Ze'ev Jabotinsky, namesake of the man who is considered by many to be on a par with Herzl as a great Zionist thinker and leader, announced officially on Sunday that he will be running for a spot on Likud's list for the Knesset, in the party primaries scheduled to take place December 8.

In a joint news conference with Jabotinsky, Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu said that he was somewhat overcome with excitement, to be sharing the stage with the grandson of the man who founded the Herut movement, which later became the Likud. The news conference came a week after another Likud 'prince,' Benny Begin, son of Herut leader and former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, announced that he too was returning to the Likud.

Teaming up again

"The last time that Jabotinsky, Begin and Netanyahu engaged in public service for the Jewish people was during the World War,"  Netanyahu said, "in an attempt to save European Jewry from annihilation." He was referring to Herut founder Jabotinsky, as well as Menachem Begin and his own father, Prof. Benzion Netanyahu.

"Now we are teaming up again," he said, "this time in reverse order, and we want to give a hand

"The last time that Jabotinsky, Begin and Netanyahu engaged in public service for the Jewish people was during the World War."

and lend all of our abilities to provide solutions for the problems facing Israel."

Jabotinsky said that Israel is suffering from a feeling of hopelessness. "This is expressed in low voter turnouts, and we hope that good leadership that will make its stand in the upcoming elections under Netanyahu, Begin and friends will be able to bring hope back and put the nation back on track," he said. "I see it as a privilege to lend a shoulder to the attempt to pull the carriage out of the mud."

Two states? 30,000 dead

In a past interview in Yediot Acharonot, Jabotinsky blamed Oslo Accord architects Shimon Peres and Yossi Beilin for making the security situation "500 times worse" and turning the Arab insurrection "from a struggle with rocks to war with live ammunition."

A "Palestinian" state, Jabotinsky said, "would be the base for the international terror of Al Qaeda and Hizbullah with Iranian funding. If they opt for that we will reach a situation in which instead of 1,400 [Jewish] dead there will be 30,000 dead. They will not hesitate to use chemical weapons against us."

He added that "the will to slaughter as many Jews as possible" and to end Jewish hegemony in the Land of Israel has also trickled into the Arab population within pre-1967 Israel.