Moshe Feiglin
Moshe FeiglinHillel Meir/TPS

Chairman of the Zehut party Moshe Feiglin continued to stand behind the provocative standup comic Idan Mor, known by his stage name Gadi Wilcharsky, who was on the party's list in the last elections.

Mor’s placement on the list caused outrage over his previous publication of a video in which he called on parents not to circumcise their children and thereby not harm their bodies.

In a Facebook post Sunday morning, Feiglin explained, "The real dispute Zehut has with the Jewish Home is not whether it is right for a Jew to circumcise his son - it certainly is right! - but regarding the question of how to get more Israelis to come closer to tradition, marry according to the law of Moses and Israel instead of running off to Cyprus, choosing halakhic conversion, etc. Is the way to achieve this through legislation and coercion, or through dialogue and freedom?"

"We believe that identity and freedom are dependent on one another. The reason the overwhelming majority of Israelis circumcise their children is because there is no coercion to do so. In contrast, the alarming percentages that fly to Cyprus to get married are the direct result of the coercion in the field,” Feiglin asserted.

"Therefore, we do not renounce Idan Mor. Thanks to him, the 99 percent of Israelis who circumcise their sons know they do so out of freedom and choice," added the Zehut chairman.

"And I have news for members of the Hardal [‘Haredi National Religious’] sector. The Creator does not go on vacation when elections are announced. The halakhot against gossip, causing embarrassment and slander are not suddenly erased from the Torah of Israel. The representatives of the sector should have some self-respect and focus on the virtues of others, not their shortcomings," Feiglin concluded the post.