Arutz Sheva's Yoni Kempinski spoke with the International Spokesman for Hevron's Jewish community, now running for Knesset on the Zehut party list, Yishai Fleisher.
The New York Times recently published an article by Fleisher entitled A Settler’s View of Israel’s Future, in which he decried the two-state solution and laid out five alternatives which currently are being discussed.
Explaining the vision that motivated him to engage in political activity, Fleisher first clarifies his personal definition of such activity to mean "leadership", which for him, "is a chance to do both parliamentary work and public advocacy. The Zehut party, and I personally, have a lot of serious legislation that we would like to see passed... One could utilize the platform to broadcast the message of a strong, successful Israel."
As Tuesday's opening convention approaches, Fleisher's enthusiasm is palpable: "Zehut is going to be rolling out an incredible platform and will inaugurate a new kind of party which is able to bridge long-standing divides in Israeli society and the Diaspora. Moshe Feiglin has an uncanny ability to speak to those who have been disenfranchised from Israel's authentic story and culture. I love the fact that this event will be in Tel Aviv, drawing energy from the pulse of this great city and its people. Tuesday will be a chance to meet the impressive and diverse members of Zehut who will be vying to represent Israelis in the next election."
Fleisher was asked about his personal hopes for the party, and answered: "My hopes for the party are the basics: that it will have good candidates, attract good people, succeed in the elections, and effectuate policy that will be good for Israelis. But my deeper hopes are that it will start an intellectual milieu in which people fall in love with the Jewish culture and our foundational stories, peace that comes through strength, freedom for Israelis to forge their own paths to success without a cumbersome bureaucracy weighing them down. My personal slogan is 'More Zionism, Less Cynicism'. This is what I hope for for the party and for our country."
When asked whether the party has a special approach in terms of English-speaking voters in Israel, Fleisher was forthcoming: "Many of the founding members and the team of Zehut are Anglos, who have a strong schooling in the values of democracy, and at the same time made aliyah and made their lives here. There are also many friends in the Diaspora who love this party and this country and want to be a part of it. Zehut, more than any other party, has roots which draw from the knowledge and education of the English-speaking world. I myself, while born in Israel, was raised and educated in America, and went to American law school with the hope that I could take the knowledge I gained there, fuse it with Judaism and Zionism, and come here to be a part of making Israel a flourishing success."