Confused? Welcome to the Club

By Moshe Feiglin

3 Elul, 5770
August 13, '10

Translated from the Ma'ariv NRG website

First course

Did you hear what happened yesterday?

I didn't have time to hear the news - I got home from the hospital just a few minutes before Shabbat.

A Grad missile fell on Ashkelon.

Really? Was anybody hurt?

Miraculously, it fell on an empty house.

This is starting to sound like the miracles that happened in Gush Katif.

So what is your solution?

The main course.

What do you think about Latma?

It's very nice.

Do you ever go into their website?

I haven't had much time of late. But I remember a few excellent satires that they produced. Actually, the satires on the Turks and the flotilla didn't really impress me. I really enjoyed the satire on the High Court.

Finally, the Right is learning how to work!

In other words?

This is the way to change public opinion!

I think that they are very good, and I enjoy watching their satires, just like I enjoy leftist satires - which do not exist today. But I do not think that they are responsible for the change in public opinion. Public opinion would have changed anyway.

It is difficult to find "leftists" today. But nevertheless, the entire Nation of Israel is focused on recognizing the "Palestinian Nation" and the division of our Land - all brought to us from the feverish workshops of the radical Left. It may be that the Right has learned how to conduct more sophisticated demonstrations, but the bottom line is that whether it blocks traffic or creates good satire - the final result is the same.

So what do you suggest?

Dessert.

What do you think about what happened this week with Haim Ramon? Amazing, isn't it?

Just when Ayalah Hasson started to talk about it, I had to get out of my car. Before Shabbat I saw a headline. What exactly happened?

He tried to convince Saeb Erekat not to enter direct negotiations with Netanyahu.

Why doesn't Ramon want direct negotiations?

Because he thinks that if there are no direct negotiations, Netanyahu's government will fall. He promised Erekat a much better deal with Kadimah than with the Likud. By the way, all of this was done in Shimon Peres' name. Every Friday the entire Oslo gang meets at the Presidential Residence; Ron Pundak, Haim Ramon, all of them with Shimon Peres. Rabin knew what he was talking about when he called him an untiring subversive.

And what do you want?

What do you mean, what do I want?

Are you for or against direct negotiations?

In truth, I hope that they will not take place. Because even Obama would understand that if there are no direct negotiations, it will be impossible to continue the building freeze.

So you are in favor of Haim Ramon?

Well -

In other words, you don't want Latma to influence public opinion?

Uhhh -

Do you understand what has happened? For decades, the Right has been stuck inside itself, attempting to change reality with the same, old methods. It makes no difference how small the Left is or by what majority the Right wins the elections. The Left will continue to determine what happens here because you can simply not tell me what you want.

So what do you suggest?

I suggest telling the public and ourselves the truth. To start from the basics. Not from 'yes' or 'no' to direct negotiations. I suggest that we start from the fundamental questions, like: What are we doing here? Why does there have to be a Jewish State? Why should we be Jews, at all? Every time that I asked Israeli youth these question, they didn't have an answer. And I am telling you that adults don't have an answer, either.

We must redefine our national goals. Is the goal for which we established the state peace? If it is, then Peres may be right and we have to get out of Judea and Samaria. After all, since 1973 we have been trying to achieve peace and it has not really worked. So maybe the only way really is peace in exchange for our homes?

If we have a different goal, we have to say so honestly and explicitly. After that we can progress and show the public how a state that functions according to Jewish values can successfully deal with all the challenges that we cannot manage today. In all areas of life: Education, traffic accidents, security, economy, foreign relations. How only an authentically Jewish state can bring true liberty and prosperity and how it would ultimately also bring peace with our neighbors.

The reason that we have not managed to change Israel's leftist policies is that despite the fact that the Right is a large majority and despite the fact that we are "in power" we are continuing to play on the arena that the Left has established. I would define it as the existence arena, the normalcy arena that is founded on the assumption that we are a nation just like any other that wants only to find a quiet place under the sun.

We must make the move from existential Zionism to the Zionism of destiny. If we do not do so, we will continue to fight a hopeless rearguard war until the absolute disintegration of our existence. And it makes no difference how strong, sophisticated or wealthy we may be.