempt to democratize Iraq is the point at which Bush's presidency began to collapse. Barack Obama's rise is just the flip side of the large shadow of Bush that hovered over McCain's campaign.
There is another Jew – a Prisoner of Zion – who also has a hand in Bush's collapse. When Bush was elected to his second term, I sent him a letter that was personally delivered into his hands. I addressed him as a believing Jew writing to an American of deep faith. I congratulated him on his victory and wrote that I believed that the continued incarceration of Jonathan Pollard – a righteous Jew who acted to save his brethren when they were in danger – would result in a catastrophic term for Bush.
The Biblical verse "and I will bless those who bless you and those who curse you, I will curse" is a guiding light for many believing Americans. George Bush forgot that verse and placed himself on the side of the cursed.
But there is still a chance to rectify the situation. Jonathan Pollard has been rotting in a US prison more than double the time that Natan Sharansky was imprisoned in the USSR. Pollard's actions to save his brethren do not go down well with Israeli politics – or with American politics, either. But now that Bush is leaving office, he can be motivated by his conscience instead of by politics, and pardon Pollard. We must do all that we can to put Pollard back on Bush's agenda. We must also be on the side of the blessed.
Something Good is Happening in the Likud
Something good is happening in the Likud. Nationalist ideologues are entering the primaries race for the Likud Knesset list - among them Benny Begin, Uzi Landau and possibly Yair Shamir. These people are genuine nationalists and we must receive them with open arms.
Effie Eitam's announcement this morning that he also intends to join the Likud and run in the primaries is an even better piece of news. His step widens the bridgehead originally forged by Moshe Feiglin. It emphasizes the fact that more and more religious nationalists understand that integrating into the national camp's leadership tool - the Likud - is the only way to progress. Unfortunately, it seems that Netanyahu is trying to block Eitam's entry into the Likud and not to authorize his candidacy.
The following is Moshe Feiglin's press release on this topic:
Accept Eitam into Likud
"Effie Eitam's decision to join the Likud is an important step in the religious/nationalist camp's integration into its natural ruling party. It is not acceptable that blatant leftists such as Uzi Dayan and Asaf Hefetz have received the authorization from Chairman Netanyahu to run despite the short amount of time that has passed since they joined the Likud, while Effie Eitam - a person from the very core of the nationalist camp - is rejected by the Likud citing the very same reason."
On the one hand, there is a strong nationalist trend inside the Likud - for which we have worked over the years. On the other hand, though, there are still those in the Likud who oppose the faith-based direction and continue their attempts to prevent the refreshing change so vital to the Likud's success.
Now more than ever, Israel needs Feiglin in the Knesset!
The race for a realistic slot in the crowded list is going to be tough. It is important to remember that Moshe Feiglin is the only faith-based Likud candidate who dares to directly face off against the justice system and media.
The following (Hebrew) film succinctly presents Moshe's views on these issues.
http://www.mflikud.co.il/contents/video/video036.html
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Israel's Establishment Needs the Arabs: By Moshe Feiglin
Tishrei 5769
This article is translated from the Makor Rishon newspaper.
Which super idealists in Judea and Samaria would be willing to trade places with the Jews living in one of Israel's mixed Jewish/Arab cities? I'm not just talking about Akko, Nazareth, Lod or Yafo. I'm also talking about up and coming Israeli cities like Arad and Carmiel. How many idealistic settlers who have to put up with Arab violence on the roads of Judea and Samaria would be willing to be their neighbors in the same apartment building in one of the mixed cities on Israel's periphery ?
Nobody talks about the creeping Arab conquest inside the Green Line. The people who determine our national agenda live in Israel's center. They do not feel the harassment of the Bedouins in the Negev or the Arabs in Israel's Triangle and Galilee. The news editors do not have to guard their sheep at night; the MKs do not have Arabs living across the hall and the judges' daughter have no problem going out at night. For all practical purposes, the people who determine what we are allowed or forbidden to talk about live on a different planet.
It is an open secret that the Arabs have been using the time-proven method of block-busting to take over Jewish neighborhoods. The first apartment in a Jewish neighborhood in Ramle or Nahariyah will be bought by an Arab at an astronomic price - and a Jewish seller will always be found. After that, the Jews flee, selling their apartments at any price. The only Jews left are the elderly and those Jews who cannot afford to move elsewhere. And then I receive their letters; the old woman in Yafo whose front yard has become the local garbage dump for the neighborhood Arabs; the Jew whose car was blocked by an Arab in the middle of Yafo - and when he complained to a policeman, almost got himself arrested. After all, we all know that the Arabs are the masters of the Land. This and more are daily occurrences in Yafo, just three minutes from Tel Aviv - the planet where the elites determine what we are allowed to talk about and what is forbidden.
A number of months ago, the Druze in Peki'in burned the homes of the Jews living in the village and violently chased them from their homes. Did you hear much about that in Israel's media? Was an official Commission of Inquiry convened? They took a policewoman hostage. Was anybody arrested? Of course not. In response to the pogrom in Peki'in, Israel's police force sent its soccer team to play a friendly game against the Peki'in soccer team.
also brought about the largest mass murder in history. Scorn for the individual's right to amass wealth ultimately leads to scorn for the individual's very life. Even when it is unpopular - the Likud does not have a socialist worldview.
We established a state so that we could stop being different and start being normal. If only Jews can be Israelis, then we will never be normal. That is why the Israeli needs the Arab. He needs him to help him forget that he is a Jew.
It took a bit of time, but the Arabs eventually realized that they have an insurance policy worth gold. They understood that they hold the key to the Israeli dream of normalcy. They realized that because of their internal psychosis, the Israelis need them. They understand that a pogrom of the 1929 variety is still unacceptable. But other than that - just about anything goes.
In Tel Aviv, they continue to dream the normalcy dream and to accuse anybody who dares to say that there is a problem of racism and incitement. No MK, not even from the Right, dares to broach the subject. And so, quietly and undisturbed, over 60% of Israel's sovereign territory has already been transferred to Arab hands - inside the Green Line! More than half the social security funds are transferred to pad the Arab population, whose hero was caught helping the Hizbollah target Israeli cities - and was of course released to Jordan. This population pays little taxes. Who wants to risk their lives to collect taxes? They build wherever they please, pollute wherever they please, burn whatever they please and of course, they vote for the Knesset and have access to top government positions. We are busy fighting for Yesha, and refuse to recognize the more dangerous front against the fifth column inside Israel.
The reaction of Akko's Jews to the pogrom may not look very good on television, but it prevented similar riots from breaking out throughout Israel. But no need to fret. Israel's media will hurry to remind the Arabs that the future of this land belongs to them. The people in the periphery will continue to pay the price, while the people on planet Tel Aviv will continue to condemn the racists and inciters.
The fundamental solution is leadership that is not looking for normalcy. The solution is leadership that emphasizes our Jewish identity. Paradoxically, it is only when the Arabs understand that the Israelis do not need them to help them forget that they are Jews - will we be able to live here in peace with non-Jews who unequivocally accept the fact that Israel is a Jewish state.
No matter where you are,
you can be part of Manhigut Yehudit.
Join us!
Together we can channel our idealistic energy
into revolutionizing Israeli society.
What can I do?
If you are already a Likud member and you would like to check your membership status, just email us at: likud@jewishisrael.org. Be sure to include your name, Israeli ID No., and a phone number where it is easiest to reach you. Or give us a call at our "English Speakers" office: 02-996-1123 (Israel), or 516-620- 2475 (USA).
If you are not Israeli citizen, you can become a Manhigut Yehudit International Member. Joining Manhigut Yehudit International is much more than just a donation. Now you're part of the team! And you don't need to be living in Israel to join. Join the team today! Click here to learn more! Let's spread the message! If you are interested in arranging a lecture or meeting in your community with Moshe Feiglin or Shmuel Sackett, either in Israel or in the USA, please contact Dovid Shirel at shir@manhigut.org, or call: 02-996-1123 (Israel) or 516-295-3222 (USA).
This article is translated from the Makor Rishon newspaper.
Which super idealists in Judea and Samaria would be willing to trade places with the Jews living in one of Israel's mixed Jewish/Arab cities? I'm not just talking about Akko, Nazareth, Lod or Yafo. I'm also talking about up and coming Israeli cities like Arad and Carmiel. How many idealistic settlers who have to put up with Arab violence on the roads of Judea and Samaria would be willing to be their neighbors in the same apartment building in one of the mixed cities on Israel's periphery ?
Nobody talks about the creeping Arab conquest inside the Green Line. The people who determine our national agenda live in Israel's center. They do not feel the harassment of the Bedouins in the Negev or the Arabs in Israel's Triangle and Galilee. The news editors do not have to guard their sheep at night; the MKs do not have Arabs living across the hall and the judges' daughter have no problem going out at night. For all practical purposes, the people who determine what we are allowed or forbidden to talk about live on a different planet.
It is an open secret that the Arabs have been using the time-proven method of block-busting to take over Jewish neighborhoods. The first apartment in a Jewish neighborhood in Ramle or Nahariyah will be bought by an Arab at an astronomic price - and a Jewish seller will always be found. After that, the Jews flee, selling their apartments at any price. The only Jews left are the elderly and those Jews who cannot afford to move elsewhere. And then I receive their letters; the old woman in Yafo whose front yard has become the local garbage dump for the neighborhood Arabs; the Jew whose car was blocked by an Arab in the middle of Yafo - and when he complained to a policeman, almost got himself arrested. After all, we all know that the Arabs are the masters of the Land. This and more are daily occurrences in Yafo, just three minutes from Tel Aviv - the planet where the elites determine what we are allowed to talk about and what is forbidden.
A number of months ago, the Druze in Peki'in burned the homes of the Jews living in the village and violently chased them from their homes. Did you hear much about that in Israel's media? Was an official Commission of Inquiry convened? They took a policewoman hostage. Was anybody arrested? Of course not. In response to the pogrom in Peki'in, Israel's police force sent its soccer team to play a friendly game against the Peki'in soccer team.
also brought about the largest mass murder in history. Scorn for the individual's right to amass wealth ultimately leads to scorn for the individual's very life. Even when it is unpopular - the Likud does not have a socialist worldview.
We established a state so that we could stop being different and start being normal. If only Jews can be Israelis, then we will never be normal. That is why the Israeli needs the Arab. He needs him to help him forget that he is a Jew.
It took a bit of time, but the Arabs eventually realized that they have an insurance policy worth gold. They understood that they hold the key to the Israeli dream of normalcy. They realized that because of their internal psychosis, the Israelis need them. They understand that a pogrom of the 1929 variety is still unacceptable. But other than that - just about anything goes.
In Tel Aviv, they continue to dream the normalcy dream and to accuse anybody who dares to say that there is a problem of racism and incitement. No MK, not even from the Right, dares to broach the subject. And so, quietly and undisturbed, over 60% of Israel's sovereign territory has already been transferred to Arab hands - inside the Green Line! More than half the social security funds are transferred to pad the Arab population, whose hero was caught helping the Hizbollah target Israeli cities - and was of course released to Jordan. This population pays little taxes. Who wants to risk their lives to collect taxes? They build wherever they please, pollute wherever they please, burn whatever they please and of course, they vote for the Knesset and have access to top government positions. We are busy fighting for Yesha, and refuse to recognize the more dangerous front against the fifth column inside Israel.
The reaction of Akko's Jews to the pogrom may not look very good on television, but it prevented similar riots from breaking out throughout Israel. But no need to fret. Israel's media will hurry to remind the Arabs that the future of this land belongs to them. The people in the periphery will continue to pay the price, while the people on planet Tel Aviv will continue to condemn the racists and inciters.
The fundamental solution is leadership that is not looking for normalcy. The solution is leadership that emphasizes our Jewish identity. Paradoxically, it is only when the Arabs understand that the Israelis do not need them to help them forget that they are Jews - will we be able to live here in peace with non-Jews who unequivocally accept the fact that Israel is a Jewish state.
No matter where you are,
you can be part of Manhigut Yehudit.
Join us!
Together we can channel our idealistic energy
into revolutionizing Israeli society.
What can I do?
If you are already a Likud member and you would like to check your membership status, just email us at: likud@jewishisrael.org. Be sure to include your name, Israeli ID No., and a phone number where it is easiest to reach you. Or give us a call at our "English Speakers" office: 02-996-1123 (Israel), or 516-620- 2475 (USA).
If you are not Israeli citizen, you can become a Manhigut Yehudit International Member. Joining Manhigut Yehudit International is much more than just a donation. Now you're part of the team! And you don't need to be living in Israel to join. Join the team today! Click here to learn more! Let's spread the message! If you are interested in arranging a lecture or meeting in your community with Moshe Feiglin or Shmuel Sackett, either in Israel or in the USA, please contact Dovid Shirel at shir@manhigut.org, or call: 02-996-1123 (Israel) or 516-295-3222 (USA).
On the Temple Mount with Moshe Feiglin: By Michael Fuah
With praise to G-d, we actually managed to enter the Temple Mount complex. We waited in line for two hours, while the police allowed only 15 Jews in at each interval. Yes, it was frustrating. The police announced that in another half hour the Mount will be closed, and we were still waiting in line. At the last minute, the Manhigut Yehudit group managed to enter, with Moshe Feiglin as our intrepid guide. We gingerly ascend the Mount, trying not to show our lips moving as we quietly utter the Shir Hama'alot Psalms. We pass through the gate and stand beneath the plaza, which is dominated by the Dome of the Rock; the Foundation Stone that was part of the Holy of Holies in the Second Temple lies inside the Dome. It is hard to integrate the destruction and shame. Tears begin to well up and flow naturally down my face. A wakf guard jumps on me and shouts, "It is forbidden for you to pray here!" An Israeli policeman hurries over and tells me in no uncertain terms that I had better stop praying - or else. Moshe Feiglin intervenes and maintains that we have every right to cry on the Temple Mount. The shame burns throughout my entire body. It is forbidden for me to pray in the holiest place on earth - just because I am a Jew. If I was an Arab, for example, I could play soccer on the Mount, pick olives and even enjoy a picnic, as the Arabs do while we try not to show them just how much the sight hurts us.
The Temple Mount is an awesomely spiritual place. As I touch the giant wooden beams from the First Temple, stand at the entrance to the stairway to the Hulda Gates and imagine the Jewish pilgrims streaming forth, continue with them east till the entrance to the courtyard and even manage to hear a surreptitious Priestly Blessing, my heart brims over with excruciating pain and lofty exhilaration.
The wakf keep up a constant barrage of epithets, trying to impress upon us that they are the masters of the Mount. Moshe Feiglin takes advantage of the brief absence of the policeman and quickly prostrates himself on the holy ground. The wakf run toward him, furiously shouting. The policeman, who had evaporated when the Arabs were harassing us, comes running. Moshe, pleased that he had the opportunity to bow down on the Temple Mount quickly gets up and continues with his explanations as if nothing has happened. "Next time, please make sure that the Arabs do not disturb us," he says to the policeman. The wakf guards fall silent. They understand Moshe's language.
We silently mumble the Shema Yisrael and Aleinu L'shabeach prayers at the place closest to the Holy of Holies to which access is permissible according to Jewish law. We pray for Jonathan Pollard and Gilad Shalit and most of all - for the redemption of Israel and the building of the Holy Temple. We exit at the western gate, keeping our faces turned all the while to the Holy of Holies, singing and dancing with hope and prayer that the Temple will speedily be built.
The Temple Mount is the site of the most extreme desecration of G-d's Name. 24/7. Ascending the Mount according to Jewish law does not decrease the desecration. It may even cause it to be expressed in a more tangible manner. But the ascent to the Temple Mount expresses our unequivocal desire to rectify the humiliating situation. And the power of that desire is gaining momentum.
Sukkot on the Temple Mount: Resuscitation Commenced
There is no doubt that something very good happened this Sukkot holiday. Over one thousand Jews ascended to the Temple Mount - despite the extensive preparations necessary beforehand and the extensive wait before actually entering the Mount. It seems that the deep Jewish longing for the Temple Mount has finally come to the surface. The line of people waiting to enter the Temple Mount stretched all the way to the gate of the Old City.
The Temple Mount is the heart of the Jewish people. Until now, we have been suffering from a national cardiac infarction. On Sukkot, our national resuscitation commenced in earnest.
Getting into the Temple Mount was anything but simple. The police were very surprised and pressured by the unusually large amount of people waiting to ascend to the Mount and they did all that they could to make the visit as frustrating and unpleasant as possible. The Arab wakf also felt the change and reacted with verbal violence and open derision. Nevertheless, we were exhilarated and inspired to be on the Mount on the Sukkot holiday. From the physical and spiritual heights of the Mount, the day when the Third Temple will be rebuilt and the Nation of Israel will return to its own identity seemed almost tangible.
Shabbat Shalom,
Moshe Feiglin
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Moshe Feiglin Addressed the Likud Central Committee
Last Monday, October 6, Moshe Feiglin was given the prestigious honor of being invited to speak to the Likud Central Committee. The following are the main points of his speech, which drew a standing ovation.
Best wishes to new Central Committee Chairman [Moshe] Kachalon. It is commendable that you have dedicated the first meeting in your new role as chairman to the discussion of ideological issues.
The Economy and Education: What is the connection between the two? The connection is values. An economic system that is not based on values will ultimately collapse. The world constantly alternates between socialist & capitalist ideologies. Pure socialism is simply armed robbery in broad daylight. It inevitably leads to poverty. Historically, it has also brought about the largest mass murders. Scorn for the individual's right to amass wealth ultimately leads to scorn for the individual's very life. Even when the Likud is unpopular it must never give in and accept this socialist worldview.
On the other hand, capitalism that is not refined & moderated is just another strain of Darwinism - doomed to eventually implode. Clearly, we are not interested in that extreme.
What does the Likud have to offer? We offer a free market that sanctifies individual rights to personal property, but that refines and moderates the individual's drive for wealth through our Jewish culture.
In Switzerland, the Chief of the National Bank does not earn over 20% more than the tellers. That is not the law - it is Swiss culture that refines and moderates the capitalist system.
On the one hand, the right to amass personal wealth must be maintained (Our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all relative billionaires). But on the other hand, we must also set an atmosphere whereby interest-free loans to the individual borrower, the annulment of debt in the Shemittah year and most importantly - a culture of community giving and mutual responsibility are instilled.
And if we are already talking about mutual responsibility, I would like to add a few more words. In the upcoming year we can expect some significant political struggles. The media will attempt to portray [Tsipi] Livni as a new, clean politician. Whoever expects the Likud to sweep to victory without a concerted effort is in for a surprise.
The Likud is connected to the most healthy, intense and ideological forces in the National Camp. It would be a grave error for us to look for support from other places. Remember what [Ezer] Weizman and [Moshe] Dayan did to [Menachem] Begin. Do you remember the slogan, "Bibi is good for the Jews"? If we want to lead Israel, we must do what is good for the Jews. The Left is completely unreliable. If we join up with all the truly nationalist forces - if we do what is good for the Jews - we will triumph and save Israel.
We Pray For the Release of Our Jewish Prisoners
During this new year we fervently pray that the Prisoners of Zion both inside and outside of Israel will shortly return home to their families. First and foremost, the betrayed Prisoner of Zion, our brother, Jonathan Pollard. Second, the soldiers for whom Israel does not even attempt to exact a price - Gilad Shalit, Zach Baumel, Tzvi Feldman, Yekutiel Katz, Ron Arad & Guy Hever. And let us say another prayer for the speedy return of our fallen heroic brother Eli Cohen in order to give him a proper Jewish burial in the Land of Israel.
And of course, all the Jewish Prisoners of Zion languishing in Israeli jails because Israel "doesn't have a vested interest" (in the words of Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter) in releasing them - although it is convinced that it does have a vested interest in the wholesale release of Arab murderers.
We pray that we will soon merit worthy, Jewish leadership that will view the Jewish vested interest as Israel's vested interest and will free all the Prisoners of Zion without delay.
The Jewish State?
The beginning of defeat is retreat (Sotah 44B).
As we have seen for many years, the state of Israel is NOT the Jewish state. The Israeli government keeps making this clear.
On Yom Kippur, Arabs rioted in Akko and the Israeli police did nothing while the Arabs looted, destroyed cars and threatened the lives of any Jew who set foot on the streets. ON OUR HOLIEST DAY! Two days ago in Judea & Samaria, Arabs (and some of their Jewish sympathizers) got permission from Israeli police to harvest a field. Instead - after the residents of a local Jewish town went out - the Arab group pillaged the small town and murdered the dog of a resident. Four of the Jewish attackers were caught, and yet they were released by the police almost immediately.
These stories just add to the long list of disgraces. Whether it’s the giving away of Eretz Yisrael or the refusal to let Jews pray on our holiest site - the Temple Mount - Israel has never had a leader who stood firm for the Land of Israel, G-d, and the Jewish People. We must stop retreating. We must start standing up for our beliefs and our principles. We need your help to install real Jewish leadership in Israel!
Best wishes to new Central Committee Chairman [Moshe] Kachalon. It is commendable that you have dedicated the first meeting in your new role as chairman to the discussion of ideological issues.
The Economy and Education: What is the connection between the two? The connection is values. An economic system that is not based on values will ultimately collapse. The world constantly alternates between socialist & capitalist ideologies. Pure socialism is simply armed robbery in broad daylight. It inevitably leads to poverty. Historically, it has also brought about the largest mass murders. Scorn for the individual's right to amass wealth ultimately leads to scorn for the individual's very life. Even when the Likud is unpopular it must never give in and accept this socialist worldview.
On the other hand, capitalism that is not refined & moderated is just another strain of Darwinism - doomed to eventually implode. Clearly, we are not interested in that extreme.
What does the Likud have to offer? We offer a free market that sanctifies individual rights to personal property, but that refines and moderates the individual's drive for wealth through our Jewish culture.
In Switzerland, the Chief of the National Bank does not earn over 20% more than the tellers. That is not the law - it is Swiss culture that refines and moderates the capitalist system.
On the one hand, the right to amass personal wealth must be maintained (Our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all relative billionaires). But on the other hand, we must also set an atmosphere whereby interest-free loans to the individual borrower, the annulment of debt in the Shemittah year and most importantly - a culture of community giving and mutual responsibility are instilled.
And if we are already talking about mutual responsibility, I would like to add a few more words. In the upcoming year we can expect some significant political struggles. The media will attempt to portray [Tsipi] Livni as a new, clean politician. Whoever expects the Likud to sweep to victory without a concerted effort is in for a surprise.
The Likud is connected to the most healthy, intense and ideological forces in the National Camp. It would be a grave error for us to look for support from other places. Remember what [Ezer] Weizman and [Moshe] Dayan did to [Menachem] Begin. Do you remember the slogan, "Bibi is good for the Jews"? If we want to lead Israel, we must do what is good for the Jews. The Left is completely unreliable. If we join up with all the truly nationalist forces - if we do what is good for the Jews - we will triumph and save Israel.
We Pray For the Release of Our Jewish Prisoners
During this new year we fervently pray that the Prisoners of Zion both inside and outside of Israel will shortly return home to their families. First and foremost, the betrayed Prisoner of Zion, our brother, Jonathan Pollard. Second, the soldiers for whom Israel does not even attempt to exact a price - Gilad Shalit, Zach Baumel, Tzvi Feldman, Yekutiel Katz, Ron Arad & Guy Hever. And let us say another prayer for the speedy return of our fallen heroic brother Eli Cohen in order to give him a proper Jewish burial in the Land of Israel.
And of course, all the Jewish Prisoners of Zion languishing in Israeli jails because Israel "doesn't have a vested interest" (in the words of Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter) in releasing them - although it is convinced that it does have a vested interest in the wholesale release of Arab murderers.
We pray that we will soon merit worthy, Jewish leadership that will view the Jewish vested interest as Israel's vested interest and will free all the Prisoners of Zion without delay.
The Jewish State?
The beginning of defeat is retreat (Sotah 44B).
As we have seen for many years, the state of Israel is NOT the Jewish state. The Israeli government keeps making this clear.
On Yom Kippur, Arabs rioted in Akko and the Israeli police did nothing while the Arabs looted, destroyed cars and threatened the lives of any Jew who set foot on the streets. ON OUR HOLIEST DAY! Two days ago in Judea & Samaria, Arabs (and some of their Jewish sympathizers) got permission from Israeli police to harvest a field. Instead - after the residents of a local Jewish town went out - the Arab group pillaged the small town and murdered the dog of a resident. Four of the Jewish attackers were caught, and yet they were released by the police almost immediately.
These stories just add to the long list of disgraces. Whether it’s the giving away of Eretz Yisrael or the refusal to let Jews pray on our holiest site - the Temple Mount - Israel has never had a leader who stood firm for the Land of Israel, G-d, and the Jewish People. We must stop retreating. We must start standing up for our beliefs and our principles. We need your help to install real Jewish leadership in Israel!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Torah Sparks: Yom Kippur
On Yom Kippur the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies to offer incense as an emissary for every Jew. This service still exists in a spiritual sense even today. For now that we do not have the holy Temple in Jerusalem, every Jew is himself a “High Priest”; he himself “enters” “the Holy of Holies” and “offers incense.”
(Lubavitcher Rebbe)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)