He's obviously cut out for the job. He speaks well. He is telegenic. He has high levels of face and name recognition. He is second to none at the sound byte. He knows how to raise money. He knows how to make waves.
Most importantly, American Jews love him.
It's time for Benjamin Netanyahu to do what he was made to do. Run for the U.S. Senate.
Why should he continue to waste his talents and what's left of his relative youth on the Israeli electorate? His comrades in the Likud scheme to undermine him. His former comrades in Kadima miss no chance to demonize him. His potential coalition partners in Labor want nothing to do with him.
Already 10 years ago, elected prime minister at age 46, he had gone as far in Israeli politics as anyone can.
It's time for a change.
He could be the very model of the modern Schwarzenegger Republican, moderate on abortion, stem cell research, and health care reform, hawkish on terrorism and tax cuts.
Most remarkably, he is an Israeli leader who thinks he speaks English, and actually does.
Of course, there would be technical obstacles to a Netanyahu race for the Senate. Citizenship, for one thing. But assuming the hurdles could be smoothed by his many admirers of influence, there would be a more difficult problem: Where to run.
Does he go for the Jews - knowing that many American Jews vote liberal, blue and to his left? Or does he stand a better chance courting the Christian Right?
Does he go for New York - home to an enormous reservoir of expatriate Israelis - knowing that he lacks liberal credentials? Does he go for California, knowing that he lacks acting credits?
Options:
[All figures approximate]
CLASS I STATES: Populous states with Jewish communities of appreciable size and clout. Examples:
NEW YORK 1.7 million Jews, or 9% of 19 million total population
CALIFORNIA 1.2 million Jews, 3% of 39 million
NEW JERSEY 540,000 Jews, or 6% of 9 million
FLORIDA 650,000 Jews, or 4% of 16 million
PENNSYLVANIA 275,000, or 2.3% of 12 million
ILLINOIS 265,000, or 2.2% of 12 million
MASSACHUSETTS 260,000, or 4.3% of 6 million
CLASS II STATES: Populous Bible Belt states with relatively small Jewish populations.
TEXAS 126,000, or 0.6 % of 21 million
GEORGIA 88,000, or 1.1% of 8 million
NORTH CAROLINA 24,000, or 0.3% of 8 million
CLASS III STATES: Smaller Bible Belt states with negligible Jewish populations.
WEST VIRGINIA 1,800, or 0.1% of 1.8 million
ARKANSAS 2,600, or 0.1% of 2.7 million
OKLAHOMA 3,400, or 0.1% of 3.4 million
FOR REFERENCE: Present Jewish senators, by state:
California: Barbara Levy Boxer (D) Dianne Feinstein (D)
Connecticut: Joe Lieberman (I)
Maryland: Ben Cardin (D)
Michigan: Carl Levin (D)
Minnesota: Norm Coleman (R)
New Jersey: Frank Lautenberg (D)
New York: Charles Shumer (D)
Oregon: Ron Wyden (D)
Pennsylvania: Arlen Specter (R)
Vermont: Bernie Sanders (I)
Wisconsin: Russ Feingold (D) Herb Kohl (D)
Once this matter is settled, an issue which has remained unresolved for decades may yield to solution: Which European nation should crown Shimon Peres its ceremonial head of state?
| Let's Light Up Our Lives: By Moshe Feiglin |
| Translated from the Ma'ariv newspaper website. 4 Adar, 5767 Feb. 22, 2007 Criticism of the tyranny of the Supreme Court had always provided me with plenty of material for new articles. But now that criticism is being trumpeted by none other than the new Justice Minister, Professor Friedman. I said just what I thought about our generals and before I knew it, the War for the Safety of the Convergence Plan and the commissions of inquiry that it produced descended upon us and left my keyboard destitute. There is no reason to talk about Sharon and his son, President Katzav, former minister Chaim Ramon or to make jokes about Defense Minister Peretz; everybody else is already doing that. All that was left was the police and I have a lot of personal experience with them. I could tell countless tragi-comic stories about Israel's men in blue: How they intercepted the helicopter in which I was flyingover a Zo Artzeinu demonstration, for example, or how a reporter from Channel 2 news requested my response to a charge sheet that I had never received. She didn't give up, though, and faxed me the copy of the charge sheet that had been leaked to her so that I could respond. I could write a whole book about the blunders and corruption of Israel's police force, but now Professor Zeiler has come and stolen the show. So what is left to complain about? Since they finished off the settlers, all the bullies in town are trying to eliminate each other. As former Chief of Staff Halutz put it, number 2 stabs number 1 in the back, number 3 stabs number 2 in the back, 4 does it to 3 and I have nothing more to write about. All that is left is to tell a story that begins in Brooklyn, where my distant relative lives. He is a genius type, with a long list of degrees in his pocket. He spends his days studying Torah, he and his wife work a bit and they manage to support their four children by keeping their eyes on every cent. In America, experts warn that in forty years all the world's oil reserves will be depleted. The Americans don't live on the "Don't worry, everything will work out" culture like here in Israel. They don't wait for the last minute. So the federal and local governments have begun to subsidize every person who saves on electricity produced from oil. My relative put together all the facts and figures -- as only he can do -- and invested ten thousand dollars in a solar panel system that supplies all of his family's electricity needs. Electricity in the U.S. is no more expensive than electricity in Israel. If it is worth it for him -- believe me -- it is also worth it for us. True, it is of utmost importance to maintain the "peace" and to pour huge amounts of money into the Egyptian economy for the oil and gas that they pump from the "Alma" fields that we developed in the Sinai and then gave them. But why should we have to spend our money on Egypt? After all, Mubarak will not live forever. Eventually, one ayatollah or another will replace him and then, just like in Iran, all of our treaties and pacts will go up in smoke. My relative's solar panels take up about two thirds of his roof. The electricity that they produce enters a transformer that sends it straight into the public electric grid. "When that happens," he explains, "my electric meter actually turns around backwards." In other words, he doesn't store the electricity. Instead, he gives it back to the local electric company. For a card carrying Israeli citizen like me, it is simply inconceivable. They won't arrest me for doing something like that? Any citizen can produce electricity? Send it into the public grid? And even get a subsidy for doing so? Brooklyn has less sunshine than Israel, but nevertheless, my relative is in the black. Do you understand? The electric company owes him money! So what are we waiting for? From a technological perspective, we have no problem. Israeli companies are building solar electrical stations all over the world. In the summer, Israelis' air conditioners annually top the peak electrical consumption of the previous year. With the solar electrical system, every heat wave would mean breaking the records for electricity production. So far, nobody has landed on the sun and claimed it for his own. True, as soon as we activate this solar system, Sheikh Salah will claim that it is a desecration of Islamic holy property. But Olmert will let the Turks supervise the entire project, and everything will work out just fine.
| Israel's Sleepless Nights |  The Scroll of Esther that we read on Purim is high drama. The miraculous redemption of the Jews is hidden in a series of seemingly natural occurrences that all come together at precisely the right moment to save the Jewish People. "On that night, the king's sleep was disturbed." (Esther Chapter 6). The king's sleepless night is the cue for the miracle to actualize. Chassidut explains that the act of waking up from slumber is the beginning of redemption. Apathy and fog are replaced by determination and clarity, the wicked fall one after the other and eventually, the righteous claim their rightful place. The process that we are witnessing in Israel is the longed-for awakening. Sometimes, when one is in a particularly deep sleep, waking up hurts. It hurts even more when pressing problems have been ignored during the blissful slumber. But that pain is actually the beginning of the redemption. It heralds the thorough re-orientation of consciousness that Israel needs to make a true change. Manhigut Yehudit is proud to be a catalyst for Israel's change. We are proud to have a major role in the great awakening taking place in Israel. With G-d's help, we will be there for the Jewish People when they will soon collectively realize that the solution for Israel's woes is authentic Jewish leadership. It is no coincidence that Manhigut Yehudit's annual NY dinner is held on Shushan Purim. Purim symbolizes the great revolution -- from danger, despair and darkness to initiative, optimism and light. We hope that those of you who are in the US will join us for the dinner, this coming Monday evening, Shushan Purim, (March 5th) at 6:30 p.m. at The Sands, 1395 Beech Boulevard, Atlantic Beach, New York. Click here to register for the dinner on-line. (Registration is closing. This is your last chance!) We promise you an evening of inspiration and the camaraderie born of striving together to achieve an important goal. Manhigut Yehudit's dream of authentic Jewish leadership for Israel is becoming reality. We hope that you will be there with us. Moshe Feiglin |
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1 comment:
Since Eugene Gershin did it, let me do it to:
Come, visit my blog!
http://rafvrab.blogspot.com
Even though the administrator of this blog has not (yet) placed my blog on the links list on the left, you'll see it deserves to be there!
Hatzlacha Moishe Feiglin, I am looking forward to writing a posting with the title: FEGLIN WINS ISRAELI ELECTIONS.
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