By Alan M. Dershowitz FrontPageMagazine.com February 04, 2009
Bill Moyers holds himself out to be a moral arbiteur, based in large part on
his commitment to Christian principles. Cardinal Renato Martino is a prince
of the Catholic church and President of the Council for Justice and Peace.
Former President Jimmy Carter preaches peace, based on the teachings of
Jesus. Yet when it comes to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, all three
are morally blind.
In a widely watched television assessment of the recent conflict in Gaza,
here is what Moyers said: "By killing indiscriminately the elderly, kids,
entire families, by destroying schools and hospitals, Israel did exactly
what terrorists do…" (emphasis added) Of course he also included the
obligatory hedge that: "Every nation has the right to defend its people."
Cardinal Martino went even further, making an obscene and historically
ignorant, comparison between Israel's self-defense actions against rockets
fired by Hamas at Israeli children, and the Nazi genocide against the Jews
during the Holocaust. He said that the conditions in Gaza "resembles a big
concentration camp." Concentration camps, of course, were places where Jews were held until they could be processed through the machinery of death, as part of a massive genocidal program that willfully murdered 6 million Jews. Any comparison
between Israel's action in Gaza and those of Nazis during the Holocaust is
not only obscene, it is blatantly anti-Semitic, which is supposed to be a
sin under Vatican law. (It is apparently not, however, a sin for a Catholic
bishop to deny that the Holocaust occurred at all, since Bishop Richard
Williamson of Great Britain was welcomed back into the Catholic church after
claiming that there were no gas chambers and that the Jews are lying when
they say that 6 million of them were killed, when according to that bigot in
robes, a mere 300,000 Jews died during the entire Holocaust. The batty
bishop—who, like the Taliban, opposes higher education for women—also
believes that no airplanes were involved in the 9/11 attack and that the
buildings were blown up by explosives and rockets, presumably set and fired
by the United States and Israel.)
An essential aspect of Christian teaching, and especially of Catholic
teaching, is the important principle that distinguishes between
intentionally killing an innocent person, and unintentionally killing an
innocent person in the process of legitimately trying to prevent harm to
one's self or others. This concept, known as the principle of double effect,
is central to Catholic theology. It traces its roots to Thomas Aquinas and
has had enormous influence on moral thinking not only within the Catholic
Church, but throughout Christianity and indeed in the secular world as well.
Understanding and complying with this principle may literally mean the
difference between eternal damnation and eternal salvation. That's how
important it is.
Except, apparently, when it comes to the Jewish state of Israel. Then
suddenly moral blindness makes it impossible for church authorities to see, understand or apply this principle. Cardinal Martino is not the first church leader to try to create moral equivalence between the actions of Hamas in willfully and proudly trying to kill as many Jewish children, women and other civilians as possible, and the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces
in trying to stop them from killing Jewish children, while inadvertently
killing some Palestinian civilians who are used as human shields by Hamas.
The Pope himself has been guilty of invoking such moral equivalence between
these very different actions. Indeed it is fair to say that the Vatican's
entire approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict has been to suggest a false
moral equivalence.
Church leaders know better. They understand precisely what they are doing.
They are making utilitarian, pragmatic and very anti-Catholic cynical
judgments calculated to bolster the influence of The Church in the Middle
East. It might be understandable for secular nations to act in so amoral, if
not immoral, a manner, but it is entirely unacceptable for the Catholic
church, which eschews utilitarianism and preaches moral consistency and
absolutism to act in so cynical a way.
This is especially troubling, because the church tends to forget its own
teachings primarily when it deals with the Jewish people and the Jewish
state. Its long history of discrimination and bigotry against Jews, slaughtering entire Jewish communities on the way to the Crusades, murdering entire Jewish communities during the inquisitions, fomenting pogroms, and signing a pact with Hitler during the Holocaust—should make it even more concerned about applying a double standard of morality to the Jewish state. But that's exactly what it does. And then it complains when critics point to this obvious double standard.
This abuse of great Christian teaching is not limited to the Catholic
church.
Bill Moyers and Jimmy Carter both hold themselves out as exemplary
Protestants, whose morality drives from the teachings of Jesus. Yet they too
create false moral equivalence between willful murder, and self-defense that
sometimes results in accidental killings because Hamas deliberately uses
human shields in order to make it impossible for Israel to defend its own
civilians without occasionally killing Palestinian civilians. How else could
one read Moyers statement that what Israel did "was exactly what terrorists do." Exactly? Well not exactly! Not even close. As different as anything could be based on principles that Moyers' espouses in other contexts. Listen to a leading military expert—retired British Colonel Richard Kemp, who concluded, based on his extensive experience, that there has been "no time
in the history of warfare when an Army has made more efforts to reduce
civilian casualties…than [the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza]." Is that
"exactly what terrorists do," Mr. Moyers?
Jimmy Carter is even worse. He doesn't even see moral equivalence. He blames everything on Israel. Jimmy Carter should look in the mirror more often and he will see that he himself bears much of the blame for the death and destruction that he deplores. In his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, he says it would have been "suicidal" for Yasser Arafat to accept the
generous offer made by Bill Clinton and Ehud Barak at Camp David in Taba.
Remember that that offer included independent statehood for the Palestinian
people on all of the Gaza and 97% of the West Bank, an end to all Jewish
settlements, no checkpoints, a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem and a
$35 billion refugee reparation package.
Think for a moment of what Carter is saying when he warns that any
Palestinian leader who might accept such an offer would be assassinated.
What is he saying about the Palestinian people? That they will never accept
peace without violence? That they will always kill their leaders who make
peace with Israel, as the Muslim brotherhood murdered Anwar Sadat of Egypt,
and as Muslim extremists killed the first King Abdullah of Jordan. Whether
he advised Yassir Arafat before the fact to reject the Camp David offer,
which the evidence strongly suggests, or whether he is merely making that
suggestions to future Palestinian leaders, he has clearly become a barrier
to peace. If he in fact told Arafat to reject the offer, then he is an
important contributing cause to the current crisis.
The sad reality is that religious doctrines are as easily manipulated by
cynical churchmen as anything Thomas Bentham ever proposed in the name of
utilitarianism.
Bill Moyers ended a letter to the New York Times in which he defended his
moral equivalency statement by saying that to be indifferent to suffering is
"to be as blind as Sampson in Gaza." No, Mr. Moyers, to be indifferent to
the crucial difference between what terrorists do, namely try to kill as
many civilians as possible from behind human shields, and what democracies
such as Israel and the United States do, namely try to stop terrorists from
killing with the minimum possible injury to civilians, is truly to be
"eyeless in Gaza."
________________________________________
Alan M. Dershowitz is a Professor of Law at Harvard. His most recent book
The Case Against Israel's Enemies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who
Stand In The Way of Peace is being published by Wiley at the end of this
month.
Friday, February 13, 2009
The Day Netanyahu Used Murder To Become Prime Minister
by Barry Chamish
I asked you not to vote. But only a third agreed.
So here is what is being connived for you wasting your time:
The "nationalist" camp won 65 seats, while the "moderate" camp won 55 seats, including 11 Arab parties. The Jews swamped the "peace" camp. But that camp had one party that got the most votes, Kadima, and the nation's president, Shimon "the Pieman" Peres, comes from Kadima. So, although the nationalist leader Binyamin Netanyahu could put together a government in a matter of days, the "moderate" leader Tzipi Livni will get the first shot at government-building by Peres. It's going to take a pile of bribery and blackmail but she's going to cobble together a coalition including Yisrael Beitenu, Shas, Labor, and get ready, if the fight becomes deadly enough, even their true ideological partner, the Likud.
Sounds bizarre, the loser becomes the winner? It's nothing. I was on court, front and center, for the rigging of the 1996 Israeli elections by Netanyahu. Now follow closely, I rarely have the opportunity to be nostalgic.
On April 3, 1997, I was supposed to lecture at Hebrew University on Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin, organized by my still formidable friend, Brian Bunn. As it turned out, the Labor Party led by Knesset member Eitan Cabel, and the secret service, Shabak, organized a violent rally against me that turned me into front page news. The intent was to humiliate me, the result was to start my new career as a political crimes writer. Not that I'm thanking them. They didn't mean to and it's an insecure life. Not that there aren't rewards, like you reading this.
The morning after the riot, I received a phone call from Yaacov Mor. He introduced himself as, "The economist for the Minister of Welfare And Social Affairs, Eli Yishai." Today Yishai is the leader of the Shas Party. Mor continued, "But I previously worked for the Shabak. What I want to know is what you have that made the Shabak try to bury you."
So I invited Mor to my home to see my evidence. Back then I had some 80 documents, not the 2500 I ended up with, but they were devastating in proving Yigal Amir did not shoot Rabin. I had the police ballistics results showing that Rabin was shot at point blank, something Amir could not have physically done, and I had the hospital reports declaring that Rabin was shot 3 times, and once from the front, neither of which Amir was responsible for.
Yaacov was a naturally sympathetic fellow, and without hesitation I handed him my evidence collection, which he read in silence over the next half hour. When he finished, he put his right index finger vertically over his lips and used his left hand to guide me outside. When we reached the street, he said, "I'm not talking in your house. You have to be thoroughly bugged. Do you know those documents are authentic?"
I said I did.
"Then why didn't you get a job in Nepal or have an 'accident?' Do you know how high up this murder had to go?"
I answered that I did know how high up it had to go.
"I'll tell my Minister what I saw and I'm sure he'll contact you."
The next morning Eli Yishai's secretary called me. "Minister Yishai would like to have your documents and in return, will give you the most important story of the Rabin assassination. Do you agree?"
Indeed I did. In fact, I would have given the documents anyway, that's how much I still believed in the inherent honesty of the political system. That would change for good in the next two days.
Bright and chipper, Yaacov picked me up for the cheery ride to building Kirya 3, opposite the Knesset, and home to Eli Yishai's office. I made a little error, giving my documents to the secretary before I closed the deal. She guided me into a small office, closed the door, and I heard a vigorous conversation in the hall outside. Finally, the Shas Spokesman, Yisrael Sudri, then 24 or so, and today I believe he holds the same job, came in, shut the door behind him and sat down.
"The Minister could not attend the meeting," he announced, "But he wants you to know that he backs every claim I will make."
A bit of a comedown but I accepted the arrangement, like I really had a choice.
"It's about the 1996 elections...Netanyahu didn't win. Peres won by 3% just like all the polls had it. But the Likud had documents, and we think you've collected some of them. We're sure of it, actually. In February of '96, the leaders of the Likud met the leaders of Labor for a frank discussion of the elections. The Likud presented the documents, then someone, we think Netanyahu, held a few in his hand and said, 'If you bring up the name of Yitzhak Rabin even once in your campaign, we'll release these to the media." Netanyahu lifted another bundle of documents and said, 'If Peres wins our tv debate, we'll release these." Finally, he takes all the documents and says, "And if Peres wins the elections, we'll release them all."
"Now, I don't have to remind you that Rabin's name was not mentioned once in Labor's campaign and that Peres looked like a scary monster on the tv debate. But how could the election results be faked? We are going to leave you the name and phone number of a Tel Aviv law school PhD candidate. His thesis is on the '96 elections. He'll tell you."
I arranged to meet the PhD lawyer-to-be at a very empty and remote Tel Aviv restaurant. We sat in the remotest table and he made his voice inaudible at a range of five meters, in fact he almost whispered the whole meeting. It turns out, it didn't help.
"This Labor-Likud partnership destroyed over 160,000 votes for Peres, and replaced them with spoiled ballots."
Back to the present. That's almost 5% of the vote spoiled. In the 2000 elections, there was a highly publicized campaign to deliberately spoil votes as a protest, and 'only' 61,000 were spoiled.
"Think back to the election night. Peres is declared the winner by all the polls but refused to address and thank his crowd in Tel Aviv. But at midnight, a smiling Netanyahu addressed a half empty rally in Jerusalem promising them that by morning he will be Prime Minister. Then at 2 AM, the revolution in vote change appears out of nowhere. By the morning, Netanyahu wins. He knew the results were fixed."
I added an obvious thought. "So the Likud's documents proved Peres murdered Rabin?"
He gazed at the table and answered, "Is there another possibility?"
The lawyer-to-be added, "I trust you. I have strong proof that the vote destruction was organized by Interior Minister Chaim Ramon. Contact me tomorrow and we'll meet again to see my thesis."
The next day, he called me. "I got a phone call. We can't meet." I asked, "Do you mean today?" He replied, "I mean ever." He banged down for good and I don't recall his name.
But I told his story to audiences whenever I felt it was appropriate. The usual reaction was, "So why didn't Netanyahu use the documents to get rid of Peres and Labor for good?" The answer is Labor and Peres have enough information on Netanyahu to have made this a one election deal. That'll do until and if the whole story is ever told by someone who was there.
Then, in Bet Shemesh in 2001, I told the story to a crowd of over 80 and one response hit the jackpot. The man added, "I was an election poll supervisor and when the polls closed, we took votes for Peres out of the boxes and burnt them out back. We replaced them with spoiled votes and resealed the boxes. I never understood who allowed this to happen, but I didn't want Peres elected so I played ball."
As for story back-up, my Bet Shemesh organizer was David Morris. Another 80 people heard the truth about this man's polling station at the lecture. As for Sudri, I chose to expose him after he appeared at Peres' 80th birthday bash. I was protesting outside when he appeared. I told him, "How could you celebrate Peres? I know what you told me?" He
walked by, then turned around and shouted, "You're ruining the country."
So when I suggest that voting props up a political system run by murderers and their aiders and abetters, recall that as Shimon Peres gives Tzipi Livni the nod to form a coalition including Eli Yishai's Shas Party. But if Netanyahu is somehow given the first shot, recall that he still holds the big cards on Peres.
Watch me at:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E9A044AE24067CBA&playnext=1
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3557853190547322236
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7088685722391870150&q=chamish&total=58&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBt-LxzXllA
I asked you not to vote. But only a third agreed.
So here is what is being connived for you wasting your time:
The "nationalist" camp won 65 seats, while the "moderate" camp won 55 seats, including 11 Arab parties. The Jews swamped the "peace" camp. But that camp had one party that got the most votes, Kadima, and the nation's president, Shimon "the Pieman" Peres, comes from Kadima. So, although the nationalist leader Binyamin Netanyahu could put together a government in a matter of days, the "moderate" leader Tzipi Livni will get the first shot at government-building by Peres. It's going to take a pile of bribery and blackmail but she's going to cobble together a coalition including Yisrael Beitenu, Shas, Labor, and get ready, if the fight becomes deadly enough, even their true ideological partner, the Likud.
Sounds bizarre, the loser becomes the winner? It's nothing. I was on court, front and center, for the rigging of the 1996 Israeli elections by Netanyahu. Now follow closely, I rarely have the opportunity to be nostalgic.
On April 3, 1997, I was supposed to lecture at Hebrew University on Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin, organized by my still formidable friend, Brian Bunn. As it turned out, the Labor Party led by Knesset member Eitan Cabel, and the secret service, Shabak, organized a violent rally against me that turned me into front page news. The intent was to humiliate me, the result was to start my new career as a political crimes writer. Not that I'm thanking them. They didn't mean to and it's an insecure life. Not that there aren't rewards, like you reading this.
The morning after the riot, I received a phone call from Yaacov Mor. He introduced himself as, "The economist for the Minister of Welfare And Social Affairs, Eli Yishai." Today Yishai is the leader of the Shas Party. Mor continued, "But I previously worked for the Shabak. What I want to know is what you have that made the Shabak try to bury you."
So I invited Mor to my home to see my evidence. Back then I had some 80 documents, not the 2500 I ended up with, but they were devastating in proving Yigal Amir did not shoot Rabin. I had the police ballistics results showing that Rabin was shot at point blank, something Amir could not have physically done, and I had the hospital reports declaring that Rabin was shot 3 times, and once from the front, neither of which Amir was responsible for.
Yaacov was a naturally sympathetic fellow, and without hesitation I handed him my evidence collection, which he read in silence over the next half hour. When he finished, he put his right index finger vertically over his lips and used his left hand to guide me outside. When we reached the street, he said, "I'm not talking in your house. You have to be thoroughly bugged. Do you know those documents are authentic?"
I said I did.
"Then why didn't you get a job in Nepal or have an 'accident?' Do you know how high up this murder had to go?"
I answered that I did know how high up it had to go.
"I'll tell my Minister what I saw and I'm sure he'll contact you."
The next morning Eli Yishai's secretary called me. "Minister Yishai would like to have your documents and in return, will give you the most important story of the Rabin assassination. Do you agree?"
Indeed I did. In fact, I would have given the documents anyway, that's how much I still believed in the inherent honesty of the political system. That would change for good in the next two days.
Bright and chipper, Yaacov picked me up for the cheery ride to building Kirya 3, opposite the Knesset, and home to Eli Yishai's office. I made a little error, giving my documents to the secretary before I closed the deal. She guided me into a small office, closed the door, and I heard a vigorous conversation in the hall outside. Finally, the Shas Spokesman, Yisrael Sudri, then 24 or so, and today I believe he holds the same job, came in, shut the door behind him and sat down.
"The Minister could not attend the meeting," he announced, "But he wants you to know that he backs every claim I will make."
A bit of a comedown but I accepted the arrangement, like I really had a choice.
"It's about the 1996 elections...Netanyahu didn't win. Peres won by 3% just like all the polls had it. But the Likud had documents, and we think you've collected some of them. We're sure of it, actually. In February of '96, the leaders of the Likud met the leaders of Labor for a frank discussion of the elections. The Likud presented the documents, then someone, we think Netanyahu, held a few in his hand and said, 'If you bring up the name of Yitzhak Rabin even once in your campaign, we'll release these to the media." Netanyahu lifted another bundle of documents and said, 'If Peres wins our tv debate, we'll release these." Finally, he takes all the documents and says, "And if Peres wins the elections, we'll release them all."
"Now, I don't have to remind you that Rabin's name was not mentioned once in Labor's campaign and that Peres looked like a scary monster on the tv debate. But how could the election results be faked? We are going to leave you the name and phone number of a Tel Aviv law school PhD candidate. His thesis is on the '96 elections. He'll tell you."
I arranged to meet the PhD lawyer-to-be at a very empty and remote Tel Aviv restaurant. We sat in the remotest table and he made his voice inaudible at a range of five meters, in fact he almost whispered the whole meeting. It turns out, it didn't help.
"This Labor-Likud partnership destroyed over 160,000 votes for Peres, and replaced them with spoiled ballots."
Back to the present. That's almost 5% of the vote spoiled. In the 2000 elections, there was a highly publicized campaign to deliberately spoil votes as a protest, and 'only' 61,000 were spoiled.
"Think back to the election night. Peres is declared the winner by all the polls but refused to address and thank his crowd in Tel Aviv. But at midnight, a smiling Netanyahu addressed a half empty rally in Jerusalem promising them that by morning he will be Prime Minister. Then at 2 AM, the revolution in vote change appears out of nowhere. By the morning, Netanyahu wins. He knew the results were fixed."
I added an obvious thought. "So the Likud's documents proved Peres murdered Rabin?"
He gazed at the table and answered, "Is there another possibility?"
The lawyer-to-be added, "I trust you. I have strong proof that the vote destruction was organized by Interior Minister Chaim Ramon. Contact me tomorrow and we'll meet again to see my thesis."
The next day, he called me. "I got a phone call. We can't meet." I asked, "Do you mean today?" He replied, "I mean ever." He banged down for good and I don't recall his name.
But I told his story to audiences whenever I felt it was appropriate. The usual reaction was, "So why didn't Netanyahu use the documents to get rid of Peres and Labor for good?" The answer is Labor and Peres have enough information on Netanyahu to have made this a one election deal. That'll do until and if the whole story is ever told by someone who was there.
Then, in Bet Shemesh in 2001, I told the story to a crowd of over 80 and one response hit the jackpot. The man added, "I was an election poll supervisor and when the polls closed, we took votes for Peres out of the boxes and burnt them out back. We replaced them with spoiled votes and resealed the boxes. I never understood who allowed this to happen, but I didn't want Peres elected so I played ball."
As for story back-up, my Bet Shemesh organizer was David Morris. Another 80 people heard the truth about this man's polling station at the lecture. As for Sudri, I chose to expose him after he appeared at Peres' 80th birthday bash. I was protesting outside when he appeared. I told him, "How could you celebrate Peres? I know what you told me?" He
walked by, then turned around and shouted, "You're ruining the country."
So when I suggest that voting props up a political system run by murderers and their aiders and abetters, recall that as Shimon Peres gives Tzipi Livni the nod to form a coalition including Eli Yishai's Shas Party. But if Netanyahu is somehow given the first shot, recall that he still holds the big cards on Peres.
Watch me at:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E9A044AE24067CBA&playnext=1
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3557853190547322236
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7088685722391870150&q=chamish&total=58&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBt-LxzXllA
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Race is On: Kadima, Likud, Woo Lieberman for Coalition
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) The heads of the two leading parties, Kadima and Likud, have begun efforts to court the heads of the next two largest parties, Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is Our Home) and Shas, as they race against time to form competing government coalitions.
Neither party emerged a clear winner in Tuesday's election, with Kadima winning only one mandate more than Likud – a slim majority that may well disappear after the votes are counted from soldiers, hospital shut-ins and members of the diplomatic corps abroad.
Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni met Wednesday with top party officials Chaim Ramon, Meir Sheetrit, Dalia Itzik, Tzachi HaNegbi and Avi Dichter to decide what to offer Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman as enticement to join forces. The five officials will comprise Kadima's coalition negotiating team.
Livni spoke with Lieberman early Wednesday afternoon at her office in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem after meeting first with Meretz party chairman Chaim Oron. The dovish Meretz faction dropped to three Knesset seats after the polls closed. Yisrael Beiteinu, meanwhile, became the third largest party after receiving 15 mandates at the polls.
At the same time, Likud chairman MK Binyamin Netanyahu was meeting with the head of the Shas Sephardic religious party, Eli Yishai, to negotiate support for his Likud-led coalition.
Netanyahu is not wasting any time and has moved up his meeting with Lieberman, scheduled for Thursday, to later in the day on Wednesday to discuss the Likud's proposal for Yisrael Beiteinu to join a Likud-led coalition. Professor Yaakov Ne'eman will head the Likud's negotiating team, said Netanyahu.
Final election results won't be posted until February 18, after all the votes from soldiers and Foreign Service personnel are counted. President Shimon Peres will not begin coalition talks with political party heads until all of the results are clear, said his spokeswoman, Ayelet Frish.
(IsraelNN.com) The heads of the two leading parties, Kadima and Likud, have begun efforts to court the heads of the next two largest parties, Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is Our Home) and Shas, as they race against time to form competing government coalitions.
Neither party emerged a clear winner in Tuesday's election, with Kadima winning only one mandate more than Likud – a slim majority that may well disappear after the votes are counted from soldiers, hospital shut-ins and members of the diplomatic corps abroad.
Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni met Wednesday with top party officials Chaim Ramon, Meir Sheetrit, Dalia Itzik, Tzachi HaNegbi and Avi Dichter to decide what to offer Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman as enticement to join forces. The five officials will comprise Kadima's coalition negotiating team.
Livni spoke with Lieberman early Wednesday afternoon at her office in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem after meeting first with Meretz party chairman Chaim Oron. The dovish Meretz faction dropped to three Knesset seats after the polls closed. Yisrael Beiteinu, meanwhile, became the third largest party after receiving 15 mandates at the polls.
At the same time, Likud chairman MK Binyamin Netanyahu was meeting with the head of the Shas Sephardic religious party, Eli Yishai, to negotiate support for his Likud-led coalition.
Netanyahu is not wasting any time and has moved up his meeting with Lieberman, scheduled for Thursday, to later in the day on Wednesday to discuss the Likud's proposal for Yisrael Beiteinu to join a Likud-led coalition. Professor Yaakov Ne'eman will head the Likud's negotiating team, said Netanyahu.
Final election results won't be posted until February 18, after all the votes from soldiers and Foreign Service personnel are counted. President Shimon Peres will not begin coalition talks with political party heads until all of the results are clear, said his spokeswoman, Ayelet Frish.
Victory for National Camp - Harsh blow to the left
From the Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green) Email
Dear Friends,
So, let's make some order to those confusing election results:
Even before we have the results of the soldiers (who usually add mandates to the right) we can be pleased to see that the national camp has a clear victory:
NATIONAL CAMP
Likud 27
Lieberman 15
Shas 11
Yahadut haTora 5
Ichud Leumi 4
Bayit Yehudi 3
TOTAL 65
LEFTIST CAMP
Kadima 28
Labor 13
Meretz 3
TOTAL 44
ARABS 11
Clearly a victory for the National camp.
The questions are:
* Will Bibi be the national leader that will have the guts to fulfill the will of the majority of the Jewish People and create a national government of 65 mandates??
* Will Lieberman stay to the right or will the left do what they did to Ariel Sharon and threaten him by saying: "If you go with Bibi we will make sure to convince the State prosecution to prosecute you on all your criminal cases, but if you go with Livni and help her advance her platform, we will close all criminal files against you."
* If Lieberman caves in to the leftist pressures and threats and is willing to join with Livni, Livni would still need more mandates. That is when she would turn to Yahadut HaTora, Bayit Yehudi and Shas. Will those three parties stay firm and stick to the will of the majority (i.e. stay to the right) or will they betray their voters and agree to sit with Livni in return for monetary compensation?
In summary:
If, hopefully, Lieberman, Bayit Yehudi, Shas and Yahadut haTora stay loyal to the will of their voters and stay to the right, it will be Bibi who will be Prime Minister.
The next few days will tell. We live in interesting times....
One more addition:
To all those who were worried that Ichud leumi and Bayit Yehudi would take away from Likud, now you can stop worrying. The results show that exactly the opposite happened. Ichud Leumi-Mafdal used to be nine. Now we are a total of seven. Two mandates went to Likud or to Lieberman and that is a pity. Had Ichud Leumi won another two mandates, Bibi would have been even more dependent on us and there would be an even greater chance that Bibi would be PM.
But, we must admit that after the vitriolic defamation campaign against the Ichud Leumi, especially by Bayit Yehudi and Makor Rishon newspaper, the fact that Ichud Leumi got four mandates is in itself a great achievement.
We are now waiting to hear what the results are in the soldiers vote.
May we continue to hear good news.
Nadia Matar
Women in Green
------------------------------------------------------------
Hear it from the Left:
Meretz Chairman: Left suffered hard blow
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3669870,00.html
To read Arutz 7 in English describing the results
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129888
=============================================
Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
http://www.womeningreen.org
Dear Friends,
So, let's make some order to those confusing election results:
Even before we have the results of the soldiers (who usually add mandates to the right) we can be pleased to see that the national camp has a clear victory:
NATIONAL CAMP
Likud 27
Lieberman 15
Shas 11
Yahadut haTora 5
Ichud Leumi 4
Bayit Yehudi 3
TOTAL 65
LEFTIST CAMP
Kadima 28
Labor 13
Meretz 3
TOTAL 44
ARABS 11
Clearly a victory for the National camp.
The questions are:
* Will Bibi be the national leader that will have the guts to fulfill the will of the majority of the Jewish People and create a national government of 65 mandates??
* Will Lieberman stay to the right or will the left do what they did to Ariel Sharon and threaten him by saying: "If you go with Bibi we will make sure to convince the State prosecution to prosecute you on all your criminal cases, but if you go with Livni and help her advance her platform, we will close all criminal files against you."
* If Lieberman caves in to the leftist pressures and threats and is willing to join with Livni, Livni would still need more mandates. That is when she would turn to Yahadut HaTora, Bayit Yehudi and Shas. Will those three parties stay firm and stick to the will of the majority (i.e. stay to the right) or will they betray their voters and agree to sit with Livni in return for monetary compensation?
In summary:
If, hopefully, Lieberman, Bayit Yehudi, Shas and Yahadut haTora stay loyal to the will of their voters and stay to the right, it will be Bibi who will be Prime Minister.
The next few days will tell. We live in interesting times....
One more addition:
To all those who were worried that Ichud leumi and Bayit Yehudi would take away from Likud, now you can stop worrying. The results show that exactly the opposite happened. Ichud Leumi-Mafdal used to be nine. Now we are a total of seven. Two mandates went to Likud or to Lieberman and that is a pity. Had Ichud Leumi won another two mandates, Bibi would have been even more dependent on us and there would be an even greater chance that Bibi would be PM.
But, we must admit that after the vitriolic defamation campaign against the Ichud Leumi, especially by Bayit Yehudi and Makor Rishon newspaper, the fact that Ichud Leumi got four mandates is in itself a great achievement.
We are now waiting to hear what the results are in the soldiers vote.
May we continue to hear good news.
Nadia Matar
Women in Green
------------------------------------------------------------
Hear it from the Left:
Meretz Chairman: Left suffered hard blow
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3669870,00.html
To read Arutz 7 in English describing the results
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129888
=============================================
Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
http://www.womeningreen.org
Friday, January 30, 2009
Why Vote Likud?
It is entirely possible that the two National Religious parties – the rejuvenated NRP and the rejuvenated National Union – will not garner enough votes to get into the next Knesset. That eventuality will be the best thing that has happened to Religious Zionism in the past years.
Allow me to explain. When I found out that I had been elected to the 20th place on the Likud list, I was a bit disappointed. All the polls and the positive feedback pointed to a much higher placement. But it turned out that the technical obstacles intentionally wrought upon the voting stations in which I had strong backing together with the healthily funded campaign claiming that "Feiglin will cost the Likud six mandates" took their toll. The very fact that we overcame all the attempts to block me and that I nevertheless was elected to a realistic place on the Likud list created a genuine revolution of consciousness in the faith based public. When I heard "hilltop youth" who would never have considered voting in the elections saying that they would of course vote Likud, I understood the depth of our achievement.
"On that night, I felt that this country also belongs to me," a resident of Kedumim told me. The self-imposed wall that had separated the public that is first to fight for this country from the political and sociological tools with which it could direct it had been broken on the night of the primaries. The result: the faith based public streamed to the Likud. Instead of losing six mandates as the campaign against me had threatened, the Likud steadily climbed in the polls, reaching 40 mandates.
The political significance of the new consciousness was tremendous. At that point, when the faith based public felt that the Likud was its ideological home, it was clear that it would register for the Likud and vote Likud and that no Likud MK would even dream of betraying the values of the national camp. We can even say that on the night of the primaries, the Oslo concept was buried and Israel started out on the long road to national recovery. And it was all because a substantial part of the national camp had dared to abandon its sector-consciousness and join up with the rest of the nation in the Likud.
Afterwards, Netanyahu managed to bump me down to 36th place and in doing so, re-erected the consciousness wall. "Don't let Netanyahu force you back into the sector," I begged the newly liberated faith based voters. "Stay in the Likud." But it didn't help. The new consciousness of belonging created on the night of the primaries evaporated into nothingness. The Likud took a plunge in the polls and the public that is the only hope for the State of Israel once again returned to its sector-shtetl.
"How do you expect me to vote for Bibi?" the faith based people ask me. They don't understand that a vote for the Likud is not a vote for Bibi. A vote for the Likud means that the voter has joined the earthly arena on which the fate of the State of Israel is determined. If you register and vote for the Likud, you have bought a ticket to participate in the game and not just to watch it. "It's your fault," I always tell the people who ask how they can vote for Bibi. "You are not even in the party. So what do you want from Bibi?"
After I was bumped down to thirty sixth place on the Likud list, Professor Aryeh Eldad took advantage of a media interview to offer me the top position in his party. It was a most generous political proposal. The National Union party under the leadership of Ketzaleh had not yet re-formed, the Jewish Home party had crumbled and the chance to gather the majority of nationalist voters plus Russian speakers plus the general hard core Right into a new "Faith Revival Party" looked good. In my estimation, it could have won eight Knesset mandates.
But if I would have accepted Eldad's generous offer, I would have effectively betrayed all the people to whom I have turned for support since I established Zo Artzeinu. Because accepting this proposal would mean extracting every last drop of potential out of our sector – and closing the door on the rest of Israel's voters. Avigdor Lieberman, the head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party will likely never be prime minister because that is precisely what he does. He capitalizes on the sector-based power of the Russian voters – plus a bit more. Effie Eitam attempted to do the same thing and we see where he is today. So I declined Eldad's offer. It may mean that I will remain outside the Knesset in this round. But the track steering the faith based public to leadership of this country will remain wide open.
It will be best for the faith based public if the two national religious parties do not get into the Knesset. In that case, the public on the front lines in battle will have no political choice. It will simply have to join the Likud and save Israel.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
They're Afraid
I was at a family Chanukah party in Haifa when I received word of the High Court decision to overturn the District Court ruling that would have reinstated Michael Ratzon, and as a result - myself, as well, to our original slots on the Likud list. Our relatives were certain that the High Court would not embarrass itself by overturning the District Court decision. After all, everybody in the country knows why I was bumped down to the 36th slot on the Likud list. In the ruling handed down by the District Court, Judge Yehuda Zapt clearly writes: "In truth, the change in the list stemmed from the desire to distance Moshe Feiglin from the slot in which he was placed."
But I thought otherwise. In interviews that morning I had already predicted that the High Court's fear of me would overcome its embarrassment, that it would accept the Likud's appeal and that in the best case scenario, I would remain in the 36th slot.
They are afraid. They are very afraid. They see how the Israeli public has opened up to our messages. They see the amazing interest and coverage that my campaign generated. From their vantage point they can discern the progress of the faith based revolution much more clearly than we can. Deep inside, they understand that they are actually a relic of the past. They see the 'changing of the guard' of Israeli society and they know that they exist on borrowed time.
If I had accepted the offer of my friend Aryeh Eldad to head his party, the High Court would have had no problem. They had allowed Baruch Marzel to run, but disqualified me in the same election (for my 'disgraceful' crime of organizing the Zo Artzeinu anti-Oslo protests). As far as they are concerned, it is just fine for the nationalists to create a sector-based party for their own constituency, put six, seven or maybe even eight people into the Knesset and to invest all of their energies outside the arena that threatens them - the national leadership arena.
In the previous elections, Lieberman and the Likud won approximately the same number of Knesset seats. Lieberman emerged as the grand victor, while Netanyahu looked like he was permanently finished. But Lieberman was king of the sector. Netanyahu, on the other hand, was the defeated contender for the national crown. Just two and a half years later, Lieberman has exhausted his sector-based possibilities while Netanyahu is once again considered the up and coming prime minister.
Our strategic goal is to lead Israel. My election to the Knesset as an MK is a tactical tool to attain this goal. That is why we cannot leave the national leadership arena for a sector-based party.
If we succeed in convincing the Likud members in the next primaries to vote Feiglin for head of the party, we will also be able to convince the entire Israeli population - and in a big way. If we do not succeed, then we are not yet ripe to lead the nation and we must continue to work and progress. The fact that we are progressing on the national leadership track scares the leftist elites now controlling Israel. Their fear is the most reliable sign that we are on the right path.
Now that all the parties have submitted their Knesset rosters and the dictatorship has exhausted its intra-party tools (in this round) the battle against me moves to the general Knesset arena. The radical Left Meretz party has already announced that it will appeal to the Central Elections Committee to disqualify me from running for the Knesset - in any slot.
Nobody said this would be boring.
Post-Election Miracles
Whether I will or will not get a Knesset seat or which slot I occupy on the Likud roster is not of great concern to me. But what has been really difficult since I was bumped to 36th place has been explaining to my supporters why I insist on not appealing the decision in court. After all, wonderful people have been following my lead for years. They have worked with unending dedication and volunteered countless hours of their precious time. Suddenly I stubbornly insist on something that seems to be completely marginal.
"True," they say to me," the High Court is not very popular, but these are the rules of the game. You can't be in politics and play by your own rules." Top notch lawyers volunteer to represent me gratis. Veteran Likud members call me in astonishment, "What do you think you're doing?" Friends who have been with me through thick and thin appeal to my conscience. "You can't abandon all the people who have worked so hard," they plead. "This is not your own private game."
Then there are the people who see my refusal to appeal to the court as a sign of weakness. "Why don't you fight?" they protest. "What? You've given up?" Later, their protests became even more accusing. "O.k., you've made a nice demonstration. But now Michael Ratzon has appealed to the court instead of you. His appeal is based completely on your case. The District judge says that you are completely right: "The Elections Committee did not have the authority to change the outcome of the elections. Clearly the measures they took were directed at the purpose of changing the roster in a way that would distance Moshe Feiglin from the high slot that he had won." (From the decision handed down by District Court Judge Yehudah Zapt). "All that you have to do is to turn to the court and request that its decision (that is about you) be applied to you, as well as to Ratzon."
But I refuse to do it. People who have supported our efforts for years call up in anger. And worst of all, people throughout the country call and say, "We stood in line for hours to vote for you. We feel betrayed."
And then G-d performs another of a long string of elections miracles. The Likud appeals to the High Court and announces that if the appeal is rejected, it will revert to the original Likud roster - in other words, I would be back in the 20th slot. Once again, the judicial process is exhausted despite my insistence and without the necessity for me to appeal to the 'enlightened' dictator.
On the eighth night of Chanukah, G-d removes the shadows of doubt. It turns out that our Father in Heaven directed us and the intuition of Michael Fuah and myself was right on the mark. If I had listened to all those urging me to appeal to the court, I would still have remained in the 36th slot - but without the possibility of expressing my lack of faith in the High Court.
Israel needs a revolution - not Knesset marionettes beholden to the dictatorship. If I now enter the Knesset from the 36th slot, it will be perfectly legitimate for me to lead the faith based revolution. And if I do not get into the Knesset, we will continue to lead the faith based revolution from where we are today. "You know," a prominent journalist said to me, "there is something unique about you. Every other politician who is no longer in the Knesset becomes immediately irrelevant. But with you, it makes no difference. You are always relevant."
The truth is that the faith based revolution is progressing quite well outside the Knesset. As a result of my primaries race, the faith based approach has reached almost every Israeli home. It will continue to take hold and develop either within the Knesset or without - simply because Israel's reality necessitates genuine Jewish leadership. It is the only relevant alternative that we have.
Influence in the Knesset
Most of the top slots in the Likud list for the Knesset are filled with those MKs who fought against Sharon and his Expulsion plan. The media called them 'rebels.' They worked hard to be elected to the top of the Likud list, with a little help from the faith based voters who responsibly and unanimously voted according to our recommendations. Those who supported the Expulsion were pushed to the bottom of the list. For the districts, Netanyahu endorsed the more 'centrist' candidates. We supported the more faithful candidates and won in most cases. The message is clear. Likud MKs eager to retain their seats and progress must be faithful to the Land of Israel, to the Likud constitution and to the values of the National Camp.
While he was planning the destruction of Gush Katif, Sharon could not have cared less about the right wing parties. The only place he had to fight was inside his own party. We all remember the mighty battle that he waged in the Likud Central Committee and against the 'rebels.'
If Netanyahu as PM attempts to surrender the Golan Heights or divide Jerusalem he will be met with serious opposition from within the Likud. In order to make the pro-Land of Israel faction in the Likud even stronger, it is crucial to register for the Likud. When the public faithful to the Land of Israel registers for the Likud and integrates into the party, it sends a message loud and clear: Those who are not faithful to the Land of Israel will not be re-elected.
Concerned about the Land of Israel? Now is the time to register for the Likud (Israeli citizens only). Encourage your friends, family and neighbors to register as well. Click here for the online registration form. Please fax the completed form to our office at 09 792 0570 or mail it to our office: POB 301, Ginot Shomron, 44853.
One more point. Toward the bottom of the Likud roster there are a number of faith based candidates who will be important in the Knesset. Keti Sheetrit is in slot 31, Sagiv Asulin in 33, Boaz Haetzni in 34, Moshe Feiglin in 36, Michael Ratzon in 37, Ehud Yatom in 38, Moshe Lehrer (of the Achi party - we're glad to welcome him on board and hope that more good people like him will realize that the Likud is the most effective place to work for the future of our Land, People and Torah) in 39 and Osnat Mark in the 40th slot.
You, the faith based voter, must decide. Do you want to use your vote to put faithful but politically insignificant people into the Knesset? Or would you prefer to use your vote to put in people who will have the political power to actually protect the Land of Israel? The choice is in your hands.
Demonstrations in the Knesset
Not surprisingly, the Jewish Home party imploded and its two components will now be running on separate lists. These parties have chalked up some positive achievements, but they never had - and never will have - political influence. They were not capable of stopping the retreat from Sinai, from Shechem, Hebron or Gush Katif. They will not be the parties to stop the retreat from the Golan Heights or Jerusalem. True, their speeches in the Knesset will express our feelings exactly. But they will be nothing more than a wonderful demonstration in the parliament.
The politicians who make up the renewed National Union are excellent people. But the only place to create the true solution to Israel's crisis - and not just to demonstrate - is in the Likud.
But I thought otherwise. In interviews that morning I had already predicted that the High Court's fear of me would overcome its embarrassment, that it would accept the Likud's appeal and that in the best case scenario, I would remain in the 36th slot.
They are afraid. They are very afraid. They see how the Israeli public has opened up to our messages. They see the amazing interest and coverage that my campaign generated. From their vantage point they can discern the progress of the faith based revolution much more clearly than we can. Deep inside, they understand that they are actually a relic of the past. They see the 'changing of the guard' of Israeli society and they know that they exist on borrowed time.
If I had accepted the offer of my friend Aryeh Eldad to head his party, the High Court would have had no problem. They had allowed Baruch Marzel to run, but disqualified me in the same election (for my 'disgraceful' crime of organizing the Zo Artzeinu anti-Oslo protests). As far as they are concerned, it is just fine for the nationalists to create a sector-based party for their own constituency, put six, seven or maybe even eight people into the Knesset and to invest all of their energies outside the arena that threatens them - the national leadership arena.
In the previous elections, Lieberman and the Likud won approximately the same number of Knesset seats. Lieberman emerged as the grand victor, while Netanyahu looked like he was permanently finished. But Lieberman was king of the sector. Netanyahu, on the other hand, was the defeated contender for the national crown. Just two and a half years later, Lieberman has exhausted his sector-based possibilities while Netanyahu is once again considered the up and coming prime minister.
Our strategic goal is to lead Israel. My election to the Knesset as an MK is a tactical tool to attain this goal. That is why we cannot leave the national leadership arena for a sector-based party.
If we succeed in convincing the Likud members in the next primaries to vote Feiglin for head of the party, we will also be able to convince the entire Israeli population - and in a big way. If we do not succeed, then we are not yet ripe to lead the nation and we must continue to work and progress. The fact that we are progressing on the national leadership track scares the leftist elites now controlling Israel. Their fear is the most reliable sign that we are on the right path.
Now that all the parties have submitted their Knesset rosters and the dictatorship has exhausted its intra-party tools (in this round) the battle against me moves to the general Knesset arena. The radical Left Meretz party has already announced that it will appeal to the Central Elections Committee to disqualify me from running for the Knesset - in any slot.
Nobody said this would be boring.
Post-Election Miracles
Whether I will or will not get a Knesset seat or which slot I occupy on the Likud roster is not of great concern to me. But what has been really difficult since I was bumped to 36th place has been explaining to my supporters why I insist on not appealing the decision in court. After all, wonderful people have been following my lead for years. They have worked with unending dedication and volunteered countless hours of their precious time. Suddenly I stubbornly insist on something that seems to be completely marginal.
"True," they say to me," the High Court is not very popular, but these are the rules of the game. You can't be in politics and play by your own rules." Top notch lawyers volunteer to represent me gratis. Veteran Likud members call me in astonishment, "What do you think you're doing?" Friends who have been with me through thick and thin appeal to my conscience. "You can't abandon all the people who have worked so hard," they plead. "This is not your own private game."
Then there are the people who see my refusal to appeal to the court as a sign of weakness. "Why don't you fight?" they protest. "What? You've given up?" Later, their protests became even more accusing. "O.k., you've made a nice demonstration. But now Michael Ratzon has appealed to the court instead of you. His appeal is based completely on your case. The District judge says that you are completely right: "The Elections Committee did not have the authority to change the outcome of the elections. Clearly the measures they took were directed at the purpose of changing the roster in a way that would distance Moshe Feiglin from the high slot that he had won." (From the decision handed down by District Court Judge Yehudah Zapt). "All that you have to do is to turn to the court and request that its decision (that is about you) be applied to you, as well as to Ratzon."
But I refuse to do it. People who have supported our efforts for years call up in anger. And worst of all, people throughout the country call and say, "We stood in line for hours to vote for you. We feel betrayed."
And then G-d performs another of a long string of elections miracles. The Likud appeals to the High Court and announces that if the appeal is rejected, it will revert to the original Likud roster - in other words, I would be back in the 20th slot. Once again, the judicial process is exhausted despite my insistence and without the necessity for me to appeal to the 'enlightened' dictator.
On the eighth night of Chanukah, G-d removes the shadows of doubt. It turns out that our Father in Heaven directed us and the intuition of Michael Fuah and myself was right on the mark. If I had listened to all those urging me to appeal to the court, I would still have remained in the 36th slot - but without the possibility of expressing my lack of faith in the High Court.
Israel needs a revolution - not Knesset marionettes beholden to the dictatorship. If I now enter the Knesset from the 36th slot, it will be perfectly legitimate for me to lead the faith based revolution. And if I do not get into the Knesset, we will continue to lead the faith based revolution from where we are today. "You know," a prominent journalist said to me, "there is something unique about you. Every other politician who is no longer in the Knesset becomes immediately irrelevant. But with you, it makes no difference. You are always relevant."
The truth is that the faith based revolution is progressing quite well outside the Knesset. As a result of my primaries race, the faith based approach has reached almost every Israeli home. It will continue to take hold and develop either within the Knesset or without - simply because Israel's reality necessitates genuine Jewish leadership. It is the only relevant alternative that we have.
Influence in the Knesset
Most of the top slots in the Likud list for the Knesset are filled with those MKs who fought against Sharon and his Expulsion plan. The media called them 'rebels.' They worked hard to be elected to the top of the Likud list, with a little help from the faith based voters who responsibly and unanimously voted according to our recommendations. Those who supported the Expulsion were pushed to the bottom of the list. For the districts, Netanyahu endorsed the more 'centrist' candidates. We supported the more faithful candidates and won in most cases. The message is clear. Likud MKs eager to retain their seats and progress must be faithful to the Land of Israel, to the Likud constitution and to the values of the National Camp.
While he was planning the destruction of Gush Katif, Sharon could not have cared less about the right wing parties. The only place he had to fight was inside his own party. We all remember the mighty battle that he waged in the Likud Central Committee and against the 'rebels.'
If Netanyahu as PM attempts to surrender the Golan Heights or divide Jerusalem he will be met with serious opposition from within the Likud. In order to make the pro-Land of Israel faction in the Likud even stronger, it is crucial to register for the Likud. When the public faithful to the Land of Israel registers for the Likud and integrates into the party, it sends a message loud and clear: Those who are not faithful to the Land of Israel will not be re-elected.
Concerned about the Land of Israel? Now is the time to register for the Likud (Israeli citizens only). Encourage your friends, family and neighbors to register as well. Click here for the online registration form. Please fax the completed form to our office at 09 792 0570 or mail it to our office: POB 301, Ginot Shomron, 44853.
One more point. Toward the bottom of the Likud roster there are a number of faith based candidates who will be important in the Knesset. Keti Sheetrit is in slot 31, Sagiv Asulin in 33, Boaz Haetzni in 34, Moshe Feiglin in 36, Michael Ratzon in 37, Ehud Yatom in 38, Moshe Lehrer (of the Achi party - we're glad to welcome him on board and hope that more good people like him will realize that the Likud is the most effective place to work for the future of our Land, People and Torah) in 39 and Osnat Mark in the 40th slot.
You, the faith based voter, must decide. Do you want to use your vote to put faithful but politically insignificant people into the Knesset? Or would you prefer to use your vote to put in people who will have the political power to actually protect the Land of Israel? The choice is in your hands.
Demonstrations in the Knesset
Not surprisingly, the Jewish Home party imploded and its two components will now be running on separate lists. These parties have chalked up some positive achievements, but they never had - and never will have - political influence. They were not capable of stopping the retreat from Sinai, from Shechem, Hebron or Gush Katif. They will not be the parties to stop the retreat from the Golan Heights or Jerusalem. True, their speeches in the Knesset will express our feelings exactly. But they will be nothing more than a wonderful demonstration in the parliament.
The politicians who make up the renewed National Union are excellent people. But the only place to create the true solution to Israel's crisis - and not just to demonstrate - is in the Likud.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Reverse Feiglin Effect Strikes Again
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.
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
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
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