Personal thoughts on current events, cultural events, Israel, Judaism, Jewish/Israel innovations and life from a Jewish perspective - read into that what you may.

Sunday, January 18, 2004

This is an important piece to read.

Tactics and Strategy

Moshe Feiglin



At the time of writing the fate of the famous amendment 19c is not clear. If the amendment is brought to the vote it is reasonable to assume that it will receive a majority. However, the intensity of the opposition originating in those close to the prime minister, and in the Leftist elites, who are afraid of the creation of a democratic tool that will balance the pressure they are currently applying to the prime minister, is likely to take the form of a variety of legalistic arguments and administrative stratagems to prevent this important amendment being brought to the vote.

We are of course making every effort for the success of the move, and with G-d's help we will cause the amendment to be passed in its entirety. However, we have noticed that there is another kind of danger threatening us, an internal one amongst the ranks of Manhigut Yehudit members and our supporters. This article is intended to address this issue.

This is not the first time that Manhigut Yehudit is facing a difficult trial in the political reality. We have already waged several similar political battles. These included those centering around our representation in the Likud Central Committee, the list for the Knesset, and for the leadership of the Likud. We are now in the middle of a battle about changes to the Likud constitution. In addition we are daily waging a number of exhausting battles. We sometimes win these battles, and sometimes lose. Perhaps on balance we have lost more than we have won, but it is important to keep in mind that even if we occasionally lose a battle, we are actually winning the war.

Do you remember how people reacted to the failure of our efforts to get our candidates into the Likud list for the Knesset? Many people claimed at that time that this marked the end of Manhigut Yehudit. Some people even canceled their membership of the Likud in despair, thus considerably harming our efforts. They failed to understand that we regard the Knesset as a means to an end, and not as the end itself.

It is now clear that Manhigut Yehudit, even without MKs and ministers, has more influence than MKs and ministers from other parties. It seems that the race will be won by the one who chooses the right path. Many interpretations can be given to Livnat's slanderous attack on the "Feiglinites", but everyone realizes that when a senior minister is prepared to present her party as one of "criminals", and when sources close to the prime minister compare those who initiated amendment 19c to the Nazi party (Yossi Werter in Ha'aretz, 6.1.04), this means that Manhigut Yehudit is applying pressure where it hurts.

Did we win the battle for the Knesset? Of course not. Will we win the battle for amendment 19C? Perhaps.

But the most important thing to remember is that we're are all the time winning the overall war. These small battles are tactical struggles on the way to achieving the strategic objective. If we succeed in getting amendment 19c passed, this will represent a major advance. If we do not succeed in doing so, the advance will be more moderate. Our strategic objective is to put forward a belief-based alternative for the leadership of Israel. The road to achieve this strategic objective is still long, difficult, and complicated. But if, as a result of the tactical battles, some of which we lost and some of which we won, we have advanced towards this objective or retreated from it – this is the real issue.

Let us assume for a moment that in the current Israeli reality the Manhigut Yehudit movement did not exist. Would a 17-year-old boy from any yeshiva high school dare to imagine such a strange dream?

Let us assume that all these political struggles, and the consequent headlines, had not taken place. Would anyone think in this direction? Would these views have been publicized in any way? Would anyone on the Right seek an option lying outside the Netanyahu/ Olmert/ Mofaz axis?

We are therefore winning all the time because, as Herzl said, "If you want it to happen, it will not remain a dream". It is only a question of time from the moment when the public begins dreaming the right dream until this dream becomes reality. Such dreams are in fact the reality itself. Manhigut Yehudit is planting in the public consciousness the right dream, which will inevitably become the reality. This is our strategic objective and we are winning, because we are advancing towards it all the time. All the rest is just tactics. However important they are (and we are making every effort to succeed in them also), they remain tactics only.



You can join Manigut Yehudit either by calling the office at:

09-792-9046

or by visiting the website below and sending a request form.
http://www.manhigut.org/english/getmsg.html



An Article on the Tactics and Strategy of Manhigut Yehudit

By: Moshe Feiglin



At the time of writing the fate of the famous amendment 19c is not clear. If the amendment is brought to the vote it is reasonable to assume that it will receive a majority. However, the intensity of the opposition originating in those close to the prime minister, and in the Leftist elites, who are afraid of the creation of a democratic tool that will balance the pressure they are currently applying to the prime minister, is likely to take the form of a variety of legalistic arguments and administrative stratagems to prevent this important amendment being brought to the vote.

We are of course making every effort for the success of the move, and with G-d's help we will cause the amendment to be passed in its entirety. However, we have noticed that there is another kind of danger threatening us, an internal one amongst the ranks of Manhigut Yehudit members and our supporters. This article is intended to address this issue.

This is not the first time that Manhigut Yehudit is facing a difficult trial in the political reality. We have already waged several similar political battles. These included those centering around our representation in the Likud Central Committee, the list for the Knesset, and for the leadership of the Likud. We are now in the middle of a battle about changes to the Likud constitution. In addition we are daily waging a number of exhausting battles. We sometimes win these battles, and sometimes lose. Perhaps on balance we have lost more than we have won, but it is important to keep in mind that even if we occasionally lose a battle, we are actually winning the war.

Do you remember how people reacted to the failure of our efforts to get our candidates into the Likud list for the Knesset? Many people claimed at that time that this marked the end of Manhigut Yehudit. Some people even canceled their membership of the Likud in despair, thus considerably harming our efforts. They failed to understand that we regard the Knesset as a means to an end, and not as the end itself.

It is now clear that Manhigut Yehudit, even without MKs and ministers, has more influence than MKs and ministers from other parties. It seems that the race will be won by the one who chooses the right path. Many interpretations can be given to Livnat's slanderous attack on the "Feiglinites", but everyone realizes that when a senior minister is prepared to present her party as one of "criminals", and when sources close to the prime minister compare those who initiated amendment 19c to the Nazi party (Yossi Werter in Ha'aretz, 6.1.04), this means that Manhigut Yehudit is applying pressure where it hurts.

Did we win the battle for the Knesset? Of course not. Will we win the battle for amendment 19C? Perhaps.

But the most important thing to remember is that we're are all the time winning the overall war. These small battles are tactical struggles on the way to achieving the strategic objective. If we succeed in getting amendment 19c passed, this will represent a major advance. If we do not succeed in doing so, the advance will be more moderate. Our strategic objective is to put forward a belief-based alternative for the leadership of Israel. The road to achieve this strategic objective is still long, difficult, and complicated. But if, as a result of the tactical battles, some of which we lost and some of which we won, we have advanced towards this objective or retreated from it – this is the real issue.

Let us assume for a moment that in the current Israeli reality the Manhigut Yehudit movement did not exist. Would a 17-year-old boy from any yeshiva high school dare to imagine such a strange dream?

Let us assume that all these political struggles, and the consequent headlines, had not taken place. Would anyone think in this direction? Would these views have been publicized in any way? Would anyone on the Right seek an option lying outside the Netanyahu/ Olmert/ Mofaz axis?

We are therefore winning all the time because, as Herzl said, "If you want it to happen, it will not remain a dream". It is only a question of time from the moment when the public begins dreaming the right dream until this dream becomes reality. Such dreams are in fact the reality itself. Manhigut Yehudit is planting in the public consciousness the right dream, which will inevitably become the reality. This is our strategic objective and we are winning, because we are advancing towards it all the time. All the rest is just tactics. However important they are (and we are making every effort to succeed in them also), they remain tactics only.



You can join Manigut Yehudit either by calling the office at:

09-792-9046

or by visiting the website below and sending a request form.
http://www.manhigut.org/english/getmsg.html

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

The real story about the internal struggle taking place within the Likud party
For those of you who follow current events in Israel and dabble in trying to understand Israeli politics, then keep on reading. For those of you don't have time for this, then just press delete now and don't waste your time reading about events that will have an impact on determining the future of Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and Torat Yisrael.

Your decision......

I'm including in this email some background information to the real story of what is happening within the Likud party right now. I'm party to this information because I'm an activist of Manhigut Yehudit, the faction within the Likud Party that is trying to take over the leadership of the Likud.

The Israeli media has wrongly portrayed this last week's Likud convention as a central event because Sharon dared to introduce his diplomatic plan to the members of the Likud's central committee, the Likud organizational body that decides upon the party platform upon which the party is supposed to act upon in the government.

The real story of the convention is that it was a public showing of the internal struggle taking place among the party faithful over the soul of the party and its activities in the government. On the one side of the struggle there is Sharon and his followers and on the other side is Moshe Fieglin, of the Manhigut Yehudit faction of the Likud and other Likud party factions.

The struggle
Sharon: He wants to lead the party the way he decides even though his policy decisions go against the party platform.

Feiglin: He wants the party to be led according to the party platform, since the government representatives of the party were sent to the goverment to determine policy according to the party platform. Those MKs or Ministers who make policy decisions against the party platform should not be allowed to run on the Likud party list but should find another political home.

It is obvious that this step is meant to place a roadblock before Sharon in his quest to receive the support of Likud MKs and Ministers to vote for any diplomatic plan that includes the establishment of a Palestinian state or dismantling settlements since they contradict the Likud party platform.

This struggle was the main struggle that took place at the Likud convention. The Manhigut Yehudit faction proposed an amendment to the Likud constitution (titled section "19 gimmel") which states the following (paraphrased) - any Likud MK or Minister that votes against the party platform can not be on the party list for official government sponsored positions (MK, Minister, head of government run organization etc) for a 5 year period of time. This amendment to the party constitution was introduced at the convention and it will be voted upon at the next convention meeting in early February.

This amendment has great support among the Likud Central Committee members who make up the convention participants because a majority of them are against the way Sharon has hijacked the party and turned into his own personal fiefdom, disregarding the party platform and instead making it into a Labor/Meretz party.

This amendment is a threat to Sharon and his diplomatic agenda.

This is the crux of the battle that is taking place within the Likud and it is within this context that Limor Livnat, the Likud Education Minister, gave an interview to the media on the day of the convention delegitimizing the jewish Leadership faction and Mosh Feiglin as people who do not belong in the Likud and who are trying to take over the Likud party un-democratically. She further delegitmized the faction by mentioning "criminal elements taking over the Likud" in the same sentence when delegitimizing the Jewish Leadership faction. Yesterday a Sharon advisor went even further by associating the steps taken by Manhigut Yehudit by proposing this amendment as being identicle to how the Nazis came to power in Germany (this was written in yesterday's Haaretz by journalist Yossi Verter - http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/379731.html). Hard to believe but this is Israel 2004! This is proof that Sharon and his power brokers within the Likud are threatened by the Jewish Leadership faction.

This is the issue that will be taking place within the Likud for the future until Manhigut Yehudit takes over the leadership of the Likud and returns it to its path according to its party platform. Manhigut Yehudit is in this struggle until it is victorious because the alternative is not an option.

Please read the following links of official documentation from the party, including a TV interview with Moshe Feiglin on Israeli TV (with English subtitles) that took place before the Likud convention.

I also included a letter to the editor that appeared in yesterday's Jerusalem Post that sheds some light on the issue as well.

Avi

Letter to the Editor of the Jerusalem Post 1/6/04

Dear Sirs:



Limor Livnat rants and raves about "phony Likud activists," when in fact she and others who agree with her are the real "phonies." The goals of Likud, according to its own Constitution (section 2: Goals), are "preserving the right of the Jewish people to Eretz Israel, as a perpetual right that cannot be questioned, constant settlement and development of all parts of Eretz Israel, and imposition of the State's sovereignty over them." It's pretty clear, therefore, that the activities of the Manhigut Yehudit faction in the Likud are actually the closest thing we've got to the REAL Likud and its basic nationalist philosophy.



Contrary to her comment that Manhigut Yehudit's members only just joined Likud's ranks, I for one - and I'm certain I'm not alone - have been a member since just after I made aliyah over eight years ago, and I joined Likud specifically because its goals were my goals.



Perhaps Minister Livnat needs a brush-up course on her own party's ideals. Far from being a danger to the party or the state, in fact what we need are central committee and general members with strong ideological interests - in a word, activists. I suppose thanks are due her, for providing an opportunity to explain to her and to all others who seem to have forgotten, what the real Likud is and what it stands for.



Deborah Buckman

Beit Shemesh

Manhigut Yehudit Beit Shemesh

See www.manhigut.org



A Letter from the Director of Manhigut Yehudit to the Likud Central Committee members in preperation for the Likud convention: http://www.zionet.co.il/manhigut/en/view_article_manhigut_en.php3?article_id=320
TV Interview with Moshe Feiglin on Israel Channel 10 pre-convention: http://www.manhigut.org/hebrew/video/FeiglinChn10.asf

Article about Manhigut Yehudit's focus on the fundamental need to mold Israel into becoming a Jewish state: (This article is important to read and a good introduction to part of the ideology that is behind Manhigut Yehudit and why it is called Manhigut Yehudit - Jewish Leadership)

http://www.zionet.co.il/manhigut/en/view_article_manhigut_en.php3?article_id=293

A picture of Moshe Feiglin speaking about the proposed amendment (19 gimml) at the Likud convention:

http://www.zionet.co.il/manhigut/he/view_friends_manhigut.php3?article_id=439


You can sign up for Manhigut Yehudit by either calling the office at:
09-792-9046

or by visiting the website below and sending a request form.
http://www.manhigut.org/english/getmsg.html

Together, with focused hishtadlut, patience and emunah we will bring about change for the betterment of Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and Torat Yisrael.

Please pass this on.
Sharon's delegitimization campaign of Manhigut Yehudit is just beginning

In yesterday's Haaretz, journalist Yossi Verter wrote an article titled "PM's Associates Warn 'It's How the Nazi's Came to Power' (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/379731.html) where he is clearly refering to Manhigut Yehudit.

This short article proves how threatened Sharon feels by Manhigut Yehudit!!!
Can you believe it, to go so low as to use the term Nazi's when refering to Jews loyal to the Land of Isreal. Disagree, ok, debate, great, but call us Nazi's???

It shows that Manhigut Yehduit has chosen the right playing field... the Likud's own backyard.
Manhigut Yehduit is hitting a nerve of theirs and this is only their opening shot. They will probably not stop there.

Manhigut Yehudit is the only political force that has succeeded in making Sharon feel pressured. Not the Mafdal and not Ichud Haleumi.

This is only the beginning of the process to create a change to our political reality. But in order to truly succeed Manhigut Yehudit needs our public support. Now is the time to join.

You can sign up for Manhigut Yehudit by either calling the office at:
09-792-9046
or by visiting the website below and sending a request form.
http://www.manhigut.org/english/getmsg.html

The process to change the political landscape of Israel will take time and with many obstacles. Manhigut Yehudit might lose some battles, big and small, on the way to taking over the leadership of the party, but in the end it will be victorious. The alternative is to allow our current Leumi leadership - that has began to slander loyal Jews and Israelis as Nazis!! - to continue to lead us - and that is not an option!

Together, with focused hishtadlut, patience and emunah we can bring about change for the betterment of Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and Torat Yisrael.
The Real Story About the Internal Struggle Taking Place Within the Likud Party

For those of you who follow current events in Israel and dabble in trying to understand Israeli politics, then keep on reading. For those of you don't have time for this, then just press delete now and don't waste your time reading about events that will have an impact on determining the future of Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and Torat Yisrael.

Your decision......

I'm including in this email some background information to the real story of what is happening within the Likud party right now. I'm party to this information because I'm an activist of Manhigut Yehudit, the faction within the Likud Party that is trying to take over the leadership of the Likud.

The Israeli media has wrongly portrayed this last week's Likud convention as a central event because Sharon dared to introduce his diplomatic plan to the members of the Likud's central committee, the Likud organizational body that decides upon the party platform upon which the party is supposed to act upon in the government.

The real story of the convention is that it was a public showing of the internal struggle taking place among the party faithful over the soul of the party and its activities in the government. On the one side of the struggle there is Sharon and his followers and on the other side is Moshe Fieglin, of the Manhigut Yehudit faction of the Likud and other Likud party factions.

The struggle
Sharon: He wants to lead the party the way he decides even though his policy decisions go against the party platform.

Feiglin: He wants the party to be led according to the party platform, since the government representatives of the party were sent to the goverment to determine policy according to the party platform. Those MKs or Ministers who make policy decisions against the party platform should not be allowed to run on the Likud party list but should find another political home.

It is obvious that this step is meant to place a roadblock before Sharon in his quest to receive the support of Likud MKs and Ministers to vote for any diplomatic plan that includes the establishment of a Palestinian state or dismantling settlements since they contradict the Likud party platform.

This struggle was the main struggle that took place at the Likud convention. The Manhigut Yehudit faction proposed an amendment to the Likud constitution (titled section "19 gimmel") which states the following (paraphrased) - any Likud MK or Minister that votes against the party platform can not be on the party list for official government sponsored positions (MK, Minister, head of government run organization etc) for a 5 year period of time. This amendment to the party constitution was introduced at the convention and it will be voted upon at the next convention meeting in early February.

This amendment has great support among the Likud Central Committee members who make up the convention participants because a majority of them are against the way Sharon has hijacked the party and turned into his own personal fiefdom, disregarding the party platform and instead making it into a Labor/Meretz party.

This amendment is a threat to Sharon and his diplomatic agenda.

This is the crux of the battle that is taking place within the Likud and it is within this context that Limor Livnat, the Likud Education Minister, gave an interview to the media on the day of the convention delegitimizing the jewish Leadership faction and Mosh Feiglin as people who do not belong in the Likud and who are trying to take over the Likud party un-democratically. She further delegitmized the faction by mentioning "criminal elements taking over the Likud" in the same sentence when delegitimizing the Jewish Leadership faction. Yesterday a Sharon advisor went even further by associating the steps taken by Manhigut Yehudit by proposing this amendment as being identicle to how the Nazis came to power in Germany (this was written in yesterday's Haaretz by journalist Yossi Verter - http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/379731.html). Hard to believe but this is Israel 2004! This is proof that Sharon and his power brokers within the Likud are threatened by the Jewish Leadership faction.

This is the issue that will be taking place within the Likud for the future until Manhigut Yehudit takes over the leadership of the Likud and returns it to its path according to its party platform. Manhigut Yehudit is in this struggle until it is victorious because the alternative is not an option.

Please read the following links of official documentation from the party, including a TV interview with Moshe Feiglin on Israeli TV (with English subtitles) that took place before the Likud convention.

I also included a letter to the editor that appeared in yesterday's Jerusalem Post that sheds some light on the issue as well.

Avi

Letter to the Editor of the Jerusalem Post 1/6/04

Dear Sirs:



Limor Livnat rants and raves about "phony Likud activists," when in fact she and others who agree with her are the real "phonies." The goals of Likud, according to its own Constitution (section 2: Goals), are "preserving the right of the Jewish people to Eretz Israel, as a perpetual right that cannot be questioned, constant settlement and development of all parts of Eretz Israel, and imposition of the State's sovereignty over them." It's pretty clear, therefore, that the activities of the Manhigut Yehudit faction in the Likud are actually the closest thing we've got to the REAL Likud and its basic nationalist philosophy.



Contrary to her comment that Manhigut Yehudit's members only just joined Likud's ranks, I for one - and I'm certain I'm not alone - have been a member since just after I made aliyah over eight years ago, and I joined Likud specifically because its goals were my goals.



Perhaps Minister Livnat needs a brush-up course on her own party's ideals. Far from being a danger to the party or the state, in fact what we need are central committee and general members with strong ideological interests - in a word, activists. I suppose thanks are due her, for providing an opportunity to explain to her and to all others who seem to have forgotten, what the real Likud is and what it stands for.



Deborah Buckman

Beit Shemesh

Manhigut Yehudit Beit Shemesh

See www.manhigut.org



A Letter from the Director of Manhigut Yehudit to the Likud Central Committee members in preperation for the Likud convention: http://www.zionet.co.il/manhigut/en/view_article_manhigut_en.php3?article_id=320

TV Interview with Moshe Feiglin on Israel Channel 10 pre-convention: http://www.manhigut.org/hebrew/video/FeiglinChn10.asf

Article about Manhigut Yehudit's focus on the fundamental need to mold Israel into becoming a Jewish state: (This article is important to read and a good introduction to part of the ideology that is behind Manhigut Yehudit and why it is called Manhigut Yehudit - Jewish Leadership)

http://www.zionet.co.il/manhigut/en/view_article_manhigut_en.php3?article_id=293

A picture of Moshe Feiglin speaking about the proposed amendment (19 gimml) at the Likud convention:

http://www.zionet.co.il/manhigut/he/view_friends_manhigut.php3?article_id=439


You can sign up for Manhigut Yehudit by either calling the office at:
09-792-9046

or by visiting the website below and sending a request form.
http://www.manhigut.org/english/getmsg.html

Together, with focused hishtadlut, patience and emunah we will bring about change for the betterment of Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and Torat Yisrael.

Please pass this on.

Thursday, January 01, 2004

In Response to A Supportive Email in Response to My Gooood Morning Am Yisrael Email

Thanks a lot for your supportive reply.

As for Sharon's plan - the good thing about it is that in a sort of official way the Israeli politic (and public) is finally being told that the peace process is almost over. All the rest, removing of settlements and such is horrible - but I believe that not much of that will actually happen. Some maachazim might come down and some small inhabited yishuvim, but nothing more than that. Sharon can't, his government won't last, and he is not keen on being totally reliable on Peres and Labor as partners.

In anycase, changes are slowly happening here. I'm very involved with Manhigut Yehudit and it is a major force within the Likud party right now trying to take over the LIkud and force Sharon's hand from the inside of his party, because the small right wing parties have virtually no influence on Sharon's polcy decisions.

I'm very optomistic. It is only a question of how many more Jews will have to be killed before we Jews realize that we need a proud Jewish leadership leading Israel according to Jewish values when forming social and foreign policy that will effect our families and our future.

I highly suggest you start reading up on them, because I'm certain that little by little more will be written up on them in the press because of the changes that they are causing within the Likud. Better you be informed about them from the source rather than from the lies you will hear about them in the media.

Shabbat Shalom,
Avi