Sorry Bibi (and Moshe), you just lost my vote
Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu pulled some backroom shenanigans on Thursday that were worthy of a Chicago smoke-filled room and managed to push Moshe Feiglin from the 20th position in the Likud's Knesset list to the 36th position. The 20th position is a 'safe' position on the Likud list. It appears that the Likud will win far more than 20 seats in the upcoming election. But they may not win 36. As a result, Feiglin is in jeopardy of not gaining entry to the next Knesset.Feiglin was stoic, urging voters to vote for the Likud so that he will qualify for the Knesset from the 36th position.
"I am not ready to be an MK thanks to the Supreme Court, which is a branch of Meretz," Feiglin told Channel 1. "I want to be an MK thanks to the voters. I call upon right-wing voters to vote Likud so the 36th slot will be realistic.Actually, that depends on where you go if Bibi scares you away from the Likud.
"If you let Bibi scare you away from the Likud, you will get a Likud that expels Jews. If you vote Likud, you will get a right-wing Likud with Feiglin."
Symbolically, one of the two other MK's who was pushed down along with Feiglin was Michael Ratzon. Unlike Bibi, Ratzon was one of the MK's in the Likud who defied Ariel Sharon's railroading of the expulsion of Jews from Gaza. Bibi waited to the last possible minute to resign from Sharon's coalition, long after the expulsion was a done deal.
The other MK who was pushed down was Ehud Yatom.
The title of this post says it all. With Feiglin in 20th place, I was willing to vote Likud in the hope that the Likud would be a strong leader for the right. It's clear to me that Bibi is determined - despite the entry of such right-wing luminaries as Benny Begin and Moshe Yaalon - to 'make his own decisions' in defiance of what he's selling to the voters during the campaign.
In Israel last Friday, there was a report on Israel Radio that claimed that if all the religious parties united into one party, that party would win 30 Knesset seats. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened yet.
Mark me undecided for now. But definitely voting for a right-wing party.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:22 AM
7 Comments:
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Bibi's games will have the unintended effect of strengthening the rest of the Right. That wouldn't have happened without his irrational loathing for Moshe Feiglin. He may find continuing Kadima's policies will be far more difficult that he anticipated, largely due to the fact most of the people who are going to be elected to the Knesset in February will be further to the Right than him. Moshe Feiglin may not make it into the Knesset but many people who share his views will be in it.
Bibi's games may strengthen the right but they will also benefit the left - a far worse effect imo. Worldwide the left has been trying to paint the right as extremists. The right has shot that portrayal down by proving themselves to be not extreme, just politically inept.
The worse thing conservative voters in Israel can do is to split the vote again. That's what happened in 2006. The official election results for Israel's 2006 election show Kadima won with only 22% of the vote. Not hardly majority support. So how did Olmert become PM? The conservatives split their vote between Yisrael Beitenu, Likud, Mafdal, Torah, Shas, Tzomet, Herut. And with Obama and his Israel hating crew coming in, whatever the conservative voters in Israel do, they need to set aside minor differences and unify, or another "appeasement" Kadima party could win again if conservative Israelis split their votes again.
Johnch14 has got that right. Carl, haven't you had enough Pavlovian shock treatment over the years to know that your voting for some sectarian party might give your local religious school a slightly better budget and circiculum but that will be at the expense of the country being run down the drain.
If you want to get rid of the Bibi's in this world, you've got to do it from within, with a massive push.
If Feiglin's advice is not adhered to, a slightly weaker Likud will join up with the left and those major parties will continue to flipflop in holding the country's leadership ad infinitum.
If anything, we, Jewish loving Israelis of all persuasioans must boost the Likud's vote so high that Feiglin, Ratzon and even Yatom get Knesset seats. It makes no difference if they get in as number 20 or 36. What counts is getting in.
The changes won't happen overnight. This is an investment. It requires the cooperation of people like yourself. By all means, hold your nose, but cast a Likud ballot when the time comes.
The goal is leadership of the country - not of a sectoral, marginalized party. Keep your eye on the ball!
Agreed. Having people like Moshe enter the Knesset sends a message to Israel's Left: the Right is just as mainstream in Israel as them. It doesn't matter that Bibi betrayed people the last time he was PM. What matters now is there are people with a proven track record of faithfulness to Judaism, the Land Of Israel and Jewish rights. Bibi and the lot that inflicted Oslo, Wye, the Disengagement, the failed second Lebanon War, Sderot, Annapolis, the humiliating surrender to Hezbollah and the use of force against in Yesha - its important to remember they are already the past. Feiglin and all the new pro-Land Of Israel Jewish activists are the country's future.
You guys, previous comments, don't get it. Voting Likud is not voting Right. Bibi is playing for the center, and his war against Feiglin only makes the Likud worse.
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