Destruction with a Smile

By Moshe Feiglin

Just one day after Netanyahu's assertive words against the US demand to halt all construction in East Jerusalem, his bulldozers already began to destroy outposts in Samaria. In his televised speech on Sunday, Netanyahu explained that a demand to halt construction in Jerusalem is intolerable. If this demand were to be made in a different city in the world, it would be labeled anti-Semitism, he declared.

The same logic, however, can be applied to all the towns and settlements in Judea and Samaria. Why is a forced construction freeze in Jerusalem anti-Semitic, while the same freeze in Judea and Samaria accepted policy?

This failure in simple logic together with our negative experience with Netanyahu in the past, leads us to the conclusion that there is a connection between his strong stand on Jerusalem and the destruction of the outposts that came on its heels.

Netanyahu is much more dangerous than Sharon or Olmert. He doesn't have more sentiment for the Land of Israel than Sharon and he doesn't have more sentiment for Judaism or the Likud than Olmert. With considerable shrewdness, Netanyahu has surrounded himself with a gaggle of fools with crocheted kippot on their heads. With their help, he slowly but surely carries out the demands of the US and Europe and even more important - Israel's leftist elite.

Netanyahu didn't just announce out of the clear blue sky - as Sharon did before him - that he would give the "Palestinians" a state. He introduced his dramatic announcement with a fiery speech on Israel's historic right to this land and on the Jewishness of the State of Israel. Netanyahu did not attack head on, like Olmert in Amona. He "stings" in the places that his advisors tell him the Nationalist public can tolerate. And so, with gentle strokes and meaningful winks to the nationalist public and the Land of Israel faithful in the Likud - who so desperately want to be enticed and to believe that they have a leader who is "one of the boys," Netanyahu achieves his goals easily and efficiently.

If Netanyahu speaks about our historical right to the Golan Heights, we had better begin to worry about our northern flank. If Netanyahu vows not to forget Jerusalem, then Jerusalem is in danger. The settlements are in even greater danger, because they must be destroyed so that Netanyahu can keep his promise on Jerusalem.

Netanyahu's style may be different than Sharon's or Olmert's. But his method is amazingly similar to the method that Sharon used to destroy Gush Katif: First of all, put together a narrow coalition, carried by the votes of the Right. After that, stabilize the government and get the budget passed. Then destroy settlements, bring the Left into the coalition, fire the rightist ministers and destroy to your heart's content. It is very simple. And it is exactly what Netanyahu is doing today.

Now that Netanyahu has stabilized his coalition and passed the national budget, he is preparing for the next stage; bolstering his coalition by bringing in MKs from the Left. When that happens, the Likud MKs loyal to the Land of Israel will become irrelevant, and Netanyahu will comfortably implement the Left's policies.

Every loyal Jew tries to figure out what makes Bibi do it. But after Begin and Sinai, Bibi on his first round and Hebron and Sharon and Gush Katif, we know that the question is not 'why' but 'when and how'.

The thought process that is not based on faith is circular. A believing person knows that there is a Creator Who directs history toward a certain goal. This thought process is linear, or actually, a spiral ascending toward its ultimate goal. Sometimes there are setbacks, but the dynamic is spiral.

The logic employed by Netanyahu, Sharon and Olmert is devoid of G-d. Their rationale is circular (which is actually idolatrous). There is nothing before me and nothing after me. All that exists is what I am experiencing here and now. Just like the Biblical spies, Netanyahu sees the ominous reality, the world pressure and the Left. He is clueless about the true value of the Nation of Israel and its uniqueness.

We can expect nothing more from Netanyahu, who excludes G-d from his list of considerations, than complete withdrawal. He is not on the spiral that constantly progresses toward its goal. He is in the middle of a circle, in which no motion is significant. All that one can do from the middle of the circle is to try to preserve the current situation. Betrayal is built in to circular thinking. Loyalty to anything is impossible. Netanyahu has already betrayed us in the past and he will continue to betray any fool who trusts him in the future.

Currently, Netanyahu is putting all his weight behind the Mofaz and Smolianski laws. Bibi is not a bulldozer like Sharon. He is calculated and slick. He didn't demand that the Likud bring Kadimah into its coalition. On the contrary - his proposal means the end of Kadimah. If the Likud supports the Mofaz law, Shaul Mofaz of Kadimah will be able to defect from his party with a group of Kadimah MKs and to join the coalition. Netanyahu will buy the support of the nationalists in his coalition for this move by promising Ketzaleh a position, and the Slomianski law will ensure that the Jewish Home MKs will once again be the patrons of the Religious Zionist schools and institutions. When it will become necessary, they will all be thrown to the dogs. And then, the new Bibi Mofaz government, the government of betrayal, will fulfill all of Israel's dreams.

Defeating the King of Calculations

By Moshe Feiglin

Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of Arnon; behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.
This day will I begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who, when they hear the report of you, shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you.' (From this week's Torah portion, Devarim, Deuteronomy 2:24-25)

In the Torah verse above, the word 'Heshbon' is the name of an Amorite town. But the word 'heshbon' also means calculations. If read with this meaning in mind, the Torah is directing us to do battle with the King of Calculations.

Israel suffers from the plague of calculations. We are so busy with our calculations, that we have forgotten what we are doing here in the first place. True, we live in this world and must act within its physical parameters; economy, politics, security and more. But all of these calculations must be enlisted to foster Israel's metaphysical reality - the fact that everything is directed by the Creator of the world.

As we devote ourselves to creating Jewish leadership for Israel, we must take concrete action in a reality that seems impossible - motivated not by political calculations but by Israel's destiny and our faith in G-d.

When the pioneers of Gush Emunim began to settle in Judea and Samaria, they created physical reality on the ground. Their actions were entirely in the realm of the super-rational - based not on politics but on faith in G-d. As time went on, though, it became clear that the Gush Emunim ideology was afflicted by an insidious time bomb. It based its moral authority first on the secular Zionist pioneering spirit of the past and only then on Jewish faith. Nonetheless, their love of the Land prevailed and in its merit, the settlements in Judea and Samaria and what is left of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel exist today.

Last week, Gush Emunim leader Benny Katzover wrote an article in the Makor Rishon newspaper, in which he predicted that "Feiglin will be prime minister only after Mashiach comes." Katzover is a dear Jew who has tremendous merits. But when he came to settle the barren hills around Shechem, against the will of Israel's government and the entire world and without any Jewish towns nearby, why did he think that he would succeed even before the Mashiach would come? And why, now, after Manhigut Yehudit has reaped major political success in the Likud and was the decisive factor in the make-up of its Knesset roster, does Katzover think that this dream won't happen in the world as we know it?

The answer is the time bomb inherent in Gush Emunim's ideology. It is the time bomb that allowed Gush Katif to be destroyed, that is now threatening Katzover's home in Elon Moreh and that prevents good people like Benny Katzover from understanding Manhigut Yehudit's strategy.

Katzover and his friends brought their direction, dedication and fortitude from Rabbi Kook's ideology and from their pure and simple faith in G-d. But they brought their sense of moral justification from practical Zionism - the activist wing of the Labor party. Gush Emunim would not have dared to settle those barren hills if they hadn't felt that deep down, Labor party leaders Galili, Alon, Peres and Gur were with them.

At the time, their analysis was correct. The Labor leaders did have a soft spot in their hearts for the Gush Emunim pioneers. But as soon as the party turned its back upon them, the settlers were transformed from an elite force in the service of Zionism to an irritation - surplus weight or a wart that must be removed. The settlers became a sector of protestors that consumed security resources; obstacles to peace and to normalcy.

Manhigut Yehudit is struggling to lead Israel. It will never gain the approval of Israel's current leadership. For Benny Katzover, Manhigut Yehudit is an impossible dream. He has been defeated by the King of Calculations.

Our strategy is really quite simple and completely within the realm of reality. We must register for the Likud, gain political power, win the Likud primaries, lead the Likud and then lead Israel. We don't even have to get out of breath climbing the hills of Samaria. We don't have to be dragged from our homes time and again by riot police. All that we have to do is to register for the Likud - and to defeat the King of Calculations.

But despite our proven success, people who cannot overcome the King of Calculations continue to ask the same questions: What will you do if Bibi leaves the Likud and forms his own party (great!)? And what will you do if they change the results of the elections again? And what will you do if this and what will you do if that? If all those questions had been asked before Gush Emunim began to settle Israel, not even one house would have been built.

Then, they knew how to defeat the King of Calculations. Now, even though we have excellent answers for all the questions, the King of Calculations is very much alive and well.

Now is the time to register for the Likud and to register your friends and family, as well.

It is time to take urgent action. After the simple act of registration, we can analyze the situation and determine how to use the realistic tools that we have at our disposal. And above and beyond that, we will continue our struggle for Jewish leadership for Israel, keeping in mind that we are fulfilling our Jewish destiny and faith in the G-d of Israel.

Daylight

By Gabriel Boxer

It was a much anticipated Shalosh Seudos at Congregation Anshei Chesed in Hewlett, New York. Steve Savitsky, president of the Orthodox Union, had met with President Barak Hussein Obama earlier in the week, with a select few leaders of major Jewish organizations. How and whom the President determined had represented American Jewry is not important at this time, although in my humble opinion, the majority of representatives in attendance certainly did not represent Torah true values.

The one phrase that stuck in my mind that evening was the term “Daylight,” coined by Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

“Daylight” was intended to explain to President Obama how the world should view the relationship between the United States and Israel. The countries should always be joined at the hip to show the world the strong and true friendship, so as not to allow any “Daylight” come between them.

As politically correct as that sounds, is this the path that Hashem wants of his chosen children? The U.S. wants Israel to relinquish its inheritance from Hashem and hand it over to barbaric Arab terrorist thugs for a bowl of cold lentil soup. After countless broken promises, the U.S. and other western nations do not recognize and acknowledge Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel.

Jewish people are not allowed to own land in Jordan. It is a capital offense in that country to sell land to a Jewish person. Our “friends” in the White House do not want us to settle parts of Jerusalem our capital and other parts of the Land of Israel. According to the Palestinian Authority, it is a capital offense for Arabs to sell land in Jerusalem our capital to Jewish people.

Listen to the current weekly Torah reading, and be guided to settle every inch of our Gd-given inheritance. I am astounded that in the year 5769/2009 Jews are not allowed to own land in other countries—a basic right for all people of the land—and our “friends” want the same idea in our homeland.

I didn’t hear Prime Minister Netanyahu pushing the case for the Jewish homeland. What most people don’t realize is that we need to be led by the words of Hashem, not people furthering their own political agenda. It is very simple: Hashem gave us the written and oral law to guide us. The left or right political arena will not guide us to salvation. If you continue to sit on the sidelines you will only be a spectator. You must get involved and be a team player in restoring the Jewish character to the Jewish people.

As I listened to Mr. Savitsky I recalled the Torah reading that day Masaei, 33: 51-56: “When you cross the Jordan to the Land of Canaan, you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you; you shall destroy all their Temples; all their molten images shall you destroy; and all their high places shall you demolish. You shall rid the land and you shall settle in it, for to you have I given the land to possess it…But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those of them whom you leave shall be pins in your eyes and as thorn-hedges at your sides, and they will harass you upon the land in which you dwell. And it shall be that I had meant to do to them, I shall do to you.”

Rashi expounds a very interesting point to Pasuk 53: “You shall rid the land, you shall rid it of its inhabitants and then you shall settle in it; that is, you shall be able to last in it.”)

The Jewish nation—whether they call themselves right, left, liberal or conservative—should live in peace in OUR inheritance. Hashem has given us the best recipe for the best dish possible: PEACE.

We must stay close to Hashem’s words. The “Daylight” between the Jewish nation and Hashem must not appear. At the same time we must strive not to be joined at the hip to a nation that will cast us aside at a moment’s notice to be closer to their oil rich friends in the Middle East.

Now is the time for our Torah true leaders to come out and lead our Nation back to the true words of Hashem and make the State of the Jews into a Jewish State!

Israel and the Darfur Refugees

By Moshe Feiglin

23 Tamuz 5769
July 15, '09

The believing world, in other words, most of humanity, has special expectations of the Jewish nation and its representative - the State of Israel. Almost everyone understands that the Nation of the Bible represents a holy and ethical way of life and they are curious to see which direction we will take. That does not mean that they like us; usually they don't. All it means is that they have high expectations of us.

While most of the world understands that the Jews represent some sort of holiness, many Jews are determined not to recognize this fact. We prefer to ignore our unique status and to carry on as if it doesn't exist. A prince who rolls around in the mud with all the commoners does not elicit affection, but rather, disgust. In other words, the fact that we ignore our special role and attempt to be just like everyone else evokes anti-Semitism.

The International Court should really be in Jerusalem - certainly not in The Hague in blood-soaked Europe. But former Chief Justice Aharon Barak, the oracle of Israeli "justice" has already explained that Israel is not a Jewish state, but rather a state of all its citizens. From now on, we must understand when IDF generals are arrested in European capitals for war crimes. If we do not live by our own values, we will inevitably be forced to live by the values of others.

China's Communist regime imprisons political opponents in concentration camps and then harvests their organs for sale throughout the world. If Israel were really a Jewish state that expresses its special status, we would have boycotted the Olympics in Beijing so as not to give the regime of horrors the approval of the Jewish State. Why didn't the Left protest Israel's participation in the Olympics? Why was Manhigut Yehudit the only Jewish organization in Israel to join the protest against China's regime? The reason is that the Olympics express universality. If Israel had boycotted the games while the West participated, it would have highlighted its uniqueness - not its universality. So in this case, Israel's knights of human rights remained silent.

Just the opposite is true for the Darfur refugees.

The percentage of Africans who crossed Israel's borders because they were in actual danger is very low. More than 90% of the refugees (more than 10,000 people) come from Sudan and Erithrea. Only 1000 infiltrators came in from the embattled region of Darfur, and even they do not fit the definition of refugees as per international law: Israel does not share a common border with Sudan or the Darfur region, and if the refugees do not endanger themselves by trying to cross the border from Egypt to Israel, nobody in Egypt will harm them. But life in Israel is more attractive than in Egypt. In other words, this is a case of illegal immigrants, infiltrators who are having a negative affect on Israel's work force and simultaneously creating a new and ominous social time bomb.

Opinions on the Darfur refugees/infiltrators generally divide down the identity line. A person who identifies first and foremost as a Jew understands that Israel must present its moral stand on ethical questions that arise throughout the world. As such, Israel must be involved with a solution for the Darfur refugees. The solution cannot be inside Israel's borders, because Israel is a nation state - not a state of all its citizens. Those people who are truly in danger should receive temporary asylum in Israel in a closed compound, as the British did with the Jewish citizens of Germany who escaped to their areas of control. The long-term solution must be to settle these refugees (exclusively) in a safe place as close as possible to their original homes. The other 90% of infiltrators who came to Israel for work must be expelled from the country.

The problem is caused by those who see themselves first and foremost as citizens of the world and Israel as a state of all its citizens. These Israelis (supported, of course, by the media) are in favor of thousands of Sudanese infiltrating our borders because it proves that Israel is universal and liberal.

But the small minority of leftists who want Israel to become "the Singapore of the Middle East" have a problem. The Sudanese infiltrators have created a social and criminal time bomb. But never fear, the leftists have also found a simple and creative solution that will keep the infiltrators off the streets of their neighborhoods. The temporary permits issued them by the government allow them to remain in Israel, but not in greater Tel-Aviv, home to most of the very same bleeding heart liberals.

So the liberals in Tel Aviv can have their cake and eat it, too. They get to have blacks in Israel, just like in America. But they see them only on television - not on the streets of their neighborhoods. Let the people in the development towns on the periphery take care of them.