Israel Matzav: Freeze would be ethnic cleansing

Freeze would be ethnic cleansing

Remember how angry Prime Minister Netanyahu was when Deputy Prime Minister Moshe "Boogie" Yaalon aligned himself with Moshe Feiglin? Well, it may be on its way to happening again.

Speaking to a packed audience at Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue, Ya’alon referred indirectly to a Haaretz report that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is willing to freeze all construction on government land in West Bank settlements if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas resumes direct diplomatic negotiations.

“The demand for territory without Jews anywhere else would be called ethnic cleansing,” Ya’alon said. “We cannot accept a demand for ethnic cleansing in the land of Israel.”

Ya’alon said that Israel was under pressure from people who incorrectly believe the cause of the Middle East conflict is the building of homes in Judea and Samaria. He denounced that theory as “a corrupt way of thinking” and explained why the true cause of Middle East instability was the Islamic fundamentalism emanating from Iran.

He spoke about other topics too - read the whole thing. Finally an honest politician? I hope to hear soon what Feiglin thinks.

Israel Matzav: Freeze would be ethnic cleansing

Love of the Land: Is Manhigut Yehudit leaving the Likud?

Is Manhigut Yehudit leaving the Likud?

Moshe Feiglin
Manhigut Yehudit
26 Iyar, 5770
10 May '10

Translated from the article on Ma'ariv's NRG website

The media buzz surrounding Manhigut Yehudit's future in the Likud caught me by surprise. We had planned to keep the brainstorming process after last Thursday's Likud vote an internal affair - with only Manhigut Yehudit activists engaging in the debate. True, we knew that deliberations taking place among tens or hundreds of people would not be secret for long, but we did not estimate the great surge of public interest that the question of our future in the Likud would awaken. It seems that the stake that Manhigut Yehudit has planted in Israel's politics and collective consciousness is deeper than what we had assessed. When we move that stake just a bit, we create waves both inside and outside Israeli politics - surprising those in the eye of the storm.

Some people erroneously believe that our deliberations over Manhigut Yehudit's future in the Likud are the result of political failure, or because we failed in our attempt to prevent the Likud Central Committee from adopting Netanyahu's proposal, or because the Prime Minister has waged an all-out war against me. That is simply not true. If all that I was looking for was a place in the Knesset, I could have achieved my goal directly and with relative ease. It is not pleasant to be engaged in an ongoing political battle against forces larger and stronger than me; it is not pleasant when the chairman of my political home schemes with the High Court "judges" to remove me from the Knesset slot to which I was elected last year or to prevent elections altogether, as he has done now. I am way outside my comfort zone - but that is apparently the proof that we are on the right track.

As a result of last Thursday's vote, the Likud has redefined itself. It can no longer be considered the ruling party of the National Camp. Instead, it has become the ruling party of one man - in the service of the Left. The political alliance that has been formed between the chairman of the Likud (who also happens to be the Prime Minister of Israel) and the justice system allowed him to retroactively change the rules of the game to his advantage and to effectively sever the Likud from its members. From that point and on, nothing stands in the way of the Prime Minister as he charges ahead with his plans to partition Jerusalem.

Not one member of the small, rightist Knesset parties was anywhere near the arena on which the battle for Jerusalem took place last Thursday. Manhigut Yehudit, the movement that "always fails" made the prime minister sweat and deny the claims that the real story behind the Likud vote was Netanyahu's plans to divide Jerusalem.

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: Is Manhigut Yehudit leaving the Likud?

Love of the Land: Sweet Defeat on the Hermon

Sweet Defeat on the Hermon

Moshe Feiglin
Manhigut
21 Adar 5770
07 March '10

It was two o' clock in the morning. We packed our bicycles into the car, added our backpacks, helmets, warm clothing and some food and headed north.

It all began two weeks earlier, on a routine bicycle trip that I had taken with my son, David, to the Kaneh Stream, near our home. After splashing about a bit, we began pedaling up the path that leads back to Karnei Shomron. To my surprise, I saw that my young pedal pusher had turned into a full-fledged mountain cyclist, thank G-d.

"Someday you will even ride up to the peak of Mt. Hermon," I said when we got home."If I ride up the Hermon will you buy me a new bicycle for Pesach?" my son retorted with a question. "No problem," I answered. "If you can make it up the Hermon on this bicycle, throw a snowball at me and hit your target, you will get a new bicycle for Pesach."

I didn't really believe that in such a short time the young lad would manage to acquire the physical fitness necessary to accomplish his goal. At the bicycle store, where we took his old bike to fine-tune the gears and check the brakes – the technicians were highly skeptical, especially with his vintage bicycle.
But the young generation joined me every morning at daybreak for a mountain ride, and continued pedaling during his free time. And so, a captive of my promise, I found myself driving north with my son in the middle of the night, wondering if we would really manage to touch the snow and return on our bicycles all in the same day.

(Read full story)

Love of the Land: Sweet Defeat on the Hermon

Love of the Land: Leadership and Borders

Leadership and Borders

Manhigut Yehudit
18 Adar 5770
04 March '10

The Children of Israel waited for Moses for forty days and forty nights. In our era of the "instant," that is an eternity. Moses turned off his cell phone, closed his pc, and didn't even send his nation a text message. No Twitter announcing, "I'm learning Torah with the Almighty, see you soon". Zero information. For forty days and forty nights the Children of Israel waited at the foot of Mt. Sinai for their leader to return.

But there were impatient people among them who wanted a god immediately. Naturally, they turned to Aaron the High Priest. They wanted a tangible object to which to pray, something that they could see and respond to.

This is the point at which we see the great difference between Moses, the leader and Aaron the High Priest. Aaron was endowed with boundless love for his nation. He was the ultimate peacemaker; restoring love between husbands and wives, neighbors and competing factions of the nation. Everybody loved him. As the right hand man of Moses - the leader who set rules and boundaries, Aaron was indispensable. But during Moses' absence, he failed as a leader. His benevolence and soft-heartedness became a liability that allowed evil to take over. "And when Moses saw that the people were broken loose--for Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies" (This week's Torah portion, Ki Tisah, Exodus 32:25).

The synergies of Moses, the leader who can break the Tablets, burn the golden calf, judge the transgressors and purify the camp of Israel - and Aaron, the lover and pursuer of peace is triumphant. Together, they build the Sanctuary in the desert and draw down G-d's Divine Presence on Israel. Together, they lead the Children of Israel until they enter the Promised Land.

But Aaron without Moses, when he has to face the impatience of the nation, unsuccessfully tries to negotiate his way through a tragedy that has lasted throughout the generations.

As we create authentic Jewish leadership for Israel, this is a lesson that we dare not ignore.

Shabbat Shalom,

Michael Fuah

Love of the Land: Leadership and Borders

Love of the Land: Manhigut Yehudit's Ideas Going Mainstream

Manhigut Yehudit's Ideas Going Mainstream

Manhigut Yehudit
11 February '10

Only two weeks ago we pointed out how - slowly but surely - ideas that Manhigut Yehudit has been introducing into public discourse are eventually integrated as societal norms and become legislative proposals. We had mentioned the proposed law to give honorably discharged soldiers free land, submitted by MK Gilah Gamliel and the change in the government's handling of the illegal immigrant issue and its decision to close Israel's border with Egypt.

This week, another Manhigut Yehudit idea went mainstream, with PM Netanyahu's endorsement of the Yisrael Beiteinu proposal to allow Israeli expatriates to vote.

For Netanyahu and Lieberman, the proposed law is motivated by narrow political interests: Most Israelis are loyal to their identity and Land and naturally lean toward the right. Granting voting rights to hundreds of thousands of Israeli expatriates neutralizes the power of the Arab Knesset bloc and strengthens the right. But even though he may be governed by narrow interests, the fact that the PM has endorsed this law is a step in the right direction.

Manhigut Yehudit has repeatedly called for the granting of voting rights to every Jew as a matter of principle. The practical way to begin is to grant voting rights to those people who are already Israeli citizens. We do not propose this for opportunistic reasons but because we believe that the State of Israel is the state of the entire Jewish nation.

For more on voting rights for expatriates and world Jewry, see Moshe Feiglin's article, Israeli Voting Rights for Expatriates and Diaspora Jews.

Related article: The Great Absentee-Ballot Debate

Love of the Land: Manhigut Yehudit's Ideas Going Mainstream

Love of the Land: US Loan Guarantees Cost US Nothing - Yet Cost Israel Her Sovereignty

US Loan Guarantees Cost US Nothing - Yet Cost Israel Her Sovereignty

Manhigut Yehudit
Press Release
10 January '10

American Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell stated last week that if Israel doesn't advance the peace process, "[the United States] can withhold support on loan guarantees to Israel". Manhigut Yehudit applauds Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz for telling Mitchell that "We don't have to use those guarantees; we are doing very well without them" and Israeli Education Minister Gideon Sar for stating that "We will act in accordance with our own interests and not in accordance with external pressures."

Though US Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman sought to minimize the threat, Mitchell's statement sheds light on years of attempted American blackmail by which the United States placed financial pressure on Israel to gain the Jewish state’s surrender to and continuation of the ongoing false peace process.

In conjunction with the loan guarantees are the roughly 2.7 billion dollars that Israel receives annually from the United States. Moshe Feiglin, leader of the Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction of the ruling Likud party, has been clear for years regarding US aid - that all US aid to Israel should be ended. The loan guarantees and the financial aid have come at a high price to Israel. By following this fraudulent Oslo “peace” process, Israel has suffered almost 2,000 dead and over 10,000 maimed at the hands of her so-called Arab “peace partner”.

Excellent related article: The American Aid Myth (25 May '01)

Moreover, since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993 (by which Israel willingly offered to give away the Land where 93% of the places mentioned in the Jewish Bible are located), an ever increasing portion of world opinion (including Jewish opinion) questions whether justice is on Israel's side. This "peace process" has therefore had a deleterious effect vis-à-vis anti-Semitism as well as strengthening terrorism and eroding Israel's military security.

American aid to Israel comes at a heavy price with onerous strings attached. Seventy-five percent of all monies must be spent in the US thus making it a make-work program for America’s defense industry. These conditions have cost Israel 100,000 manufacturing jobs and Israel has been prevented from using its technology for the development of its own economy. The ending of American aid would solve Israel’s unemployment crisis and free Israel to reap a tremendous profit in arms sales that would more than offset any benefits of American largesse. Currently, Israel upgrades virtually all of the military equipment that it receives from the US and yet the American companies own the technology and are the only ones able to profit. Former Israeli Minister of Economic Affairs Ron Dermer publicly confirmed these assertions at the 2006 AIPAC Conference in response to a question from Manhigut Yehudit’s US Director, Rob Muchnick.

Israeli leaders typically state that they must continue the Oslo Process or else the financial spigot from the US will be shut, even though they know that the premise is false. As a case in point, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated in 2005 that if Israel did not implement the “Disengagement from Gaza”, the United States would make Israel “do something worse”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued this trend by freezing Jewish construction in all parts of the Land of Israel liberated from the Arabs in 1967. When asked at the aforementioned AIPAC conference for his opinion as to why Israel continues to take American aid, Dermer - now a senior advisor to Netanyahu - responded that this "was a political decision made by each Prime Minister".

Manhigut Yehudit does not blame America for attempting to co-opt Israel. The Jewish state must stand on its own feet and be led only by its devotion to its heritage, its Land, and its Creator.

This duplicity on the part of Israel’s leaders has caused her to give up her sovereignty to such an extent that many people now simply think of her as nothing more than an extraneous 51st state of America.

Love of the Land: US Loan Guarantees Cost US Nothing - Yet Cost Israel Her Sovereignty

Love of the Land: Until the very last Jew

Until the very last Jew

Moshe Feiglin
Manhigut
03 Tevet 5770
20 December 09

"It is important to understand," I said to television interviewer Dan Margalit, "I am just the canary in the coal mine. More politicians will be receiving this letter." That television interview took place close to two years ago. I was reminded of it last week when Tzippy Livni had a close brush with arrest in England. I had the dubious distinction of being the first Israeli politician since Menachem Begin to be classified as a persona non grata by her majesty's government. The only other Israelis to receive this classification have been IDF officers whose war against Arab terror has turned them into war criminals in British eyes.

I had the privilege to be inducted into this exclusive club because of an article that I had written years ago. The article included a sentence that read "The Arab is not the son of the desert, but rather, its father." Interestingly, this sentence was penned by none other than the first British Commissioner of Sinai, Sir Claude Jarvis, in 1938 in his book, The Desert Yesterday and Today. In other words, my entry to Britain was forbidden because I quoted an important British official. No matter. What is clear is that the British, who allow terror chiefs to enter England and lecture as they please, have bowed before the Islamic offensive that has conquered their land - and they do not like people who remind them to whom they have surrendered.

As Divine Providence would have it, Israel's Foreign Minister at the time that I was barred from England was Tzippy Livni. Livni was no longer a member of the Likud and had completely abandoned the ideology of her patriotic parents, but it would still have been reasonable to expect that an official letter such as the one I, an Israeli citizen, received from the British government would draw some sort of response from the Foreign Ministry.

There is no dearth of professors and politicians in England who attack Israel as a matter of course. Livni could have announced to her majesty's government that if it would continue to interfere with the freedom of expression of Israel's citizens, Israel would also bar a long list of publicists and professors from entering its own gates. At the time I didn't ask Livni to fight my cause. But if she had done her job, she wouldn't have to fight her own cause today. Now Livni finds herself – perish the thought – in the same boat as Moshe Feiglin.

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: Until the very last Jew

Love of the Land: Leadership that does not Capitulate

Leadership that does not Capitulate

From the Desk of Moshe Feiglin:

12 Kislev, 5769 (Nov. 29, '09)

Wherever I go and wherever I speak, the same question surfaces time and again: How do we know how you will stand up to pressure when you are prime minister? Who's to say that you won't change your policies like all of your predecessors?

"It makes no difference who the prime minister is," explained Israel Radio's commentator this week. "He will always implement the policies of the Left."

Is he right? Is this just a fact of life? Maybe once a person becomes prime minister he is privy to knowledge that we mere citizens do not know? Maybe this secret knowledge leaves them with no choice but to capitulate? What exactly did Sharon discover when he became PM that he did not know when he served in almost every other ministerial capacity in the government? What new insight has Netanyahu perceived that he didn't know the last time he was prime minister?

Let us explore the two worst-case scenarios:
One scenario is that Obama is threatening Netanyahu that the US will not stop Iran's nuclear development and will even penalize Israel if it attacks Iran without his authorization. The second scenario is that Obama has threatened Netanyahu that if he does not clamp an immediate freeze on building in the settlements, he will consent to a "Palestinian" unilateral declaration of independence – which would effectively transform us all into war criminals.

When Ben-Gurion was poised to declare the establishment of the State of Israel, our situation was much worse. We did not have tanks or fighter jets, seven Arab armies threatened to easily finish the job that Hitler had begun and to top it all off, the US threatened that if Ben-Gurion would declare statehood, it would impose an embargo on all US arms sales to Israel. That is, in fact, exactly what happened and the American arms embargo remained intact until Israel liberated Judea, Samaria and Gaza in the six day war of miracles in 1967.

When Saddam Hussein was about to produce his own nuclear bomb, America was opposed to an Israeli pre-emptive strike. When Begin instructed the air force to destroy Iraq's nuclear reactor, Shimon Peres tried to torpedo the plan. Begin was forced to keep the mission a secret from Peres so that he would not leak the information to America. After the fact, the Americans condemned the attack, but Israel was strengthened, which in turn strengthened the American interest in continued relations with Israel. Ultimately, the US also thanked Israel for its pre-emptive strike.

Today, Israel is in a much more dangerous situation. Elimination of the Iranian nuclear threat is liable to trigger a massive missile attack on Israel from Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Gaza. We must be prepared to deal with all of those threats simultaneously.

(Continue to full article)

Love of the Land: Leadership that does not Capitulate

Love of the Land: Feiglin: Only Exclusive Jewish Sovereignty on Temple Mount will End Arab Violence

Feiglin: Only Exclusive Jewish Sovereignty on Temple Mount will End Arab Violence

Manhigut Yehudit
The Jewish Leadership Movement
Press release
October 26, 2009...


Commenting on the Arab riots on the Temple Mount Sunday morning, Manhigut Yehudit head Moshe Feiglin said that as long as Jews were more or less banned from the site, Arab rioting would continue.

Feiglin said that the rioting would not end until "exclusive Israeli sovereignty is restored to the Temple Mount, and Jews receive full rights to pray there."


###


Note: Under Israeli law, freedom of worship is technically permitted to those of all religions on the Temple Mount. In practical application, though, things are not so "democratic".

Unfettered access is granted by Israeli police to Muslims to pray as they wish and when they wish on the Temple Mount.

However, Israeli police only permit Jews to ascend to their holiest site (the Temple Mount) on certain days, they must be off the Temple Mount by approximately 9:15AM, and they are forbidden to pray when on the Temple Mount. If a Jew violates the prohibition of praying on their holiest site, they will be arrested immediately. The police use the excuse that "Jews praying on the Temple Mount is a provocation to the Arabs" in order to continue this anti-Jewish policy. It hardly needs to be stated that the Israeli police would not be so bold as to undertake this policy without the blessing of each sitting Israeli Prime Minister.

Love of the Land: Feiglin: Only Exclusive Jewish Sovereignty on Temple Mount will End Arab Violence

Love of the Land: Open Letter to Defense Minister Barak: Do Not Negotiate My Release

Open Letter to Defense Minister Barak: Do Not Negotiate My Release

This week, I wrote an open letter to Defense Minister Barak, instructing him not to negotiate my release if I am G-d forbid abducted by terrorists. The letter has been making waves in Israel, and was quoted in Israel's major media outlets:

An open letter to Defense Minister Barak: Do not negotiate my release

To the Defense Minister of the State of Israel
Mr. Ehud Barak

Re: Instructions not to conduct negotiations for my release if I am taken captive

As an Israeli citizen, as a soldier and a reserve officer, I hereby instruct you that if, God forbid, I am ever kidnapped or taken captive by Arab terror organizations, no negotiations should be conducted to secure my release. This order is the product of a sound mind. The reasons for this instruction are as follows:

A. Twenty-five years ago, Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard took shelter from his pursuers inside the Israeli Embassy in Washington. In accordance with an order issued by the Shamir government, then-Israeli Ambassador Elyakim Rubinstein handed him directly over to US federal authorities. Since then and to this day, Jonathan has been imprisoned under disgraceful conditions. He has never had even a short vacation outside the prison walls. His health is dangerously deteriorating. Israel - for whom and in whose name Jonathan sacrificed his life, did and continues to do everything possible to ensure that Jonathan will remain in prison and die there. Despite the biting betrayal that he experienced, every time that the media raises the possibility that Jonathan will be exchanged for one arch-murderer or another, Pollard hurriedly announces his opposition to this type of swap. It is incumbent on every Israeli citizen to understand - as a free person -what our betrayed hero understands from his jail cell. We must not buy liberty for an individual in exchange for endangering the lives of the public and encouraging additional abductions.

B. After a number of visits to his prison cell I understood that in the 25 years of continued betrayal of Jonathan, Israel's government has lost the moral foundation in the name of which it sends its sons to endanger themselves and in the power of which it can also bring them home. In fact, since the betrayal of Jonathan and until this very day, Israel has not brought one captive soldier home alive.

C. The Israeli government has refrained from carrying out the simple and most obvious actions for Gilad Shalit's release. Hamas, which at first avoided admitting that it was the kidnapper, quickly understood that Israel's leaders would not endanger themselves with international arrest warrants and is no longer afraid to claim full responsibility for this act. Its thousands of detainees in Israel are getting the royal treatment and enjoy conditions no Israeli detainee can even dream of.

As a first step, Israel should have compared the arrest conditions of Hamas prisoners to those of Shalit. No visits, no information, no sunlight. All Hamas leaders should have become the targets of kidnappings and assassinations. The entire supply of money, weapons, cement, fuel and electricity from Israel to Gaza should have stopped. These basic actions, and many others which could have led to Shalit's swift release, are not being carried out because the Israeli leadership fears its own fate. The only way that Israel's leaders can please both Israeli mothers and the world is to surrender and dispatch thousands of murderers to our doorsteps.

D. Clearly, the loss of vision and leadership that engenders these wholesale releases greatly encourages our enemies. The wave of terror and kidnappings that broke out following the release of thousands of terrorists does not fit what we had known in the past by any standard. "I couldn't look the mothers in the eye," said Defense Minister Yitzchak Rabin and signed the prisoner swap with the Jibril terror organization. This exchange led directly to the first intifada. This led to a mass release of terrorists in the Oslo Accord and to the suicide bomber rage that followed on its heels. The State of Israel has sunk itself inside fences and guards, but this is nothing more than a pain killer for spreading cancer.

No fence can stop rockets. The weakness of the Israeli leadership in the face of terror organizations has been well internalized by a distant and much more dangerous circle of enemy states. Why should Iran's leader be afraid if the Hamas leaders feel safe?

E. "I see Israel as a state of all its citizens," explained the most influential Israeli of this generation, former Chief Justice Aharon Barak. Israel, fleeing from its Jewish identity, has pulled the carpet out from under the moral foundation of its very existence and right to send soldiers into battle. If not for a Jewish state, then what are we doing here? Why should we send our sons to the army and not to Australia?

The inevitable result of loss of Jewish vision is loss of our ability to conduct any sort of political program. When there is no strategic goal, there cannot be tactical policies. As a result, Israel will continue to conduct itself according to the caprices of constantly-surfacing international and local pressure and media campaigns.

F. In this situation, the responsible Israeli citizen is faced with one of two choices: One - to come to terms with the process briefly described here and to wait for the coup de grace that will terminate the historic episode called 'The State of Israel'. The other option is that, like in past wars, the simple soldiers will know how to save the state from the failures of its leaders. As such, we, the civilians and the simple soldiers order that no negotiations be held for us.

G. I am pleased to report that both combat officers and soldiers have announced that they will unhesitatingly add their names to this petition. I plan to continue to send you letters from soldiers in the same spirit.

Respectfully,

Moshe Feiglin

Since I announced this initiative, I have received quite a few letters from soldiers and citizens who penned their own versions to Barak. The most touching was a letter from Yitzchak, a soldier who served with Gilad Shalit. Yitzchak wrote as follows:

"Since Gilad was abducted, I feel torn and I do not know what to do to help him. Like every Jew on earth, I pray for him and hope that he will be released soon - safe and sound.
Yet, I am dismayed at how our entire country kneels before the terror organizations every time that they succeed in capturing one of our fighters in their clutches. This situation is intolerable and we fall into this trap time and again. I am frequently forced to refuse the requests of my fellow soldiers from our company and brigade to participate in demonstrations for Gilad. I have reached the conclusion that our intellect must take precedence over our emotions, as painful as this is for me."

My letter to the Defense Minister seems to have touched a raw nerve. Many people are disgusted with Israel's defeatism and are anxious to join in this initiative. It is important to remember that since the wholesale release of terrorists in the Jibril swap 25 years ago, not one Israeli soldier has returned home alive from terrorist captivity. The terrorist release approach is not only wrong from a moral and security point of view; it also fails to produce positive results.

Statistically, 80% of Hamas terrorists return to terror and murder after their release. In other words, 16 of the 20 terrorists released by Israel in exchange for the Gilad Shalit video will once again attempt to murder Israelis. It is reasonable to assume that one of them may possibly succeed, G-d forbid. This will be just part of the true price of the video. It is merely the promo for the pictures of long lines of buses filled with gleeful murderers that we will be treated to if the entire exchange takes place, G-d forbid.

The more soldiers and citizens who write letters to the Defense Minister, the greater the chances that Israel will regain its moral balance and return to war against terror instead of surrender to its dictates.

Please fill in your name and information on the letter below, copy, paste and email it to moshe@mflikud.co.il . We will send the letters in bulk to Minister Barak.

Or print the letter out here, fill in your information and fax it to our office: 09 792 0570

or mail it to:
Manhigut Yehudit
POB 21
Ginot Shomron
44853

Love of the Land: Open Letter to Defense Minister Barak: Do Not Negotiate My Release

Love of the Land: IDF soldiers to say 'Don't release terrorists for me'

IDF soldiers to say 'Don't release terrorists for me'

Gil Hoffman

JPost

11 October 09

Grassroots efforts against a proposed prisoner swap for IDF soldier Gilad Schalit began Sunday when Likud activist Moshe Feiglin announced a new initiative in which IDF combat soldiers will be asked to sign a petition asking Defense Minister Ehud Barak not to release terrorists for them if they were captured.

Feiglin wrote a letter to Barak on Sunday asking him not to negotiate his release should he ever be kidnapped by Arabs. He said that at first, he would start an online petition drive for IDF soldiers to join his call, which he said was inspired by Jonathan Pollard, an American convicted of spying for Israel.

He wrote to Barak that every time the possibility had been raised that Pollard would be released as part of a prisoner swap, Pollard refused.

"What our betrayed hero who is rotting in his cell understands, must be understood by any Israeli citizens as a free person. We must not buy one
person's freedom in exchange for risking the lives of many and encouraging additional abductions."

Love of the Land: IDF soldiers to say 'Don't release terrorists for me'

Love of the Land: From the Desk of Moshe Feiglin: Manhigut Yehudit's Founding Principles: A Reality Check

From the Desk of Moshe Feiglin: Manhigut Yehudit's Founding Principles: A Reality Check

13 Tishrei, 5770
Sept. 30, '09

Just before Passover, 5757 (1997) twelve and a half years ago, the members of Manhigut Yehudit gathered to formulate the ten founding principles that would be a guiding light for our movement. At the time, Netanyahu had just begun his first term as prime minister. Nobody had yet considered joining the Likud. Now, twelve and a half years later, we can do a reality check and see if Manhigut Yehudit's founding principles are indeed in harmony with Israeli reality. (Click here for the full list of Manhigut Yehudit's Founding Principles).

1. From Existence-Based Zionism To Destiny-Based Zionism
Those people who perceive subtleties are in for a pleasant surprise. Israel has begun to abandon its "existence" claims in favor of previously unheard-of claims such as "The Holocaust is not the reason for the existence of the State of Israel." In the past, practically the only place to find a sentence like that would have been in a Manhigut Yehudit speech or publication. But little by little, this claim is becoming a plank in Israel's policies.

The Yesha Council leaders demonstrating against the building freeze from their protest tent in Jerusalem are still afraid to raise their heads above human-rights claims of natural growth or the tried and true security claims. Unfortunately, the Yesha Council is still stuck in Existence-Based Zionism. But in his speech at the United Nations, PM Netanyahu needed to rely on more than mere existence. From his attack against Holocaust denial he went on to talk about the inheritance of our forefathers. True, for Netanyahu Jewish destiny is an unknown. Furthermore, his talk of the rightful inheritance of our forefathers becomes grotesque when in the same breath he offers the Land of our Forefathers to a non-nation. Nonetheless, the very fact that the prime minister resorted to a plane beyond Existential Zionism is important progress. Manhigut Yehudit can rightfully take credit for inserting this concept into Israel's political lexicon.

2. Jewish Orientation for the State of Israel
Suddenly, everybody is talking about a Jewish state. Suddenly, everybody notices that our very existence as a Jewish state is not a given. Suddenly, everybody understands that the question is not if we recognize the need for a "Palestinian state," but rather if the "Palestinians" and the rest of the world recognize the legitimacy of and need for the existence of a Jewish state. After years of attempts to distance the State of Israel from its Jewish character and after years of attempting to build a state of all its citizens, the demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state has become a fundamental issue - so much so that the fact that the US president said the magic words "Jewish state" in his speech at the UN was portrayed as a major achievement.

Netanyahu has appointed former Chief Justice Aharon Barak to pen Israel's formal response to the Goldstone report. But the former Chief Justice has only recently declared that he sees Israel as a state of all its citizens. In other words, he is not interested in a Jewish state. By virtue of that perspective, he does not have and cannot have an answer to the report that presents Israel's soldiers as war criminals. What can he possibly say? That Israel acted within the framework of self-defense for robbers?

But even in this case, we can and should look at the glass that is half full. Despite the confusion and dissonance, we are witnessing substantial progress. Not because people necessarily realize how much Manhigut Yehudit has influenced Israeli society. Simply because Israeli society has begun to adopt Manhigut Yehudit's Founding Principles and they are seeping deep into our collective psyche.

Israeli society is in the process of profound change. The only leftists that remain are those for whom being Left is a business. The vast majority of Israelis fasted this past Yom Kippur. The artists - the sensitive weathervanes of societal change - have switched direction and are using their creative talents to express their connection to Judaism. Manhigut Yehudit did not create this revolution. But it is certainly a catalyst for this renaissance and highlights its significance on a national level.

In the short term, it could be that this process will hamper our progress in the political arena. Suddenly, there is no opponent from the Left because Meretz, Kadimah and Labor are rapidly losing their significance. Netanyahu's new mode of public relations may convince many that we have reached our ultimate goal.

But this is true only in the short term. In the longer term, the process that we are witnessing with wide-eyed amazement is vital for the changing of the guard (Founding Principle #5). If, until not long ago, we thought that the changing of the guard and the establishment of authentic Jewish leadership for the State of Israel would necessarily be the product of a head-on collision with the "old guard", the newly developing dialectic may just save us from this unsavory scenario.

Two-poled Zionism (Left/Right) is slowly being replaced by Zionism informed by one consciousness - Zionism developing from existence to destiny. This new form of Zionism is positioned to herald a harmonious state in which Israeli society as a whole will steadily progress toward the goal of Destiny-Based Zionism. Clearly, this national consciousness will require leadership hewed from Jewish foundations and committed to the historic destiny of the Nation of Israel. In short - Jewish leadership.

This is completely in line with our fifth Founding Principle:

Changing of the Guard
The Zionist consciousness that realized the first stage of the Return to Zion is incapable of dealing with the problems facing the State of Israel. It has reached its end. Manhigut Yehudit has deep and genuine appreciation for Zionism and the dedication of its pioneers. It identifies with their positive intentions and desires to continue their positive actions. As such, Manhigut Yehudit strives to create a deep change in the national consciousness - a fundamental, spiritual and ethical change. A transformation to belief-based consciousness is the only way to continue the historical process of the Return to Zion.

May it be G-d's will!

Love of the Land: From the Desk of Moshe Feiglin: Manhigut Yehudit's Founding Principles: A Reality Check

Love of the Land: Ma'ariv: Netanyahu Worried About Feiglin's Growing Power in Likud

Ma'ariv: Netanyahu Worried About Feiglin's Growing Power in Likud

Opposition to the Bibi's proposal to nullify the Likud bylaw that requires new members to wait 16 months before being allowed to vote is growing daily. Every Likud member who does not have something very specific to gain from this tactic, which will effectively re-instate vote buying in the Likud, the manipulative and artificial inflation of the number of voters, is disgusted by Netanyahu's attempt artificially inflate the Likud electorate in his favor, also known as vote buying. Everyone still remembers the days of the Likud under Sharon. They know where tricks like these have led the Likud and (almost) nobody wants to go back there.

Netanyahu apparently realized that he cannot simply revert to vote-buying and that the media would not remain silent. So he came up with a brilliant spin:

Ma'ariv:"Binyamin Netanyahu worried about the growing strength of Feiglin and the settlers inside the framework of Likud"
Click here to read an English translation of the Ma'ariv article. Please note that the article was "suggested" to the paper by Netanyahu, himself.

Bibi will present his vote-buying as the best way to fight the Feiglinites: "Netanyahu prepares to battle a takeover in his party." That way, Bibi gets the kid-glove treatment from the press.

"If the Feiglinites succeed," the prominent source of the news item lectured the journalist, "they will gain enormous influence over Israeli society." In other words, because of those pesky Jews who took Manhigut Yehudit seriously and registered for the Likud, Netanyahu will not manage to establish a Palestinian state. That is why we have to fight against the Feiglin Phenomenon.

Does anybody still doubt the importance of registering for the Likud? Two possible scenarios will greet new members of the Likud: If Netanyahu gets his way and nullifies the 16 month waiting period, then the new member can immediately vote against Netanyahu's plans to establish a Palestinian state and expel Jews from their homes. In other words, the new member will be the counterpoint to the Arab clans and workers' unions who will be registered en masse - for a price.

Read All at :

Love of the Land: Ma'ariv: Netanyahu Worried About Feiglin's Growing Power in Likud

Love of the Land: Now I'm a Believer

Now I'm a Believer

And Hashem your G-d will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will do good for you, and multiply you above your fathers. And Hashem your G-d will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspirng, to love Hashem your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul so that you may live.
And Hashem your G-d will put all these curses upon your enemies, and on them that hate you, that persecuted you.
And you shall return and hearken to the voice of Hashem, and do all His commandments which I command you this day.
(From this week's Torah portion, Netzavim, Deuteronomy 30:5-8)

G-d has already drawn up the story board. First, we are brought back to the land that we inherited from our forefathers. Within a short time we enjoy abundance. We have hi-tech, highways, skyscrapers and supermarkets filled with everything imaginable. True, we manage to create the largest gap between wealth and poverty in the developed world. We waste money on walls and fences instead of investing in education; we give our money to terrorists instead of investing in the poor; we give oil to the Egyptians and water to the Jordanians. Nevertheless, G-d's promise in these verses to shower us with good has been fulfilled over and above what we would have dared dream.

Following the abundance, G-d promises that we will draw near to Him. The verse says that G-d will circumcise our hearts. The barrier of estrangement will crumble and every day another cultural icon will discover his Father in Heaven. Suddenly, Judaism will be "in". This is also taking place before our very eyes.

Now we are looking forward to the speedy fulfillment of the next two stages: How Ahmadinijad, Obama, Haniya, Mubarak and the entire gallery of enemies of Israel in Europe and throughout the world will be recipients of the curses that they planned for Israel. At that point, complete return to G-d will be the order of the day: And you shall return and hearken to the voice of Hashem, and do all His commandments which I command you this day.

Shabbat Shalom,

Moshe Feiglin

Love of the Land: Now I'm a Believer