The Wake Up Call

By Jason Gold

Why the surprise?
I've had this discussion at numerous times these past weeks. Over Shabbat lunches/dinners, in shul after davening or just trying to explain Jewish pathological psychology to non-Jewish supporters of the Land of Israel.

It usually starts out by my pointing out that these people have no reason to be surprised at what Bibi Netanyahu is doing to destroy Israel and how he is betraying the people who supported him. I, and others far more politically astute than me, warned about this the instant the primaries/elections were over. It was clear then that by sabotaging the Likud position of Moshe Feiglin, Bibi intended to govern from the left no matter what the consequences were. It was clear that by allowing the self hating Jew and settler-hating Ehud Barak into his coalition along with the usual assortment of self-serving thieves, thugs and reprobates disguised as the so-called religious parties to aid and abet him, the sell-out was underway along with Mafdal remnant Bayit Hayehudi led by right-wing poser Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz. My only real surprise was not the sell-out and neutering of Avigdor Leiberman (probably the biggest beneficiary of the rightest vote after Feiglin's demotion), nor Bibi having Dan Meridor kill the referendum that would require a 2/3 majority vote to give up the Golan, but how supposed "hawks" Benny Begin and Boggie Yaalon decided to tow the freeze line for their master.

Impotence of the Right
Reading Arutz-7, one would think that the thundering voice of Katzeleh being featured on the site every day (oh that's right, he owns the place) would make Bibi shake in his boots. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Katzeleh is a good man. A war hero and a land of Israel lover. So is Aryeh Eldad. Good people, but ultimately misguided by outmoded ideals and perhaps out-sized egos and with almost zero news coverage on any other Israeli news outlet. A rather inverse relationship with Feiglin. So with all the hoopla and Eldad's ultimately folding his new right-wing secular party Hatikva into Katzeleh's National Union they ended up with four whole seats standing outside the coalition. What did they accomplish? Nothing. Because with Hershkowitz playing Bibi's game, Bibi didn't need the likes of Katzeleh/Eldad in his coalition to make trouble. So now, scores of good people led by these men have been rendered impotent because their leaders couldn't comprehend that they do not command sufficient mass to get anything done electorally and that the fight for Israel's survival begins and ends inside the Likud. Imagine if these men had brought their followers into the Likud. Bibi couldn't begin to contemplate doing what he is doing now. But for now, they yell and scream and Bibi just blithely ignores them because he can.

The Nation Stirs
I am not sure Bibi counted on this much resistance to his policies. Resistance to an insane prisoner swap for Shalit, military/reservist discord and of course a spit-in-your-face resistance to the settlement freeze. People are angry and not buying into the 10 month nonsense. And aside from the hard-core left, people are realizing that dysfunctional leadership is putting them in grave peril and that Israel's "friend" the United States, may actually have interests and ideologies that are not compatible with Israel's survival. Could we be seeing the last gasp of the old guard?

A Personal Plea
Uri Ariel of the National Union. You are a good man. You love the Land of Israel. You have been sucked into a dead-end party by people who cannot see past their own misguided agendas and ideals. Leave the National Union. Today. Join Feiglin in Likud. That move will cause an earthquake among the religious right and let the rest of the country who lean right but are not dati, see you in a new light, free from the perception of "another settler party". Start the process of ending the sectoral politics that leads nowhere and is endangering Israel every day. As the Nation begins to wake up, I implore you to do the same.