The Awakening Monster

By Moshe Feiglin

Cheshvan, 5769
November '08

Translated from the Hebrew article in the Makor Rishon newspaper.

What did you think, dear Hebronites? That if you paid an outrageous price, photographed and filmed the transaction for the 'Peace House' and the Arab seller standing on his head and swearing by the tail of the horse of Muhammad that the building is his and he is selling of his own free will - that you could rest easy? Did you think that the law would be on your side? That the Supreme Court would answer Amen? What, beloved brothers, did you think?

You simply do not understand that we are currently facing destruction. As far as Israel's decision makers are concerned, Hebron and all of Judea and Samaria no longer exist. Israel's 'leaders' are completely subservient to the legal/media/cultural/financial/security/academic elite that vigorously clutches the steering wheel of our Titanic.

In the good old days of Gush Emunim, Zionism still existed. There were forces in the Zionist Left that supported settlement throughout Israel. Gush Emunim took full advantage of that breach and with a combination of determined settlement of the land and legal and bureaucratic toil - it dotted Yesha with Jewish settlements.

But today we are on a completely different page. The elites have conquered the country and closed all the breaches. Gush Katif - established by the Labor party in the most legal of procedures - is dust. The elites are just waiting for their next opportunity. After Amona, Kadimah's popularity took a plunge and Olmert withdrew his Convergence plan and the continued struggle against the settlers. But it seems that the period of grace is drawing to an end. What is happening now at the Peace House is the awakening of the monster.

So now what do we do?

First, we must understand that the main objective of the government mechanism today is the destruction of all the settlements in Judea and Samaria. Our Sages teach that in times of shmad, destruction, we must not make the slightest retreat. It is a zero sum game and every retreat will be used to facilitate further destruction.

Second - and much more important. There is no relevant political arena outside the Likud. The Likud is not just another party. It is the national battle field. The rightist parties that were and that will be are completely irrelevant. We saw solid proof of that last week, when former head of the National Religious Party Eitam knocked on the door of the Likud and was not accepted.

The faith based public must connect to the large national camp and make its voice heard inside the Likud. The direction that the Likud takes is determined by its members. If just a fraction of the energies of the faith based public was redirected from struggling over every house to making its influence felt in the Likud - we could have been assured an impressive number of faith based Likud MKs and a much more Jewish-values oriented Israel.

Now you will remind me that the Likud destroyed Yamit and that the Likud destroyed Gush Katif. That is completely true. But the responsibility for that is on the shoulders of those people who ran off to hide in their sector-based parties instead of joining up with the broad national camp and wielding their influence there. Just think of the Likud as the parliament of the entire national camp. Everybody is welcome to join and to vote. Instead, we prefer to stay outside and demonstrate.

The monster that has awakened now in Hebron may wait until after the elections to rear its head again. It doesn't even care who wins.

What to do now? Run to register for the Likud!