This Sunday, Vice Premier Moshe Bogey Ya'alon spoke to a wall to wall audience of Manhigut Yehudit supporters in Jerusalem.
On Wednesday evening, Israel's Channel 2 news aired a clip of the meeting, in which Ya'alon refers to Peace Now as a "virus." His words triggered furious responses and were the top headlines in Israel. In response to the media hoopla, Moshe Feiglin commented that Ya'alon has said nothing new. His opinions are clearly outlined in his book, The Long Short Way. Feiglin added that "The Prime Minister is not serving in his role because he won the elections, but despite the fact that he lost the elections to Kadimah. The Likud lost thousands of votes that were virtually in its pocket because of Netanyahu's hysteria with regard to Moshe Feiglin. The fact that Netanyahu has summoned Vice Premier Ya'alon to meet with him for clarification after he met with members of his own party is scandalous and will cost the Likud many additional votes."
The importance of the meeting was first and foremost the very fact that it took place. The meeting replaced the walls of suspicion and distrust on both sides with first person insight into the policies advocated by both Moshe Feiglin and Minister Ya'alon. In addition, the meeting seemed to have impacted significantly on Vice Premier and former Chief of Staff Ya'alon, who the next day toured the destroyed settlement of Homesh and announced that Israel must return to Homesh and that the very concept called "illegal outposts" is itself illegal. Ya'alon had voiced this opinion before, but never on Israel TV.
We hope that Ya'alon will continue to press an agenda loyal to the Land and People of Israel and that his meeting with the Manhigut Yehudit members, who have not succumbed to the national media brainwashing, has opened his eyes to the fact that a large and high-quality bloc of Likud voters will firmly support loyal Likud MKs and ministers.
Manhigut Yehudit member Rafi Farber attended the conference. The following are excerpts from his report, which can be read in full here.
The calm of the event and how normal it felt belied how unprecedented it actually was. The place was packed from front to back. There weren’t even enough chairs for everyone in attendance. Moshe “Bogey” Ya’alon, Minister of Strategic Affairs and Vice PM, took time out of his day to sit down with a group of "Feiglinites" working inside the Likud, and speak with them about his vision. Bogey showed guts in sitting down with Feiglin and his supporters since his boss, PM Netanyahu, is known to loathe this man, and fears him like the plague. To be caught sitting with Feiglin – you’ll take quite a media beating if you get caught. This may be why Feiglin sent no official word to the media about the event. Bogey’s lambasting of the Israeli media during his 40 minute speech to the group could have been another factor.
At the meeting, Bogey spoke about how peace is impossible for now, since the other side has not recognized Israel as the national home of the Jewish people. What he seemed to miss, however, is that to Feiglin, this is completely irrelevant. Whether the other side is ready for peace, willing to make compromises or anything else, plays no role in Feiglin’s thought. “Peace is not my objective,” he replied to Bogey. He continued, “There is no country on the entire planet, except us, that has peace as its national objective. The minute that peace is your national objective, you lose it.” The Zionism of old doesn’t interest him either. “Zionism has reached the end of its road,” he says. “It is time for the next level – the one based on faith and the God of Israel. If we don’t build the second level, we will lose the whole thing.”
Then what is Feiglin trying to do? He wants nothing less than a total revolution at the core of Israel’s consciousness, to redefine the purpose of her existence, to change everything at the very core, and he wants to do this by winning the Likud leadership, and then the leadership of Israel. The objective of peace, according to him, demonstrates that Israel’s current leaders want her to be a nation among nations, to simply be left alone to her own development, to live without having to launch a defense war every 3 years. Feiglin’s idea is much more basic than an absence of conflict. It is to be a uniquely Jewish nation through a national Jewish revival.
Jewish revival, for him, begins with the most basic common denominator – Jewish identity. With the sectoral mentality prevalent among pretty much every Israeli today, this type of unity is impossible. This is why operating within the Likud is much more than just a simple tactic for him and his followers. It is, rather, a statement of taking responsibility for the leadership and future of the country and the Jewish people, rather than the leadership of a sectoral party and the funding of your sector’s economic welfare.
Feiglin began with 3% of the Likud vote in 2002, 12% in 2005, and 24% in 2007. He is constantly recruiting new Likud members for this purpose, swelling his support base in the party. He does not back down despite any challenge, fair or unfair from Netanyahu and the Likud leadership.
This is something his political rivals should take to heart. Bogey’s arrival at Feiglin headquarters just brought him one step closer to his objective.
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