My take on our situation in Israel today
I must be honest, my mood nowadays fluctuate between optimism and sadness. It is very frustrating to see the values of Judaism and the Land of Israel disintegrate from the minds and mouths of its own leaders. The fact that Jews might possibly be expelled from their homes in Gaza and that the terrorism will get much worse as a result is very scary.

However, I see the light in this as well. First of all, there is still a chance that Likud members will trash the plan and essentially vote against Sharon, even against the many odds Sharon the bulldozer has and is placing before us. Also, we now know the true faces of our Nationalistic leaders and we will not trust them again!

Even though I feel pain at the thought that Likud members who might have voted against Sharon's plan now will vote for it or abstain ( making it harder for us to gain a majority against the plan) because their "leaders" are now supporting Sharon's plan, on the other hand I'm glad that most people will not be fooled by them anymore.

And I'm optimistic for that same reason, the traditional leaders of the Likud and the National camp have now sealed their fate as non-leaders for the National camp in the future. A leadership vacuum has been developed.

Now the practical minded leadership of Manhigut Yehudit will be in the position to fill that leaderless void of the Likud. It might not happen tomorrow or next year, but it will happen, because there is no other option. The Mafdal and Ichud Haleumi will never become big enough to be a ruling party, and even if the Likud goes through a rough patch of time, losing some power because of their mistakes under Sharon, they will still remain a potential ruling party. Therefore the only realistic option for a Nationalistic leadership in Israel is Manhigut Yehudit. Now is the time to join to help bring this about as soon as we can.

Click here for an up-to-date article on Manhigut Yehudit last week in Haaretz.

Now for a quick synopsis of our situation today in Israel.

1. Sharon is non-stop bulldozing his plan to surrender Gaza to the terrorists and expel the Jews of Gaza in a very undemocratic way (i.e. he canceled debates on the issue because he didn't want to be questioned about the plan, he has sent out a translation of Bush's letter to him to Likud members that had words added to it that Bush didn't write(today's Haaretz article) etc.)

2. Likud senior ministers have shown us that they might be leaders but they don't know how to lead! Rather the know how to look after their own interests - totally going against the stands that they have always taken until now.

3. Israeli Arabs shooting on Israeli police officers in the Galil - proving to us all that the Arabs are not just after Yesha but motivated to destroy all of Israel. Unfortunately, the second we pull out of Gaza - the next intifada will be in the Galil and the Negev.

4. With it all Sharon's advisors worried that he doesn't have enough support from Likud members to show the world - Hopefully we will see that most if not many Likud members will vote against Sharon's plan.

5. I'm driving out to visit homes of Likud members in Nes Tziona with my father to convince them to vote against the plan (together with thousands of other Israeli citizens concerned about the fate of the State of Israel)

With this all, I must say that our future is bright, very bright, we just will continue to have a period of hardship until Am Yisrael wakes up to the reality of the situation - that reality is that peace will only come upon us when we stand up for our right to live in all of Israel. Until then, the messengers of fantasy (left and, now, right) will continue to sell us fantasy plans of quiet that will never come if we follow their lead.

THAT IS REALITY. Get with the program and start analyzing the facts for yourself, instead of relying on the "professional" opinions of politicians and journalists.

And by the way, with it all, Israel is the place to come to live now - and nowhere else. It is only here where you have the possibility of living a full Jewish life of creating the Jewish culture in Israel that our Judaism is supposed to be about.

Avi