Dear Friends,
Before anything else, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I thank those of you who are here tonight, and those who could not get here in the freezing cold. I thank the tens of thousands of volunteers and supporters who have been with me for years.
All of you, throughout this long journey that began twenty years ago with the establishment of Zo Artzeinu, continued with Manhigut Yehudit, registration for the Likud and the challenge of leadership –have changed the face of Israeli society and Israeli politics.
We cannot even begin to imagine the State of Israel without you. You changed the face of the ruling party and in a dialectic process, you brought about a major revolution in the Religious Zionist party. You are responsible for the way the Likud looks today and for the Jewish Home phenomenon, as well. “It’s all because of you.”
All these important achievements, however, are just stepping stones. The most important challenge and achievement is still before us. We must remember at all times that while we made changes here and there and while we enjoyed major accomplishments – one fact remains:
Only here, in this hall, are the political people who hold the keys to dealing with the challenges facing Israel today.
There is no leadership in Israel – except for the people sitting here – that knows how and is capable of dealing with the rock thrown in Taibeh, the knife in Jerusalem, the missile from Gaza and the nuclear bomb in Iran.
There is no leadership in Israel – except for the people sitting here – that knows how and is capable of transforming the State of Israel into a truly Jewish state of liberty; a state of liberty that does not degenerate into a state of all its citizens and Zuabis.
There is no leadership in Israel – except for the liberty-people sitting here – that knows how and is capable of lowering the costs of housing and food.
There is no political leadership in Israel – except for the people sitting here – that has not been consumed by the peace industry that was built here, becoming subservient to the Oslo mentality and language.
No other leadership talks about One State for One Nation in One Land.
There is no leadership in Israel – except for the people here – that is truly democratic; that knows how and is capable of establishing true liberty, both personal and national, in Israel. Liberty that comes from Judaism and does not seek to replace it.
Liberty that comes from within our Jewish identity and doesn’t seek to erase it.
Liberty that emanates from the deep understanding that we are all the children of our Father, our King; servants to the Creator of the world alone.
This fetus, which holds the keys to the future of the State of Israel in its hands, was born from the struggle of Zo Artzeinu against the Oslo Accords.
It developed ideologically in Manhigut Yehudit.
And like the Nation of Israel that grew out of the crucible of Egypt, our fetus grew politically within the womb of the Likud.
Many times I have thought that the time had come to emerge from the womb and be born. But I hoped that the Likud would bring us directly to the premiership. Slowly, I understood that it apparently is incapable of doing so.
Like every living thing, a new birth is necessary here; a period of independent maturation from which will grow, soon, with G-d’s help, faith-based leadership; leadership of liberty for the Nation of Israel.
Many people are angry at the Likud and Prime Minister Netanyahu. It may be difficult for you to integrate this, but I am not angry at all. On the contrary: I love my new Likud friends and I highly regard Netanyahu and his family.
I am not angry at PM Netanyahu.
True, he changed the rules again in the middle of the game.
True, he is not really democratic.
True, he executed a perfectly planned political take-down against me.
True, he also had the observers removed from the ballot counting and who knows what went on there afterwards…
But I am really not angry at Netanyahu.
This fetus, Manhigut Yehudit, which is the only political hope for Israel, is already in its tenth month. Dr. Netanyahu simply induced the labor.
He did it professionally and effectively and I send him my best wishes. I truly do.
Now, the young child will grow independently and with G-d’s help, sooner than we may think, will lead our nation to its destiny.
Let us quickly review the history of this special group:
It all began with the Oslo Accords. You knew exactly where Netanyahu’s hug for Arafat, which turned all of us – Right and Left – into robbers in our own Land, would lead. That hug gave our enemies the most important weapon of all: Justice.
Zo Artzeinu embarked on a determined struggle against the Oslo catastrophe, exemplifying the meaning of individual liberty, drawing the borders of obedience and highlighting the fact that the State belongs to the People and not vice versa.
In the election of 1996 we went all out for Binyamin Netanyahu and against all odds, he won the premiership from Shimon Peres. But it didn’t take long for Netanyahu to hug Arafat, giving the Oslo Accords the legitimacy of the National Camp.
The entire country, both Right and Left, began to talk the Oslo talk.
The Right also got used to the Oslo paradigm, paying lip service to our ideals with the proposal to annex the territory in Area C in 40 years from now…
The horrifying result was not far behind.
Suicide bombings in all of Israel’s cities.
Buses blowing up.
Tractors running over people and cars.
Massacre in a synagogue.
And worst of all, the loss of the legitimacy for the existence of our State, which came on the heels of the loss of justice.
The building freeze in Judea and Samaria sent the price of housing on an upward trajectory and the sum expense of security and containment of the Oslo reality has reached one trillion shekels.
Nevertheless, until this very day, despite the fact that everyone understands that Oslo was a horrible mistake, all the parties of the National Camp – except for the Zo Artzeinu group – have remained captive to the language and erroneous assumptions of Oslo.
Everybody talks about:
‘The Palestinian nation’,
Two states,
Terrorist release,
And they have for all practical purposes surrendered the Temple Mount and the heart of Jerusalem.
Yes, both the Likud and the Jewish Home opposed the bill that would have required the agreement of 80 MKs in order to conduct negotiations on Jerusalem. “We are already conducting those negotiations,” Tzippy Livni admitted from the Knesset podium.
Only one MK from the Coalition voted in favor of the bill: the same MK that came from within this group and did not become a servant to the Oslo mentality. Only you have remained outside the servitude. Only you have remained free in order to once again lead our Nation to its destiny!
After the Likudunder Netanyahu’s leadership adopted Arafat and the Oslo Accords, we understood that the solution for the crisis was not merely to exchange a leftist government with a rightist government. Israel needs leadership with deeper foundations than the superficial differentiation between Right and Left. Am Yisrael needs faith-based leadership.
From that moment and until this very day, we are careful to remain focused on our only goal:
Faith based leadership for Israel.
We then embarked on a long process of clarification.
How is a modern Jewish liberty-state conducted?
Economy? Education? Security? Health? Foreign Affairs?
How does it relate to the convert, to the orphan, to the widow, to the elderly?
Thousands of articles and a number of books were written.
We also searched for ways to actualize the idea.
At the beginning, the Likud, which had enslaved itself to Oslo, did not occur to us at all. But the Likud had a very positive core of nationalism open to every Israeli. No less important, the Likud was the ruling tool of the National Camp. Only from within it was it possible to develop the leadership mentality of the faith-based public.
Today, after 15 years, that leadership mentality is alive and kicking. On the other side of the coin, there are no other ruling parties of other Camps.
Let us not forget: Only one Knesset mandate for Lapid instead of Likud in the previous elections would have made him the prime minister. Tomorrow, we may find Kachlon in that illustrious position.
The Likud has become an aging party; the average age of its members is above 60. Like the other parties, it is completely based on the side of the problem. It does not have the mental agility to truly contain the necessary change and to go over to the side of the solution that exists within it.
That is why it fights us incessantly.
We invested great effort to belong.
Always, despite all the dirty tricks and lost votes we smiled, remained loyal and continued.
There is not and was not anybody more loyal than we were to the Likud.
But like a battered wife, one-sided loyalty is not fidelity; it is dependence.
We do not feel battered or dependent.
We are liberated!
When I entered the Knesset, it seemed for a moment that perhaps, despite all that had transpired, we could realize our ultimate goal from within the Likud.
Israel began to be exposed to the Jewish liberty alternative upon all its aspects.
Initially, it didn’t understand what that Right was doing in the pubs of the Left.
How could it be that Feiglin, without surrendering his principles even one millimeter, and while waging a resolute struggle for those principles, could work with Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg, be friends with Dov Hanin and even with some of the Arab MKs whose names, for the sake of their security, I will not mention?
Suddenly they understood that we have a well-thought-out plan, broad and all-inclusive; a plan that includes everyone and affords identity, liberty and meaning to every Israeli.
Identity, liberty and meaning.
Over the last year, however, I began to feel that the system as a whole and the Likud in particular was learning to contain me and my message and simply continue onward. I began to feel that despite our vision, I was in danger of becoming part of the problem instead of the alternative and the solution.
Dear Friends,
I must relate to the Temple Mount.
The entire idea of liberty, making G-d – and not humans – King, the entire destiny of our Nation, the physical and metaphysical place from which we draw meaning and the robustness of our lives – is the royal palace, the holy Temple Mount.
Do you know who really ejected Tzippy Hotobeli and myself from the Knesset?
It is not Netanyahu. It is a terrorist named Hijazi. His name, by the way, testifies to the place from where his family came: Saudi Arabia.
Hijazi shot Rabbi Yehuda Glick. He tried to murder the return of the Nation of Israel to the Mount and to the Home.
The entire country, headed by Netanyhau, decided to flee Hijazi.
I attempted to delineate the opposite path, but it did not help.
They fled and invited many, many more Hijazis to try their hand.
Both inside and outside Israel.
For if there is no Mount, there is no home. Not in Jerusalem and not in Tel Aviv.
Everybody fled. Except for two people who nonetheless dared and ascended the Mount.
Yours truly and Tzippy Hotobeli.
Two Knesset Members raised a mirror to the face of Israel’s leadership. That leadership cannot look in the mirror, so it decided to break it.
The bullets that were directed against our connection to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount were the opening shots which, in a speedy process, removed us from the Likud.
But like a boxer thrown to the floor, I promise you that I am not going anywhere. I am back on my feet and back in the ring. Back in order to win.
I need you to be with me!
The activists, the supporters, the donors and especially – the young people!
I turn to the soldiers, the students, the young couples: I know that you are the first to understand the message. You are the generation of liberty in the desert. You know and deeply feel that those who have become accustomed to slavery do not bear a great message or hope for the future.
Young people – join me!
I will come to your universities and yeshivot.
To the kibbutzim and settlements.
I will reach out to you in the center of Israel and the periphery.
I will meet you in the pubs and in the parks.
Together, we will build a Jewish liberty-state for our children.
There are two things that we must do now:
We must leave the Likud and establish a political movement that will make itself accessible to Israeli voters. With G-d’s help, it will quickly lead the Nation.
Quite a few proposals were made to me from various directions, which, on the surface, ensure my place in the next Knesset. I am weighing all the possibilities, but am not willing to be a party of rating and ‘atmosphere’ with no content.
If we have to give up on the coming Knesset in order to build ourselves well and fundamentally, we will do so.
We will take the time that we need to build ourselves in the proper and most exacting way.
We will consult, build the right connections and the right tools.
There are many interesting things taking shape. I cannot reveal it all at this point.
But I do promise you one thing:
I am here for you and with G-d’s help, together we will establish Jewish leadership and a Jewish liberty state.
For us and the future generations. And we will perfect the world in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Thank you very much.
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