Macabees Then and Now; The Carpet Syndrome

Macabees Then and Now
By Moshe Feiglin

The process of Israel's collapse that we wrote and warned of over the past years is taking place before our eyes. The headless body in IDF uniform is roundly criticized by the State Comptroller for its lack of functioning. But it is actually functioning as expected. PM Olmert, who once promised that we would not return from Lebanon without the captives, writes them off in a calculatedly 'innocent' remark. Maybe that way, they will stop bothering him. Opposition head Netanyahu fantasizes about encouraging the 'moderate' Palestinian elements.

All the politicians, pundits, experts and journalists that have sunk us so deep in the mud, continue to fill our heads with nonsense -- completely disconnected from the reality that is closing in on Israel.

The good news is that new leadership is growing and taking hold. It is not dependant on the good will of the rotten and collapsing old leadership. This new leadership is Israel's real hope. It is growing from the belief based public that has dared to dream the dream of an authentically Jewish State.

The Macabees and their few followers faced off against the process of assimilation and normalization that was being led by the Hellenistic elite of Israel's society. Most of the Jews at the time went along with the Hellenists even though they despised the Western oppression and coercion being conducted in the name of liberty and democracy. They wished to express their truly free Jewish spirits, but were tyrannized by the despotic Hellenist minority.

Now it is our turn. This year on the fifth night of Chanukah, we will rekindle the flame lit by the Macabees. We will honor those truly free Jews of our generation who have dared to oppose Israel's current despotic regime. Together, we will work to create honest Jewish leadership for Israel.

Join us at the Manhigut Yehudit Chanukah Conference, Tuesday, the 28th of Kislev (Dec 19), the fifth night of Chanukah, at the Renaissance Hotel in Jerusalem at 7 p.m.
Your presence at the conference empowers us to establish belief based leadership for Israel.

We're looking forward to seeing you!

Manhigut Yehudit Chanukah Conference
Join us on Tuesday evening, the 28th of Kislev (Dec. 19) at 7 p.m. at the Renaissance Hotel in Jerusalem for our Chanukah Conference. The Conference is the place to be for everybody who wants to lend a hand and save Israel. Manhigut Yehudit representatives from throughout Israel will be available so that you can sign up to help in your own community. Dovid Shirel, Manhigut Yehudit's Educational Director and Director of English Speakers will also be at the Conference to organize Manhigut's English speakers into a dynamic Manhigut force that can really turn things around! Don't miss it and be sure to bring your friends! For questions, details, contact Dovid: shir@manhigut.org or call 02-996-1123 (Israel).

Guest Speakers at the Conference:
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu
Rabbi Uri Sharki
Former MK Moshe Peled
Manhigut Yehudit Director Michael Fuah
Manhigut Yehudit Chairman Moshe Feiglin

Master of Ceremonies: Eran Sternberg, former Gush Katif spokesman

Chanukah candle lighting:
Shoshi Greenfield
The teenage girls who refused to recognize the court system
The soldiers who warned that the emperor has no clothes

Featuring: Aharon Razel and Ariel Zilber

The Conference is dedicated in memory of Adir Zik, z"l

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission FREE.
For more information: 02-996-1123 (Israel)

The Carpet Syndrome

BY Michael Fuah

"Strike them with all we've got!" -- The Right.

"Restraint and peace accords!" -- The Left.

"We will strike the extremists and encourage the moderates!" -- Netanyahu.

And all of them lead us to despair.

If we hadn't already fought with all we've got, maybe there would be hope.

If we hadn't exercised restraint and signed peace accords, maybe there would be hope.

If we hadn't armed Arafat and brought Hamas into power, maybe there would be hope.

But we've done it all. We've fought and we've shown restraint, we've arrested terrorists and released them, we've confiscated weapons and distributed them, we've hurt them and apologized, conquered and retreated, built and destroyed and nothing has helped. Our situation has just deteriorated.

The public debate between Right and Left is simply ridiculous. The old mantras are repeated ad nauseum -- as if the restraint and accords have not brought death and grief to our doorsteps and as if military might bereft of any political objective has not been the catalyst for more surrenders and retreats. Each side accuses the other -- and justifiably so -- that its 'solutions' only make the situation worse.

The public debate has reached a dead end. The dead end is where despair lies and presents Israel with an existential threat. Nobody believes that we can really change the situation. Consequently, even though there is no real coalition, there is also no real opposition. The fundamental contract between a state and its citizens has been breached. The State has openly declared that it cannot afford its citizens basic protection. Our entire country simply pretends that it is a carpet so that it will not feel degraded when it is stepped upon.

The reason for the dead end is that the debate is confined to parameters detached from our Jewish identity. The basic assumption is that there is a Palestinian nation with whom we must reach some sort of understanding within the confines of Western/Christian values as they are defined by Israel's Supreme Court. That is not the way out of the dead end. Facing Israel is an Arab populace whose goal is to destroy us. It works toward this goal with all the tools at its disposal. We are eternally on the defensive. The most that we can achieve is a stabilization of the negative situation and often, worse than that.

The solution is currently outside the parameters of the public debate. As long as the Supreme Court and its agenda to make Israel a state of all its citizens continues to control our society and as long as the ethical code of the IDF continues to be based on Western/Christian values, there is no solution. The dead end will relentlessly creep forward, spreading despair in every direction.

To emerge from these straits, we need leadership that is not the Israeli Left or Right. We need the Jewish Center. The belief based public has the solution and must begin to lead. We must not despair and we must not abandon the leadership of Israel to the current dealers and bureaucrats. This is the time to publicly challenge the government establishment that is leading Israel to destruction. This will give us the legitimacy to replace it when the time is ripe. Now is the time to build political and public power that will establish a true alternative to the current leadership on Election Day.

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