The initiative taken by Naftali Bennett when he opted to cede leadership of his party to former Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked is both impressive and moving. In taking this rare course of action, Bennett proved the extent to which responsibility for the future of the State of Israel and the Jewish people motivates him.
A similar display of leadership was displayed by Minister Betzalel Smotrich when approximately one month ago at the Youth for Sovereignty conference held at Bar Ilan University, he declared his willingness to relinquish his position and his place on his party’s Knesset list for the sake of unity. For the many youths who filled the auditorium, his declaration was an instructive lesson in true leadership.
The same is true of former MK Orit Struk, an individual who is very active on behalf of the people and the land, who announced that she considers unity so important that she is prepared to take similar action for its sake.
Steps like these are very uncommon in the political arena. We have been blessed with principled leadership that is responsive to the public and understands its role as representatives of the public in the full sense of the word.
These individuals correctly identify the aspiration of the national camp for unity of the Right, to the right of the Likud, and to create a large, strong technical bloc that will dramatically influence the comportment of the next Netanyahu government.
Experienced people with documented accomplishments in complex governmental bodies, e.g., the Ministry of Justice, are required to stand with Netanyahu in addressing the fundamental issues. Add to that the fact that surveys indicate that Ayelet Shaked has the advantage in achieving the objective of increasing the number of expected Knesset seats for the right-wing parties under her leadership.
The expectation is that the period following the elections will be characterized by not insignificant international pressure, particularly, but not exclusively, from the direction of Europe, for political concessions. Trump’s Program is expected to enter high gear, primarily due to the fast approaching US presidential elections. To counter all these, Netanyahu, too, is interested in displaying pressure from the Right that can countermand the pressuring exerted by the Left.
In order for this to happen, we must present a large, united national camp to the right of the Likud, to recover the right-wing mandates that were misled and fell under the media spell of the Blue and White party. We must bring them home, to the real right-wing camp. The disputes and the ideological hairsplitting in the camp caused the flight of right-wing votes to the party with the four-headed leadership which underscored for the right-wing electorate the leadership of Bogey Yaalon and his handful of cronies. In addressing the people on the right, they were able to obscure the other three heads to complete the deception.
The Blue and White party is blurring the political discourse, directing it toward social issues regarding most of which there is consensus between Right and Left, but beneath the surface, there are dangerous trends in the direction of concessions in the Land of Israel.
The Jewish people remembers well the price it paid, the blood of 1500 victims and thousands of wounded, in body and spirit, in the wake of previous concessions. The Jewish people understands that concessions will engender the deployment of missiles threatening the entire country.
We must thank the hundreds of women who quickly mobilized in a call to unite the entire right-wing camp, under the leadership of Ayelet Shaked, and are currently gathering signatures on a petition with the slogan: “Let the Right Win.” They are aware of the great dangers confronting us if, God forbid, we run in the elections divided, and they understand that in order to safeguard the Land of Israel, the right-wing camp must be united.
The Land of Israel remains the line of demarcation between Right and Left. In this matter, a clear statement must be sounded. At the 40th year celebrations of the Samaria municipality, the Prime Minister declared and committed that he would not evacuate any community. “We are finished with this nonsense,” he stated decisively. But that is insufficient. In his declaration, Netanyahu addressed the existing communities, similar to a proclamation that he made a few days prior to the previous elections. What about all the unpopulated areas surrounding those communities? This is an enormous area, essential to the development of existing communities and to the establishment of new communities, an area that is the cradle of the birth of the Jewish nation, an area from which we will not relinquish even one meter.
Preventing this dangerous scenario requires a strong right-wing bloc to the right of the Likud, a large, united and influential bloc. The Jewish people wants to stride forward to the values of Zionism, to build, settle, and apply sovereignty in our land.
A large, united Right will sweep the entire government to the vision and the challenges for which the people thirsts. With the help of God, we will be privileged to take action and to be victorious.