World

Jewish Values

Prime minister hopeful urges Israel to toughen sense of security.

Art Aisner
Special to the Jewish News

M

oshe Feiglin says he's leading a
revolution.
Not with guns or a thirst
for power, but with a profound sense of
urgency driven by the unshakable belief
that Israel is on the wrong path for self-
determination and must look to its Jewish
roots to have a future.
"We're stuck in a position where we can't
justify our existence in Israel much longer:'
the chairman of the Manhigut Yehudit
(Jewish Leadership) movement said during
his Metro Detroit visit March 17-18.
It was the seventh stop during a 14-day
tour of eight American Jewish communi-
ties, but the first where he spent consecu-
tive days for speaking events sponsored by
Young Israel of Oak Park and Adat Shalom
Synagogue in Farmington Hills.
Feiglin joined the Likud Party hoping
to fill the void left by then Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon's departure to form Kadima
in 2005.
He presented a faith-based leadership
advocating democratic ideals with adher-
ence to Jewish values as pronounced in the
Torah. And the message resonated with 24
percent of the electorate in 2007, nearly
double his previous tally and good for sec-
ond behind Benjamin Netanyahu.
He did even better in last December's
primaries, earning a Knesset seat until
Netanyahu pushed him further down the
party ranks on a technicality.
Feiglin, 47, said the snub proved to be
very positive because it became a huge
national story. It also solidified the Jewish
leadership alternative as a viable threat to
the political elite that he said proved yet
again to subvert the will of the people.

Driving Force
After gaining Sarah Palin-like notoriety
across Israel as a rising political star,
Feiglin said he came to the United States
to build grassroots momentum by fund-
raising and campaigning toward his ulti-
mate goal of party leadership.
"I want to be prime minister because we
understand that what is lacking in Israeli
leadership now is simply a Jewish belief,
Jewish values:' he said before addressing
about 100 spectators at Young Israel. "You
can't run a Jewish state based on non-

Jewish values!'
From domestic issues like education
to the recent military operations in Gaza,
Feiglin told 300 people from throughout
Metro Detroit and as far away as Flint and
Kalamazoo that Israel's government has
neither the backbone nor direction to keep
the country sovereign and secure.
"We were one step from destroying
Hamas, why didn't we do it? Because that
would mean we would have to stay there:'
he said. "For the existing Israeli leader-
ship, Gaza is one big headache of 1 million
Arabs. But for Jewish leadership, this is
the holy land of Israel, just like Tel Aviv.
Why can't we say Zu artzenu! [This is our
land!]?"

The Oslo Effect

Feiglin's ancestors immigrated to Israel
with the first aliyah in 1889. He has famil-
ial ties to the Lechi, the Jewish nationalist
group that actively opposed the British
prior to Israel's foundation, but remained
largely apolitical in his youth and early
adulthood.
Though a yeshivah graduate and
devoutly observant, Feiglin eagerly joined
the Israeli army and became a captain in
an engineering unit that fought in the first
Lebanon war.
He then went into private business and
was on the verge of launching a technol-

ogy startup when former
Prime Ministers Shimon
Peres and Yitzhak Rabin
signed the Oslo Accords.
"Suddenly, a thought hit
my mind like a lightning bolt,
and that brought me from a
private to a political public
figure:' Feiglin recalled. "We
put our trust in our lead-
ers' hands. But after Oslo, it
became a matter of whom
could you trust?"
Feiglin said the realization
spurred a tremendous sense
of responsibility and he got
active, organizing the largest
protests in Israeli history.
The process and subse-
quent prosecution for insur-
rection helped him evolve
personally and politically. He
said he does not advocate
religious coercion among
Moshe Feiglin at Young Israel of Oak Park
Israel's secular majority, or
treating non-Jews as sec-
Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people
ondary citizens as long as their loyalty is
are welcome to live there!'
unquestioned.
"If we passed a law requiring everyone
to wear a yarmulke, I would take off mine;' Local Impressions
Mark Nadel of Southfield noted other reli-
he said. "Those who don't believe in my
values will have all of their rights, but only
Values on page A24
those non-Jews who understand that the

Shaking Likud's Timbers

fter gaining significant momen-
tum in two prior elections,
the Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish
Leadership) movement in Israel was
expected to have a major break-
through in last month's national refer-
endum. And they did.
Co-founder and Chairman Moshe
Feiglin surprised most of the pundits
by grabbing the 20th slot in the Likud
Party ranking and a guaranteed seat
in the Knesset. But before he could
really celebrate, Feiglin got a crash
course in hardball politics as party
leader Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu
changed party rules and pushed him
back to 36th and out of Israeli parlia-
ment.
Conventional wisdom would declare

A

it a political setback, but both Feiglin
and his supporters are hardly conven-
tional.
Rather than marginalize his posi-
tion and philosophies on how to get
Israel on track, Feiglin's slide in the
party rankings actually accelerated
his ascension as a political star and
solidified his underdog appeal to the
common Israeli.
"It's really had the opposite effect
and our message connected with peo-
ple around the country," said Dovid
Shirel, the organization's educational
director. "The power and respect he's
gained in the Likud is phenomenal
and he's also shown people that he's
not a politician, but rather a leader."
Feiglin has led the organization

since he and friend Shmuel Sackett
spurred more than 100,000 Israelis to
block traffic across some of the coun-
try's busiest streets and freeways in
opposition to the Oslo Accords. He
was prosecuted for sedition and sen-
tenced to probation.
Manhigut Yehudit was born in the
aftermath with the creating a nation-
al right-wing umbrella with the estab-
lished Likud Party at the helm.
Ultimately, they hope to place
Feiglin prime minister.
"If people didn't take him seriously
before as a candidate, they sure will
now. Bibi certainly does," Shirel said.
For more information, visit
www.jewishisrael.org . El]

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Art Aisner

April 2 * 2009

A23

