Jewish Legs or Leftist Crutches?

When Menachem Begin was elected as prime minister in 1977, Jews in Israel and the world over were filled with pride and hope. Those hopes, though, were summarily dashed. Whoever had anticipated a true revolution soon became painfully aware that political rule and actual control are not necessarily concurrent. Begin quickly appointed Laborite Ezer Weitzman to serve as defense minister and Moshe Dayan to serve as Foreign Minister. Those appointments proved that nationalism without Judaism cannot stand on its own two feet. In order to see itself as legitimate, it needs leftist crutches.

The leaders of the Right have a problem. On the one hand, they represent the majority in Israel. But on the other hand, both the religious and political rightist leaders do not believe in the relevance of Judaism on the national level. As a result, they are incapable of creating an authentic nationalist alternative to the Left. These leaders have no real intention of fighting the battle of their constituency. And why should they? They can be prime minister, or Yesha leader or head of the yeshivah/military academies without troubling themselves to fight.

Common political wisdom dictates that for the Likud to win the elections, it must win the "centrist" vote. But the truth is just the opposite. As soon as the Likud adopts more leftist positions, it loses. Netanyahu also explains his battle against Moshe Feiglin with the same logic. If the Likud will seem too rightist, it will lose votes. The facts, of course, don't seem to disturb Mr. Netanyahu. After his struggle against Moshe Feiglin, the Likud won just 12 Knesset seats. The Kadimah voters were unimpressed with Netanyahu's "centrist" rhetoric. But he did lose a tremendous amount of rightist votes to Lieberman -- who is now bolstering Olmert's Jerusalem-dividing government with the votes of his well-meaning but naïve constituency.

Last week, Dr. Asher Cohen of the Bar Ilan University published the findings of his 2006 democracy survey. The findings show that 22% of Israel's citizens define themselves as "extreme Right," 12% as "Right," and 15% as "moderate Right," or in other words, as Likud. When Netanyahu locked the doors to prevent Moshe Feiglin from congratulating him after the previous primaries, he was actually disenfranchising 34% of Israel's population. Moshe Feiglin and Manhigut Yehudit are the Likud bridgehead to a vast amount of voters who are disenchanted with the ruling nationalist party.

Netanyahu is a very rational man. Wouldn't he prefer to head a true right wing party with 49 Knesset seats instead of a shrunken centrist party with 12 or 15 Knesset seats?

The painful but true answer is that he would not. Netanyahu prefers to lean on the Left's crutches with a small and identity-less Likud behind him. He would rather leave the control in the hands of the Left than to head a strong Likud government that stands on its own two Jewish feet.

Why?

Netanyahu does not believe in the ability of the national camp to lead by itself. He certainly does not believe that Israel should be guided by Jewish values. But he does want to be prime minister. So he prefers to have the Likud just strong enough to get him into the prime minister's chair -- but absolutely not more than that. When Netanyahu fights against Feiglin, he does not do so to make the Likud seem more "centrist" and get more votes. He does it to signal to the Left that he is fighting their common enemy -- the person with the real potential to replace them.

Netanyahu does not fight Feiglin to save the Likud. Netanyahu fights Feiglin and the Likud -- to save Netanyahu.

Don't we have more important things to write about, with Jerusalem on the chopping block? Not really. To save Jerusalem and essentially -- to save the Nation of Israel, we have to understand which leaders actually intend to win the struggle -- and which leaders will channel all of our frustrated energy and concern to absolutely nowhere, as part of the cynical game orchestrated by the Left.

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OPERATION JERUSALEM SHIELD

Manhigut Yehudit, led by Moshe Feiglin, is spearheading a movement to STOP Olmert's plan to divide Jerusalem.

The main focus of "Operation Jerusalem Shield" is to pressure all Knesset members - starting with Likud - to commit IN WRITING that they will NEVER honor agreements signed by Olmert, or anyone else, regarding Jerusalem.

All polls show that Likud will lead the next government and Moshe Feiglin wants to make 100% certain that the entire world knows the Likud will declare all Jerusalem deals - NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY - as totally NULL and VOID!

Simply put: Jerusalem is NOT negotiable. Not now... not ever.

Manhigut Yehudit is asking for your involvement in "Operation Jerusalem Shield".
The money we raise in this campaign will be used in the following ways:

1) Lobbying efforts in the Knesset with Likud members and then with other Knesset parties as well
2) Massive PR campaign that will pressure as many Knesset members as possible to sign our pledge
3) Street demonstrations - all over Israel - focused at getting grass-roots suppport
4) International media campaign
5) Internet projects, in several languages, to educate the world about our program; video and audio included.

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WILL IT HELP???

We started Manhigut Yehudit to accomplish one goal: To lead the State of Israel based on authentic Jewish values. When that happens, things like NEGOTIATING THE STATUS OF JERUSALEM will never happen! Real Jewish leaders will BUILD Jerusalem, settle Jews in every part of our G-d given land, educate all children in our traditions, financially help the Jewish poor and restore the IDF to its days of pride and strength! That was -- and still is -- the goal of Manhigut Yehudit.

But right now there is a major struggle that we cannot ignore. The struggle for Jerusalem is the struggle for the entire Land of Israel! WE MUST WIN THIS FIGHT and to do that, we need your support!

As stated above, Moshe Feiglin is leading the fight on all levels. From lobbying and pressuring Knesset members, to rallying the people in the streets, to mounting an international PR and educational campaign. The work load is enormous. We will gladly do our part and fight for Jerusalem with every fibre of our being, but we need you standing with us!

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