Turning the State of Jews into the Jewish State, with Authentic Jewish Leadership.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Reverse Feiglin Effect Strikes Again
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.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Why I Will Not Appeal the Likud Decision to Bump Me to 36th Place
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?
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
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
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
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
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
(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.