Between Conscientious Objection and Anarchy

By Moshe Feiglin

14 Cheshvan, 5770
Nov. 1, '09

Translated from the Hebrew article on the NRG website

When the recent conscientious objection letter of high school students was publicized, I wrote a press release in support of their right to refuse - even though the conscientious objectors were from the left side of the political spectrum. When the Shimshon soldiers from the right side of the political spectrum announced that they would not carry out orders to expel Jews from their homes, I once again wrote a press release in their support. Obviously, my heart is with the Shimshon soldiers and not with the conscientious objectors of the left. But in principle, I support every act of conscientious objection.

The only problem is that the Shimshon soldiers - who, in my opinion, performed an indispensable service for the IDF and the State of Israel - did not receive serious punishment. Twenty days in prison is not intimidating. They should have received at least 200 days.

Confused? Let's make some order of this issue.

The main claim against the conscientious objectors is that their refusal will lead to anarchy, threatening the very foundations of the State. Today I refuse to obey my orders, tomorrow you refuse to obey your orders and chaos ensues.

That sounds logical enough. So logical, that tens of thousands of good people; soldiers and police, religious and secular - bought into this dubious line of thinking and transformed themselves into small-time criminals in the service of big-time criminals. Because no matter how you try to rationalize it, the act of robbing an honest man of his home, driving him and his family off their land, destroying their home and property and tossing them into a cardboard "villa" far from the public eye - is a crime.

This situation becomes more complex if the claim is that the home-owner is not an honest man, that he is a thief who settled on land that does not belong to him or that there is no choice and that for the sake of Israel's citizens the Jews of Gush Katif must be expelled and their property destroyed. But that was not the situation in Gush Katif.

The public was well aware that no peace or security would result from the "unilateral disengagement." To the best of my memory, proponents of the Disengagement did not claim to have been privy to any divine revelations that commanded them to drive their brothers from their homes, which could have given them some (strange) moral justification. The only ethical ammunition that was packed onto the backs of the soldiers on their way to perpetration of the crime was that they must carry out their orders because a soldier must carry out his orders. That is exactly how the soldiers and officers explained themselves, as well. I am carrying out this horrible order because if I do not do so, the ensuing anarchy will endanger the State of Israel. In other words, the only good thing that came out of the fulfillment of these orders is the fact that they were, indeed, fulfilled.

The brainwashing of the IDF soldiers, better known by its Orwellian name, "mental preparation," supported by the attack dogs of the media and the rule of law gang was powerful. So powerful, that conscientious objection was considered a crime worse than the robbery and cynical exploitation of 8,000 Jews.

And so, the State of Israel was "saved" from the dangers of conscientious objection and the orders were carried out in full - with sensitivity and determination. Gush Katif was destroyed. Ashdod, Ashkelon and Be'er Sheva became the new targets for rockets from Gaza. The IDF - which had lost the moral justification to control Gaza - embarked on the Cast Lead Operation and lost, of course. The Goldstone Report harasses the officers and politicians who expelled their brothers, implying that they are robbers and foreign conquerors in their own land. Important ministers can no longer travel the world freely. An unprecedented campaign of delegitimization against Israel and its very right to exist on the globe as a Jewish state is rapidly gaining momentum. In other words, the sand in the State of Israel's hourglass is running out.

That is anarchy. In an unparalleled display of self-sacrifice, tens of thousands of Israeli citizens protested, were jailed, beaten and downtrodden when they attempted to prevent the impending anarchy. But they failed. Why? Because the State of Israel turned the only tool that allows a responsible citizen to oppose the tyranny of government - any government - into a toy reserved only for the Left, completely out of bounds for the Right.

So the soldiers did not refuse to obey their orders and the citizens who blocked roads were beaten and sentenced to jail terms much harsher than those meted out to security prisoners. Television pundit Yaron London broadcast a call for Israelis to beat the protestors with iron chains and nobody accused him of incitement to violence. Nice rabbis condemned the protests on Israel's roads and governmental anarchy flourished.

What is the real danger? The normative person has no desire for anarchy. He strives for personal and financial security and a calm environment in which to raise his children. The predisposition of the normative citizen is to obey the government, and that is good. There is no real danger that suddenly everybody will start doing whatever they want. If tens of thousands of normal, working, family people are suddenly willing to pay a steep price in jail terms and loss of income, that means that the government - even if it was elected in legitimate elections - has crossed a line that it should not have crossed. Conscientious objection does not create anarchy. On the contrary, it guards the state from moral corruption and totalitarianism.

The real danger of anarchy comes not from the citizens, but from the state's leaders. The Oslo coercion and the subsequent "Disengagement" are two classic examples of leadership that was elected due to its unequivocal promises to carry out a particular platform (Rabin's "no Palestinian state" and Sharon's "The fate of Netzarim is the fate of Tel Aviv") but that implemented the complete opposite once it was elected.

That is a perfect example of tyranny. I have power - and it makes no difference if it was achieved through deception of voters or by military coup - and now I command you to carry out an unethical and illogical order simply because I am strong and the forces of government are on my side. That is the true anarchy. We are wallowing in it today and it endangers Israel's very foundations.

How can this anarchy be prevented? What can defend citizens against the tyranny of the regime? How can we formulate logical and ethical policies that express the will of the majority? Simply put, how can we guard democracy? The answer is conscientious objection for soldiers and civil disobedience for citizens. When a large segment of society is willing to break the law despite its natural inclination, when a citizen or soldier is willing to bear harsh punishment in order to remain faithful to his/her conscience (that is why it is important for the punishment to be intimidating) he is demarcating the red line over which the government cannot slide - even if legally or technically it can do so.

Israel's Left has always known this. The Left has traditionally propagated conscientious objection like mushrooms after the rain. Just a few years ago, billboards throughout Israel encouraged leftist objection and the Attorney General declared that he "understood" the objectors. They never received significant punishment, but their objection lamentably delineated the red line on the left over which the government cannot tread. As a result of the relatively widespread conscientious objection of the Left, it is impossible today to suggest expulsion of the Arabs or tactics to deal with a terror-supporting civilian population in our midst.

The Right, on the other hand, never took up the challenge and never demarcated the nationalist red line. That is what empowered the Oslo and Disengagement anarchy that has engendered Israel's slow disintegration and loss of legitimacy in the world.

I salute the Shimshon soldiers who are now serving their prison terms. It may be that in their merit, the IDF will return to its ethical foundation and the State of Israel will be saved.

Rabin Festival Falls Flat

By Moshe Feiglin

The Festival

This year's Rabin Festival just didn't make it. No real flames of hatred consumed Israeli society. What countless articles, apologies, breast-beating and explanations didn't accomplish over the years was accomplished by reality. After all, for how many years can you blame everybody who does not stand at attention to the sound of the word "Oslo" with murdering Rabin? And even if it is true that all the religious Jews collectively murdered Rabin, the theme is already threadbare and uninspired. The truth is that deep down - with or without Rabin - everybody is disenchanted with the leftist "peace process." As much as they tried to get the Rabin Festival going this year, it just didn't take off.

The Hope

Just when things looked bleakest, the amazing discovery was announced. "We have found a settler who killed two Palestinians." A glint of hope flickered once again in the eyes of the hate agents. G-d is with us after all. Just when it seemed like there was no chance to kindle the flames of hatred, the "Jewish terrorist" made headlines and gave us just what we were looking for.

Despair

But even the new "Jewish terrorist" didn't provide the match that would ignite the flames. There's no hope for the Israeli public - it looks like they are sick of hating. Furthermore, the arrest of the suspected murderer of the Oshrenko family from Rishon Letzion is much more captivating than the pointless pontifications of Israel's yawn-inspiring hired pens.

Just like a Terrorist

"We will treat the Jewish murderer just like we treat terrorists," said the Police Chief in the press conference that he hurried to call after the press conference of the head of the investigative team.

Teitel will get the same treatment as an Arab terrorist?

Does that mean that Arab MKs and leftist leaders will make a weekly pilgrimage to his jail cell to reinforce his leadership role?
Will he get free university classes including the answers to the questions on exams?
Will he get 4,000 shekel per month from the Hamas - under the watchful eye of Israel's Prison Service?
Will his family get a generous monthly stipend?
Will he have regular weekly visits?
Cable television?
Gourmet food?
An early release as part of a seasonal good will gesture?
An early release as part of a prisoner swap?

Teitel will get the same treatment as an Arab terrorist? His lawyer better get that in writing - fast!

Holy Laughter

By Moshe Feiglin

And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him that Sarah bore him, Yitzchak. (Genesis 21:3)

In Hebrew, the name Yitzchak means, "he will laugh." Actually, laughter is a very serious matter. Healthy humor is a mechanism that balances life and puts things in their proper perspective. The best humor is laughter at oneself. After all, how can a person take himself seriously in the face of the Creator of the world?

And Sarah said: God has made laughter for me; every one that hears will laugh on account of me. (Genesis 21:6)

There is good laughter and bad laughter. Laughter that highlights the weakness and smallness of a person in the face of the Creator is good, holy laughter. Bad laughter inflates the person laughing at the expense of everyone else. "He and I cannot live in the same world," says G-d of this type of laughter.

There is another, dangerous type of laughter: And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, making sport. (Genesis 21:9)

The laughter of the son of the maidservant is the laughter of murder, the laughter of immorality, the laughter of idol worship. It is the laughter that convinced Sarah to drive him out of her home. And G-d sided with her.

And she said to Abraham: Drive out this maidservant and her son, because the son of the maidservant will not inherit with my son, with Yitzchak. (Genesis 21:10)

A woman who had immigrated from Libya once told me the following story:

"When I was a young girl, my mother sent me to care for my grandmother, who was ill in a Jerusalem hospital. The patient in the bed next to her was an elderly Arab woman. The two women became friendly and spent a number of weeks chattering in Arabic, while I listened on.

One day, the Arab asked my grandmother:
"Why did you come here? Why did you leave Libya?"
"Because this is my Land," my grandmother answered.
"Why do you think it is yours?" the Arab woman asked.
"Because I received it as an inheritance from my father," my grandmother replied.
"Who is your father?" asked the Arab woman incredulously.
"Abraham!" my grandmother answered without missing a beat.
The old Arab woman thought for a moment and then said, "But Abraham is also my father!"
"That is true," my grandmother answered pointedly. "Abraham is also your father. But I am the daughter of the lady of the house, and you are the daughter of the maidservant."

How funny and how true.

From the Temple Mount to Goldstone and Back

By Moshe Feiglin

The government is in disarray, frenetically trying to formulate a response to the Goldstone Report. Should Israel establish a commission of inquiry to deflect the danger of an international tribunal or should we do just the opposite and avoid opening a Pandora's box? The Defense Minister opposes the inquiry - the Chief of Staff and the soldiers do not want to find themselves under interrogation on suspicion of war crimes. Other ministers are in favor; Dan Meridor (of course) Herzog and others explain that an Israeli inquiry will stave off international pressure. And Netanyahu, true to form, vacillates somewhere in the middle, establishes a committee to report on a commission of inquiry and attempts to give everyone what they are looking for.

But the real reason for the Goldstone Report is not the Cast Lead Operation. As such, Israel's ability to deal with the report is not a question of inquiry into the fighting.

Leftist Ha'aretz journalist Ari Shavit came up with an excellent definition for the Goldstone Report. According to Shavit, it is the tip of the huge iceberg called loss of moral justification for the existence of a Jewish state:

"Under the calm waters upon which the Israeli luxury liner sails, lies an iceberg. The Goldstone Report was the first sighting of the iceberg. The Turks turning their backs on us was the second sighting. The pursuit of Israeli officers in Europe was the third sighting, the boycott of Israeli goods and companies in different places in the world the fourth sighting, the insensitivity to the fact that an atomic power threatens to wipe Israel off the map is the fifth sighting of the iceberg. Every week, practically every day, the iceberg shows its face. And when we look carefully over the rail of the luxury liner, we can see the exact nature of the peeking iceberg. The iceberg is the loss of moral justification for the State of Israel."
(Ari Shavit, Ha'aretz, Oct. 15, '09)

Ari Shavit has no doubt why we lost the moral justification for the very existence of a Jewish state on the face of the earth. The reason is the settlements, of course. When a person does not walk before G-d with simple sincerity, he can easily be drafted into the service of foreign gods. No historical or security facts will convince the Left to re-think its theories.

But at least our intelligentsia can define the problem and understand that we must deal with something far more serious than how our soldiers fought in Gaza. Our very right to Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel and essentially - the question of our being a nation and not just a religion - is on the line. And let there be no doubt: If we fail this test, the State of Israel will fall, G-d forbid. Because when a tree loses its roots and dries up, it will eventually fall over.

From where do we draw our moral justification? What is the point that, in its absence, our right to exist as a sovereign nation in our Land comes into question?

"He who rules the Mount rules the Land," wrote the poet of rebuke and faith, Uri Tzvi Greenberg. When the State of Israel descended from the Temple Mount and gave it to the Moslem wakf immediately after its liberation, it charted the course to Goldstone. That is the core around which Shavit's iceberg has crystallized.

The encouraging part of this story is that those who understand the source of the problem also know how to deal with the Goldstone Report. A commission of inquiry will not restore Israel's moral justification. But a house of worship for Jews on the Temple Mount will.

Abraham's Simple Sincerity

By Moshe Feiglin

And G-d said unto Abram: Go forth from your country, and your kindred, and from your father's house, unto the land that I will show you.
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you will be a blessing.
And I will bless those that bless you, and he who curses you will I curse; and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.' (Genesis 12: 1-3)

Abraham is no longer a child; he is 75 years old. The Creator does not choose him by coincidence. After the creation of the world in the Torah portion of Breishit and the re-formatting of humanity in the Torah portion of Noach, G-d chooses Abraham to go to his unique Land and to give birth to the Nation with a unique task; to make the fact that G-d is King known to the entire world. Abraham was chosen for the starring role because he had already been the driving force behind one world revolution and had also survived the fires of Nimrod's furnace.

And now, at the age of 75, when a normal person is already retired and enjoying his grandchildren, the King of the world finally reveals Himself to Abraham. From here on in, it sounds like the going will be easy. All that Abraham has to do is to go to the Chosen Land, to grow, to be blessed and to merit the recognition of the nations.

But that is not what happens in reality. Famine, exile, his wife is abducted, internal wars and war with his surroundings - the entire Torah portion of Lech Lecha is almost the complete opposite of what Abraham was promised. At least through human eyes.

And then, at the age of 99, Abraham has another Divine revelation:

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, G-d appeared to Abram, and said to him: 'I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be simply sincere.' (Genesis 17:1)

"Do not lose your simple sincerity," the King of the world says to the father of the Jewish nation. Even when 'reality' shows that there is no hope, and when the very opposite of what was promised happens, simple sincerity is the secret weapon that will make the blessing reality.

From then until this very day, the Jewish world belongs to the simply sincere. When G-d tells them to "go forth," they simply get up and go. All the rest; the Sadducees, Karaites, Reform, Hellenists, Enlightened, pragmatists and intelligentsia - appear on stage for a short time and then fall into the depths of forgotten Jewish history.

Sometimes, simple sincerity can be confused with passivity. "We will simply learn Torah and everything will work out," say some. Or: "We will simply build new settlements." Or: "We will simply become top officers in the army." Or: "We will simply play the political game." Or: We will simply make a lot of money and everything will work out." Each person seems to have a form of passivity that keeps him comfortable. But Abraham does not confuse simple sincerity with passivity. He teaches Torah, makes wars, builds the Land, is actively involved in politics, makes a lot of money and does not forgo any human endeavor. He keeps going all the time - but with simple sincerity as his guiding light

The Land of Israel in Exchange for Goldstone

By Moshe Feiglin

Translated from the Hebrew article on Ma'ariv's NRG website

If it were not so dangerous, it would even be amusing. There is certainly an element of poetic justice in the fact that the same people who gleefully destroyed the homes of over 8,000 Jews in Gush Katif are now being labeled as international war criminals.

In the summer of 2005, Israel's Left waged a war against the settlers. All the forces in Israel allowed to use violence were drafted for the battle. The goal of the war, as so accurately defined by Yair Lapid was "to teach them a lesson." Not peace, not security, not anything else. The State was simply drafted to wage war against the Left's internal ideological adversary.

As far as I am concerned, anybody who took part in the crime of Expulsion is a war criminal. True, there are varying degrees of crime; beginning with Sharon and Olmert, on through the Supreme Court justices and the writers, journalists and anchormen who enthusiastically encouraged the crime, the Likud ministers who voted in favor of the Expulsion, the rabbis who gave the halachic go-ahead to carry it out and down to the soldiers who obeyed their orders. Ultimately, all of them were polluted by this war crime in some measure.

My son will be enlisting in the army next month. I said to him: "If two top officers order you to guard the entrance of a room so that nobody will prevent them from raping a woman soldier inside, you must refuse to obey your orders. And by the same token, if they order you to simply be in the second military line-up or the tenth around the expulsion of a Jew from his home in the Land of Israel - it is exactly the same thing. Exactly."

That is why there is poetic justice in the fact that the Expulsion leaders are now being accused of international war crimes. He who sacrificed his brothers and his land on the altar of international acceptance now finds himself on the international defendant's bench.

It is even amusing. Imagine that tomorrow the current government falls, and businessman Ehud Barak, no longer armed with diplomatic immunity, cannot land in London. Can you imagine a greater tragedy? Bibi and Sarah will not be able to go to the opera, as they did when half the country was in bomb shelters and 130 soldiers and citizens were killed - all in the name of Olmert's attempt to boost his Convergence scheme to continue to destroy the settlements.

Did anyone really listen to Netanyahu's speech in the UN? What was the nucleus of his speech - after he dispensed with all the melodrama? Netanyahu's speech was directed at neutralizing the danger of the Goldstone report. In other words, he wanted to ward off the danger that an entire slice of political and military leaders will not be able to go shopping at Marks and Spencer. In his speech, Bibi said that - with his support - the State of Israel took unilateral action and expelled the Jews from Gush Katif. And if you don't get this Goldstone off our backs, we will not be able to continue to expel more settlers and to establish a state of terrorists in Israel's heartland.

Like it or not, that was the crux of Netanyahu's speech: The Land of Israel in exchange for Goldstone.

I once knew a very special Jew by the name of Shlomo Baum. He was Ariel Sharon's deputy in Unit 101. Before he died, he said to me, "Shimon Peres could not care less if this entire country turns into a pile of ashes - as long as he will be left standing on top of the pile." I was naive then and I thought that the likeable old man was exaggerating. Today I know that his analysis of Peres holds true for an entire echelon of leaders who will sell this country out so that the capitals of Europe will remain open for their pleasure. Our situation today is more dangerous than ever before because until now, the citizens of this country were able to compensate - with their sweat and blood - for the foolishness of their leaders. Now, the enemy has found the way to direct the arrows straight into our weak spot - the leaders of the State of Israel.

The danger at our threshold is much broader than the question of how our threatened leaders will behave. Historically, physical destruction has always come on the heels of demonization. Gush Katif could not have been destroyed before the demonization of the settlers that preceded the actual expulsion. Even though I was just a young boy in 1967, I still remember Nasser's propaganda against Israel that preceded the Six Day War. All the pogroms and the holocausts that we suffered in the exile were preceded by poisonous propaganda that negated the Jews' very right to exist.

Our flight from our Jewish identity and our decades-long attempt to establish a state of all its citizens in Israel precludes our ability to give a Jewish answer to the claims of the Moslem and Christian world. When we adopted their moral standards, we seated ourselves on their defendant's bench.

It makes no difference how many Israeli soldiers were killed and will be killed, G-d forbid, in our attempt to wage war according to the values of the Western world. We will always be the bad guys- the robbers - in the story. When in 1967 we did not do what we did in 1948 - and left the Arabs in our land - we proved that we accept the principle that this land actually belongs to them. When we drove out the Jews who nevertheless believed in this land and made it flourish, we irreversibly proved the claim that this land is not ours.

I was there, in Gush Katif, when it happened. There was more foreign press there than there were grains of sand. The entire world watched in anticipation to see if it would really happen. The Jews drove themselves out of their land and from that point and on, we are robbers/colonialists - also in Tel Aviv and in Haifa. Furthermore, whoever fires missiles at us from Gaza is a freedom fighter. You can send them one thousand text messages before you invade - but you will still be a war criminal. The Goldstone Report would never have seen the light of day without the Expulsion.

So there is no reason to be amused. The international demonization that we are experiencing threatens more than Ehud Barak's next weekend in London. It threatens us all with physical annihilation.

Nevertheless, there is something positive that is coming out of the Goldstone debacle. The State of Israel has its back to the wall and is being forced to re-think its basic assumptions. The 'normalcy' idea is officially bankrupt. The commentators and pundits are still attempting to blame the IDF or Israel's diplomatic efforts. "We should have cooperated with Goldstone," they say. But here and there, we already see individual journalists, like Ari Shavit in Ha'aretz, who at least understand that the problem is not tactical, but rather the essential negation of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.

Understandably, the solutions that they suggest are the very same "political processes" that have brought us to this crisis. Their horizons are as broad as an ant's. But as the crisis continues, wider and wider circles in Israeli society will begin to listen to the voices outside the media bubble. Policies that base their justice on Judaism will become Israel's lifeline.

Ehud, About That Hotel Bill

By Jason Gold

Dear Ehud:

All this talk about your hotel bill has me thinking you must be feeling pretty alone out there. It seems every cabdriver in Israel reacts with road rage every time a report on your 500,000+ shekel, 100,000 shekel/day jaunt to Paris airs on the news. I mean, what is the big deal? You get invited (or did you just decide you needed a vacation from torturing the settlers?) to an “air show” in France and take a 30+ person entourage with you for a few days of fun and elite elbow-rubbing. So you have become accustomed to the good life or “la dolce vita”. After all, you are a sophisticated concert pianist who nonetheless appears tone deaf when it comes to the concerns of providing security for Israel. Yet, how does a man as head of Mercaz Ha’Avoda (Labor party), who represents Ha’poalim (the workers), in the true spirit of European socialism, act in such a bourgeoisie manner? And besides, couldn’t you come up with a better excuse than an air show? You remind of the time that President Kennedy went to France, disappeared from the public light for three days and then surfaced with a back ache that he claimed was a result of chopping wood. Now, that’s a leader of the free world!!!

Perhaps you have lost touch. You have been so busy ensuring Israel’s security by removing vital checkpoints in Yesha while at the same time banning three “dangerous” men from seeing and providing for their families in Yitzhar that it seems that this settler hatred has finally distorted your thinking to the point that you have lost your kesher or connection to the common man. I mean, come on. Surely, a sophisticate such as you must realize that the cabernet sovenion from the winery at the top of the hill in Yitzhar ranks as one of the best. Chaval, what to do? It seems you need to find a new connection and perhaps demonstrate new sensitivities to the population in Israel you blame for all the world’s ills. Perhaps at the same time you will find the mechanism needed to remove the chutzpah, the ga’ava, and the contempt for the hard-working Israeli that it took to do this. I know some folks feel pigs would fly before that happens but if a socialist-loving, cryto-Muslim with no real government experience from Chicago can get elected US president, then surely winged chazir are indeed in the air.

I would suggest the following. Like you, I enjoy a taste of la dolce vita every now and then but we all to need to stay connected with feet on the ground. So while I am in my transition to Eretz Yisrael from Chutz La’Aretz, I typically eschew the hotels as the only people staying there are the type like you that I hope to avoid. I love staying in places like Karnei Shomron where one has an absolutely perfect view of the Harei Shomron as the sun is both coming up and setting. There is a modest home there with a nice attic that boasts a comfortable bed and even air-conditioning!!!!! You can take the bed and I will use a sleeping bag on the floor. Snoring is not a problem as it would take Iran’s Revolutionary Guardsmen landing on the roof (Gd forbid) to wake me but of course I will feel completely safe with you there as there will absolutely no chance of that ever happening as you and Bibi decide where you will get the testosterone necessary to pre-empt the new Hitler of Iran. The food is great and at Pesach they make homemade matza in the oven outside. So how about it Ehud? There is no Steinway but the kids are quite musically inclined and I can always loan you my iPod. Hope this chizuk helps. Keep in touch.

Your new friend,

Yaakov.

Open Letter to Defense Minister Barak: Do Not Negotiate My Release

By Moshe Feiglin

This week, I wrote an open letter to Defense Minister Barak, instructing him not to negotiate my release if I am G-d forbid abducted by terrorists. The letter has been making waves in Israel, and was quoted in Israel's major media outlets:

An open letter to Defense Minister Barak: Do not negotiate my release

To the Defense Minister of the State of Israel
Mr. Ehud Barak

Re: Instructions not to conduct negotiations for my release if I am taken captive

As an Israeli citizen, as a soldier and a reserve officer, I hereby instruct you that if, God forbid, I am ever kidnapped or taken captive by Arab terror organizations, no negotiations should be conducted to secure my release. This order is the product of a sound mind. The reasons for this instruction are as follows:

A. Twenty-five years ago, Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard took shelter from his pursuers inside the Israeli Embassy in Washington. In accordance with an order issued by the Shamir government, then-Israeli Ambassador Elyakim Rubinstein handed him directly over to US federal authorities. Since then and to this day, Jonathan has been imprisoned under disgraceful conditions. He has never had even a short vacation outside the prison walls. His health is dangerously deteriorating. Israel - for whom and in whose name Jonathan sacrificed his life, did and continues to do everything possible to ensure that Jonathan will remain in prison and die there. Despite the biting betrayal that he experienced, every time that the media raises the possibility that Jonathan will be exchanged for one arch-murderer or another, Pollard hurriedly announces his opposition to this type of swap. It is incumbent on every Israeli citizen to understand - as a free person -what our betrayed hero understands from his jail cell. We must not buy liberty for an individual in exchange for endangering the lives of the public and encouraging additional abductions.

B. After a number of visits to his prison cell I understood that in the 25 years of continued betrayal of Jonathan, Israel's government has lost the moral foundation in the name of which it sends its sons to endanger themselves and in the power of which it can also bring them home. In fact, since the betrayal of Jonathan and until this very day, Israel has not brought one captive soldier home alive.

C. The Israeli government has refrained from carrying out the simple and most obvious actions for Gilad Shalit's release. Hamas, which at first avoided admitting that it was the kidnapper, quickly understood that Israel's leaders would not endanger themselves with international arrest warrants and is no longer afraid to claim full responsibility for this act. Its thousands of detainees in Israel are getting the royal treatment and enjoy conditions no Israeli detainee can even dream of.

As a first step, Israel should have compared the arrest conditions of Hamas prisoners to those of Shalit. No visits, no information, no sunlight. All Hamas leaders should have become the targets of kidnappings and assassinations. The entire supply of money, weapons, cement, fuel and electricity from Israel to Gaza should have stopped. These basic actions, and many others which could have led to Shalit's swift release, are not being carried out because the Israeli leadership fears its own fate. The only way that Israel's leaders can please both Israeli mothers and the world is to surrender and dispatch thousands of murderers to our doorsteps.

D. Clearly, the loss of vision and leadership that engenders these wholesale releases greatly encourages our enemies. The wave of terror and kidnappings that broke out following the release of thousands of terrorists does not fit what we had known in the past by any standard. "I couldn't look the mothers in the eye," said Defense Minister Yitzchak Rabin and signed the prisoner swap with the Jibril terror organization. This exchange led directly to the first intifada. This led to a mass release of terrorists in the Oslo Accord and to the suicide bomber rage that followed on its heels. The State of Israel has sunk itself inside fences and guards, but this is nothing more than a pain killer for spreading cancer.

No fence can stop rockets. The weakness of the Israeli leadership in the face of terror organizations has been well internalized by a distant and much more dangerous circle of enemy states. Why should Iran's leader be afraid if the Hamas leaders feel safe?

E. "I see Israel as a state of all its citizens," explained the most influential Israeli of this generation, former Chief Justice Aharon Barak. Israel, fleeing from its Jewish identity, has pulled the carpet out from under the moral foundation of its very existence and right to send soldiers into battle. If not for a Jewish state, then what are we doing here? Why should we send our sons to the army and not to Australia?

The inevitable result of loss of Jewish vision is loss of our ability to conduct any sort of political program. When there is no strategic goal, there cannot be tactical policies. As a result, Israel will continue to conduct itself according to the caprices of constantly-surfacing international and local pressure and media campaigns.

F. In this situation, the responsible Israeli citizen is faced with one of two choices: One - to come to terms with the process briefly described here and to wait for the coup de grace that will terminate the historic episode called 'The State of Israel'. The other option is that, like in past wars, the simple soldiers will know how to save the state from the failures of its leaders. As such, we, the civilians and the simple soldiers order that no negotiations be held for us.

G. I am pleased to report that both combat officers and soldiers have announced that they will unhesitatingly add their names to this petition. I plan to continue to send you letters from soldiers in the same spirit.

Respectfully,

Moshe Feiglin

Since I announced this initiative, I have received quite a few letters from soldiers and citizens who penned their own versions to Barak. The most touching was a letter from Yitzchak, a soldier who served with Gilad Shalit. Yitzchak wrote as follows:

"Since Gilad was abducted, I feel torn and I do not know what to do to help him. Like every Jew on earth, I pray for him and hope that he will be released soon - safe and sound.
Yet, I am dismayed at how our entire country kneels before the terror organizations every time that they succeed in capturing one of our fighters in their clutches. This situation is intolerable and we fall into this trap time and again. I am frequently forced to refuse the requests of my fellow soldiers from our company and brigade to participate in demonstrations for Gilad. I have reached the conclusion that our intellect must take precedence over our emotions, as painful as this is for me."

My letter to the Defense Minister seems to have touched a raw nerve. Many people are disgusted with Israel's defeatism and are anxious to join in this initiative. It is important to remember that since the wholesale release of terrorists in the Jibril swap 25 years ago, not one Israeli soldier has returned home alive from terrorist captivity. The terrorist release approach is not only wrong from a moral and security point of view; it also fails to produce positive results.

Statistically, 80% of Hamas terrorists return to terror and murder after their release. In other words, 16 of the 20 terrorists released by Israel in exchange for the Gilad Shalit video will once again attempt to murder Israelis. It is reasonable to assume that one of them may possibly succeed, G-d forbid. This will be just part of the true price of the video. It is merely the promo for the pictures of long lines of buses filled with gleeful murderers that we will be treated to if the entire exchange takes place, G-d forbid.

The more soldiers and citizens who write letters to the Defense Minister, the greater the chances that Israel will regain its moral balance and return to war against terror instead of surrender to its dictates.

Please fill in your name and information on the letter below, copy, paste and email it to moshe@mflikud.co.il . We will send the letters in bulk to Minister Barak.

Or print the letter out here, fill in your information and fax it to our office: 09 792 0570

or mail it to:
Manhigut Yehudit
POB 21
Ginot Shomron
44853

Gd's country

By Moshe Feiglin

Approximately one thousand years after the destruction of the second temple and Israel's exile from its homeland, deep in the depths of the harsh exile and one thousand years before the beginning of the return to Zion - the great Torah commentator Rashi opens his monumental commentary on the Torah with the question of the ownership of the Land of Israel. What with all the hardships and troubles facing European Jewry at the time, with the Land of Israel but a vague and distant memory, the most pressing problem demanding Rashi's attention is what we will answer the non-Jewish world when it will claim that we are robbers in our own land, usurping its ownership from the local Canaanites.

The Torah should have begun with the first commandment G-d gave to Moses, Rashi quotes his father. Why, then, does the Torah open with the story of creation? His answer may not have seemed relevant then, but it is certainly pertinent today and reads like a current events account. Rashi explains that the Torah opens with the story of creation to establish the fact that G-d created the world. "If the nations of the world say to Israel, 'You are robbers - you have conquered the lands of other nations,' Israel can answer as follows: The entire world belongs to the Holy One, Blessed Be He. He created it and gave it to whom He pleased."

The Givot Olam "outpost" near Itamar

During the Sunday Manhigut Yehudit Sukkot event in Jerusalem, Rabbi Yitzchak Brand gave me a paper with some of his Torah thoughts. "With all due respect to Rashi," Rabbi Brand, head of a large faction of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Manhigut Yehudit begins his presentation, "wouldn't it have been better if we had received the Land of Israel empty of previous residents? Why did the Creator of the world choose to bring us to a land that was already occupied? Why didn't He give us the Land of Israel first - just like he gave France to the French and England to the English? Why do we first have to conquer and then look for excuses?"

Rabbi Brand answers that if we would not have been forced to conquer the Land of Israel, nobody could have accused us of robbery. But then we would not have been able to answer with the irrefutable facts that Rashi points out in his commentary on this week's Torah portion, Genesis. And, after all, the reason for our presence in the Land of Israel is specifically so that we may give this answer. In other words, when the Nation of Israel - the nation that is a living testimony to the existence of the Creator of the world - drives out it enemies and settles the Land of Israel, it essentially declares that there is a higher authority in this world. He created the world and He determines the path that it will take. The only reason that we merit to live in Israel is so that we may proclaim that G-d is King of the World. This is the only way that we can justify our presence here in the eyes of the world.

When I read what Rabbi Brand had written, I remembered a short article that Manhigut member Meyer Goldmintz had sent me. The State of Israel expelled Meyer from his home in Yad Yair, destroyed it and turned the place into an Arab garbage dump. Today, Meyer lives with his family in the settlement of Haresha. In his article he asks a simple question:

How is it that we, the settlers, who have taken the utmost care not to settle lands privately owned by Arabs, who searched for strictly state-owned lands to settle and were sure to distance ourselves from even the slightest hint of robbery of Arab-owned land - are nevertheless constantly accused of robbing Arab lands, while the kibbutzim of the leftist Shomer Hatzair, almost all of which were built on lands that had belonged to Arab villages that were conquered and destroyed in 1948 - are considered bastions of "peace"?
Meyer answers that it is specifically the fact that the settlers are careful not to build on Arab land that has brought about their dismal reputation. Very simply, they (we) have betrayed our mission and cannot give the answer that Rashi gives at the beginning of the Torah.

The leftist kibbutz member, who had ostensibly disassociated himself from the Torah, did not deny the fact that he was a Jew. As a Jew, he drove out the non-Jew living in his land and settled in his place. By doing so, even though he likely did not intend to - our leftist fulfilled the essence of the reason for the return of the Jews to their Land. He showed the world that there is a Creator and that He decides when non-Jews will live in His land and when His children will live in their place. Thus, the borders of Israel in the places from which the Arabs were forcibly expelled are not questioned today. But we, the settlers, who strive to fulfill G-d's commandments - have not yet fulfilled the basic reason for settlement of the Land. On the contrary, we have avoided it. We were careful not to drive the Arabs out - the complete opposite of the sanctification of G-d's Name accomplished by the leftist kibbutzim.

True, it is the State of Israel that decides when and whom to expel - not private people. But we never protested and enthusiastically adopted this approach. Today, we are suffering the consequences of our actions.

Shabbat Shalom

Manhigut Yehudit's Founding Principles: A Reality Check

By Moshe Feiglin

13 Tishrei, 5770
Sept. 30, '09

Just before Passover, 5757 (1997) twelve and a half years ago, the members of Manhigut Yehudit gathered to formulate the ten founding principles that would be a guiding light for our movement. At the time, Netanyahu had just begun his first term as prime minister. Nobody had yet considered joining the Likud. Now, twelve and a half years later, we can do a reality check and see if Manhigut Yehudit's founding principles are indeed in harmony with Israeli reality. (Click here for the full list of Manhigut Yehudit's Founding Principles).

1. From Existence-Based Zionism To Destiny-Based Zionism
Those people who perceive subtleties are in for a pleasant surprise. Israel has begun to abandon its "existence" claims in favor of previously unheard-of claims such as "The Holocaust is not the reason for the existence of the State of Israel." In the past, practically the only place to find a sentence like that would have been in a Manhigut Yehudit speech or publication. But little by little, this claim is becoming a plank in Israel's policies.

The Yesha Council leaders demonstrating against the building freeze from their protest tent in Jerusalem are still afraid to raise their heads above human-rights claims of natural growth or the tried and true security claims. Unfortunately, the Yesha Council is still stuck in Existence-Based Zionism. But in his speech at the United Nations, PM Netanyahu needed to rely on more than mere existence. From his attack against Holocaust denial he went on to talk about the inheritance of our forefathers. True, for Netanyahu Jewish destiny is an unknown. Furthermore, his talk of the rightful inheritance of our forefathers becomes grotesque when in the same breath he offers the Land of our Forefathers to a non-nation. Nonetheless, the very fact that the prime minister resorted to a plane beyond Existential Zionism is important progress. Manhigut Yehudit can rightfully take credit for inserting this concept into Israel's political lexicon.

2. Jewish Orientation for the State of Israel
Suddenly, everybody is talking about a Jewish state. Suddenly, everybody notices that our very existence as a Jewish state is not a given. Suddenly, everybody understands that the question is not if we recognize the need for a "Palestinian state," but rather if the "Palestinians" and the rest of the world recognize the legitimacy of and need for the existence of a Jewish state. After years of attempts to distance the State of Israel from its Jewish character and after years of attempting to build a state of all its citizens, the demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state has become a fundamental issue - so much so that the fact that the US president said the magic words "Jewish state" in his speech at the UN was portrayed as a major achievement.

Netanyahu has appointed former Chief Justice Aharon Barak to pen Israel's formal response to the Goldstone report. But the former Chief Justice has only recently declared that he sees Israel as a state of all its citizens. In other words, he is not interested in a Jewish state. By virtue of that perspective, he does not have and cannot have an answer to the report that presents Israel's soldiers as war criminals. What can he possibly say? That Israel acted within the framework of self-defense for robbers?

But even in this case, we can and should look at the glass that is half full. Despite the confusion and dissonance, we are witnessing substantial progress. Not because people necessarily realize how much Manhigut Yehudit has influenced Israeli society. Simply because Israeli society has begun to adopt Manhigut Yehudit's Founding Principles and they are seeping deep into our collective psyche.

Israeli society is in the process of profound change. The only leftists that remain are those for whom being Left is a business. The vast majority of Israelis fasted this past Yom Kippur. The artists - the sensitive weathervanes of societal change - have switched direction and are using their creative talents to express their connection to Judaism. Manhigut Yehudit did not create this revolution. But it is certainly a catalyst for this renaissance and highlights its significance on a national level.

In the short term, it could be that this process will hamper our progress in the political arena. Suddenly, there is no opponent from the Left because Meretz, Kadimah and Labor are rapidly losing their significance. Netanyahu's new mode of public relations may convince many that we have reached our ultimate goal.

But this is true only in the short term. In the longer term, the process that we are witnessing with wide-eyed amazement is vital for the changing of the guard (Founding Principle #5). If, until not long ago, we thought that the changing of the guard and the establishment of authentic Jewish leadership for the State of Israel would necessarily be the product of a head-on collision with the "old guard", the newly developing dialectic may just save us from this unsavory scenario.

Two-poled Zionism (Left/Right) is slowly being replaced by Zionism informed by one consciousness - Zionism developing from existence to destiny. This new form of Zionism is positioned to herald a harmonious state in which Israeli society as a whole will steadily progress toward the goal of Destiny-Based Zionism. Clearly, this national consciousness will require leadership hewed from Jewish foundations and committed to the historic destiny of the Nation of Israel. In short - Jewish leadership.

This is completely in line with our fifth Founding Principle:

Changing of the Guard
The Zionist consciousness that realized the first stage of the Return to Zion is incapable of dealing with the problems facing the State of Israel. It has reached its end. Manhigut Yehudit has deep and genuine appreciation for Zionism and the dedication of its pioneers. It identifies with their positive intentions and desires to continue their positive actions. As such, Manhigut Yehudit strives to create a deep change in the national consciousness - a fundamental, spiritual and ethical change. A transformation to belief-based consciousness is the only way to continue the historical process of the Return to Zion.

May it be G-d's will!

Netanyahu, Obama, Abu Mazen Summit

By Moshe Feiglin

5 Tishrei, 5770
Sept. 23, '09

What does Abu Mazen want?
Abu Mazen, (who holds a Soviet doctorate for his Holocaust denial thesis) wants to destroy Israel - just like every other Jew-hater in the world. Like every reasonable Moslem Arab who lives in Dar el Islam (a.k.a. the Middle East) that is polluted by the Zionist entity, Abu Mazen would also be pleased to carry on with the murders, rapes and mutilations that we all remember from the Arab riots of 1929, 1936, Israel's War of Independence - and from every opportunity that the Arabs in the Land of Israel have had to express their unique talents.

But in the meantime, Abu Mazen's immediate goal is to perpetuate the current situation. At the present, he needs Israel to prevent the Hamas from taking over Ramallah and throwing him off a local rooftop. He also has to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state - at any price. Why? Because in addition to all the honor and authority that he enjoys even now as "head of state", he would actually have to take responsibility for the Arabs of Judea and Samaria. Abu Mazen is not a pushover. He knows that as soon as there is "peace" he will interest no one. What will he do then? Take care of the sewage problem in Bir Zait?

Sound confusing? Just wait for the rest. For now, just remember that Abu Mazen needs to talk peace and to present Israel as intransigent.

What does Obama want?

The places in which Obama grew up and was educated, the mentors and events that, as per his own testimony, shaped his personality and world view - do not leave room for sweet speculation. Obama is a dangerously radical leftist who willingly subjugates himself to the most radical Islam.

Obama wants to appease all the dictators of the world - first and foremost, of the Moslem world - at Israel's expense. Anti-Semitism has always been subtly present in American governments. But the common values shared by the US and Israel had always afforded the two countries a basis for cooperation. Obama is past all that. As opposed to the previous US presidents of this generation, Obama sees no justification for Israel's very existence.

In the meantime, what is important to Obama is to talk peace and to appease the Arabs by presenting Israel as intransigent.

What does Netanyahu want?
This is the hardest question. The analysts in Israel can't seem to decide if Netanyahu would like to retreat but cannot, or if he can retreat but does not want to. As we are not mind-readers, we will try to get to the root of the matter.

What Netanyahu wants is what the State of Israel has wanted since it was established and even before that. A state wants to be normal, a country like any other country, a nation like any other nation. To accomplish that, Netanyahu needs to keep up normal relations with the US and the western world. The paradox is that the more that Israel surrenders its strategic and tangible assets (its land, settlements, army checkpoints) as well as its principles (recognition of our very right to a Jewish state) the more that the nations distance themselves from her. The more that we surrender our unique identity and destiny, the more that we insist that we seek only peace - the more that we become an international pariah.

But Netanyahu has nowhere to run. The concepts of holiness, of Israel's uniqueness and of Jewish rectification of the world are completely foreign to him. All that he can do is to continue to play the peace game and to hedge his bets that Abu Mazen will back down first.

In summary:
Abu Mazen wants to perpetuate the current situation.
Obama wants to appease Islam.
Netanyahu wants the US and the West to stop pressuring Israel.

The only one of the three who will get exactly what he wants is, of course, Abu Mazen.

Manhigut Yehudit in the News: Jerusalem Post

Click on picture for the JPost video of the event
JPost: Likud's far right appeals to Anglos

Sep. 23, 2009
Josiah Daniel Ryan , THE JERUSALEM POST

Execute prisoners on Hamas's negotiation list until captive soldier Gilad Schalit is released, shut down Army Radio and win the top spot in the Likud leadership.
That's how Shmuel Sackett and Moshe Zalman Feiglin, the founders of far-Right Likud faction Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership), marketed their party to a group of English-speaking immigrants in Jerusalem on Tuesday night.

"Each one of you has a role to play in changing the direction of the Jewish nation," said Feiglin. "Our alternative is going to win, and it's going to lead Israel."
The only question, he said, "is how long it will take and how much suffering we will go through before it happens. There is no other way. It may sound bombastic, but Israel has no chance of surviving without Jewish Leadership."
Feiglin fielded a series of questions from the audience of about 25, most of whom said in a quick poll that they were already registered Likud members.

In response to a question about how he would deal with the Schalit issue as prime minister, Feiglin said he would immediately execute half of the prisoners named in Hamas's negotiation list and execute another one each day Schalit was not released.
"We have atomic bombs, and we cannot rescue a soldier 10 kilometers away?" asked Feiglin. "We take a list of what they want and simply kill half of them, and every day he is not released, we kill another one. If they kill him, then you attack, and you make sure there is not one Hamas leader who stays alive."

In response to a question about how to control the "left-wing media," Feiglin said he would not touch privately owned newspapers, but that he would refuse to speak to several outlets, eject members of his party who did and shut down Army Radio.
"There's no reason why we should pay for a station that is a totally leftist radio station," said Feiglin.

But both Feiglin and Sackett made it clear that they were recruiting immigrants to Likud and that despite conflicts within the party's central leadership, they would not endorse splintering into further factions.
"In order to leave tonight, you have to sign up and join Likud," said Sackett, adding, "We will never start another political party. The right wing has way too many parties as it is. To splinter more is ridiculous."

Feiglin and Sackett cut their teeth in national politics opposing the Oslo Accords, which Feiglin said he blamed for the 9/11 attacks in the US and the suicide bombings that followed in Israel.

The Facebook page that advertised the gathering in Jerusalem's Katamon neighborhood touted Feiglin "as Bibi's biggest political threat," and in his remarks Feiglin said Netanyahu and the media feared him.

"We know it's real from the way Netanyahu is afraid of us and the way the media is afraid of us," he declared.