Election Time Again

By Moshe Feiglin

Dear Friends,

Elections are once again upon us: This time, primaries for a spot on the Likud roster. This roster is the list of candidates who will be running for the Likud as Israel goes to the polls this winter. The primaries will be held in about a month. 

The challenge in these primaries is not how to get another religious person into the Knesset. There are already many fine incumbent religious MKs. We strive to equip Israel's National Camp with a faith-based, deeply-rooted roadmap; a real alternative to the failed path of the Left. 

The Likud was and remains the authentic party; the party that most closely represents Israel's multi-faceted society. It was and remains the leadership tool of the National Camp. 

There is no doubt that the Likud's current leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, is a far better candidate than anyone proposed by the other parties. It is our challenge to add the faith based direction to this all-inclusive party headed by a talented leader.

The struggle for a realistic slot on the Likud roster is not going to be easy. There are only 19 slots on the national list. That is not enough for all the incumbent MKs. We will need a lot of votes to win a spot on this list. 

In the primaries for leadership of the Likud held less than a year ago, more than one quarter of the Likud members voted for me. On the surface, my chances to be elected are not bad at all. But I am not the only ideological candidate in the Likud. And as opposed to other candidates, there are still ideological voters in the Likud who are influenced by the scare-tactics waged against me; propaganda that falsely claims that my inclusion on the Likud roster scares voters away from the Likud. 

Nothing could be farther from the truth. When I won a place on the Likud roster in the previous primaries, the polls were showing the Likud would win 35 Knesset seats, Lieberman: 8. When I was unceremoniously removed from the list, the Likud sank to 27 seats, with most of the mandates moving over to Lieberman. 

We will not be endorsing candidates for the Likud list in these elections. We will not be making political "deals." Do not wait for us to tell you for whom to vote. We are all Likud members and I am asking for your vote, just like any other candidate. Every Likud branch will decide for whom to vote and with whom to join to leverage their voting power. This means that you, the voter, must take an active interest in what is happening in your local branch as elections approach. 

At the beginning of this year, we found ourselves leading a very significant struggle for personal and national liberty in Israel. I do not know of any other movement that includes a struggle for Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount with the struggle for the Land of Israel, the struggle to transfer the nation's land reserves to its children, the battle against organ harvesting in China, the struggle to regulate cannabis and other issues that all have one thing in common: Liberty. 

The Likud needs a faith-based voice to actualize its goals and to propel us all to our national destiny: to bring the Divine Source of liberty to the entire world. 

Please help us.

Thank You