Manhigut Yehudit Legislative Achievements

As an ideological movement, Manhigut Yehudit has significant influence on sociological processes taking place in Israeli society. Sometimes, however, we are forced to work behind the scenes - all part of the political game. This week we are pleased to announce that two of our legislative initiatives have become official government decisions. We assume that it is no longer necessary to hide the fact that Manhigut Yehudit proposed and promoted these important improvements for Israeli society.

Land Distribution for IDF Soldiers
For years, we have been writing and speaking about free distribution of land to young couples who have completed their army or national service. This week, the government announced that it would distribute land to honorably discharged combat soldiers in the Negev and Galilee. This initiative passed directly from Manhigut Yehudit to Gila Gamliel, who is the Deputy Minister for the Advancement of Young People, Students and Women in the prime minister's office. We are pleased that both the Deputy Minister and the Prime Minister have adopted this important initiative.

Closing of Border with Egypt
A Manhigut Yehudit member who lives in Arad was dismayed to see his quiet town descending into serious crime and disrepair - the result of the illegal infiltrators who had flocked to the small city near the Dead Sea. His in-depth research revealed the plethora of organizations spawned by the New Israel Fund and the deception that they had passed off as fact - that every infiltrator looking for work was a refugee. This created a situation in which the public could not oppose the constant corrosion of their personal safety and the fabric of their town. After all, nobody would want to harm unfortunate refugees. With this lie, the leftist organizations managed to block any treatment of the problem and of the dangers that became part of life in Arad.
Manhigut Yehudit has already related to the issue of the infiltrators. For this particular public struggle, we chose to remain behind the scenes. We defined the goal for the first phase of the struggle as creating a clear delineation between true refugees, who should be treated with compassion by our society, and infiltrators who come to Israel against the law in an effort to improve their financial situation.

While this problem was brought to the attention of the MKs, a local leadership that understood that there was a chance to save the city sprang up in Arad. They stood at the forefront against the leftist organizations and in a short time, their struggle became a national issue. When MKs and the media began using the terminology 'infiltrators' we knew that we had created a crack in public awareness. Moshe Feiglin's article on NRG that exposed the fact that the infiltrators were prohibited by Israeli law from venturing past Israel's periphery and into the greater Tel Aviv area helped to convince Interior Minister Eli Yishai to remove that ban. As soon as the infiltrators found their way to Tel Aviv en masse, the problem became impossible to ignore and the government finally stepped in and allocated funds to build a fence along the Egyptian border to prevent infiltration. Although a fence is just a band-aid on a much deeper problem, we congratulate the Prime Minister and Finance Minister for taking practical steps to alleviate this problem.