A Message from Shmuel Sackett

Last night we won a great victory, but Netanyahu is, once again, focusing on the wrong opponent. Instead of targeting all his energy against Tzippy Livni and the defeat of Kadima, he is working night-and-day against Moshe Feiglin. Please read the following news article from Yediot Aharonots website called Ynet:

Netanyahu still pushing to oust Feiglin

Moshe Feiglin may be celebrating his achievement in the Likud primaries, but that won't be the case for long if Benjamin Netanyahu has any say in the matter. Ynet has learned a close associate of the Likud chairman, Ophir Ekonis, intends to appeal Feiglin's victory to the party's internal court.

If the court accepts the appeal, the Likud's highly contested right-wing marker could find himself ousted from the realistic placement he currently has on the party's Knesset roster to an irrelevant slot far lower than the 20th he now holds.

Ekonis, who carried the Tel Aviv district in Monday's primary elections, will appeal through attorney Yaakov Ne'eman, and demand the placement of district winners be bumped after the slots reserved for women became obsolete - as the women were elected to positions higher than the reserved spots.

Other district winners are expected to join the appeal. If successful, the bid would lead not only to Feiglin being dropped lower, but also other 'rebel' Likud members Netanyahu fears are too right-wing - like Michael Ratzon and Ehud Yatom.

What this means is that we must now prepare a very serious legal battle in order to win this case. And you thought we would just relax??

One note of explanation on a different subject: Many people have called and emailed me thinking that I feel bad that I lost in my bid to secure the Olim spot. While I sincerely appreciate the calls, I am ELATED! The main focus of ours was getting MOSHE elected to a realistic spot. My run for the Olim spot was designed to help Moshe and this was accomplished, Baruch Hashem! I was interviewed quite extensively in the English-language media sources and all my interviews focused on Moshe. This was - and remains - our Priority #1.

But, since you asked, allow me inform you how this crazy system works: Boaz HaEtzni won the YESHA spot with 2,718 votes. Ophir Ekonis (who is making all the trouble in the article above) won the TEL AVIV spot with 1,923 votes. Katey Sheitrit won the JERUSALEM spot with 1,648 votes and Guy Yifrach won the MOETZET EZORIT spot with 669 votes. All of these people WON and will be Knesset members very soon. Compare that to me:

I received 10,234 votes (you read that right!!) and LOST the Olim spot.

Now for the obvious question: How can someone get 669 votes and WIN, while another gets 10,234 votes and LOSES??? Because last week, Bibi changed the rules - with the approval of the Central Committee - to make it MANDATORY for every voter to cast two votes for the Olim spots (which was not the case for any of the other specialized spots). This rule change was done specifically to target Asya [Entov] and myself, the two Feiglin candidates for Olim. Had the old rule remained in place, very few people would have voted for the Olim and my 10,234 votes would have made me a major winner. Instead, I get 10,234 votes and sit on the sidelines while people with 6% of those votes are considered winners!!!

In any case, I am very happy for two reasons: Knowing that 10,234 people voted for me is something that makes me feel very appreciated. Words cannot express the gratitude I have to those 10,000 people. Moshe and I face constant opposition (see article above) but these people give us the strength to continue. The second point is from an old Carpenters song: Weve Only Just Begun.

Stay tuned for the latest and greatest in Israeli politics. I will keep you posted.

Thanks,

Shmuel - the man with 10,234 friends!