[On Sunday, May 12, the Central Committee of the Likud party was convened to discuss Prime Minister Sharon's declaration in favor of establishing a Palestinian state in Eretz Israel. The Jewish Leadership faction in the Likud was instrumental in convening the Committee and in influencing the delegates to reject Sharon's proposal not to vote on the issue. Binyamin Netanyahu proposed a resolution stating that a Palestinian state would not arise west of the Jordan River. This resolution was passed despite Sharon's opposition.]
What actually took place Sunday night at the Likud Central Committee meeting? A superficial glance at the headlines in the papers the following morning gives the impression that the issue was a contest between the old knight, Ariel Sharon, and the young knight, Binyamin Netanyahu, in which Netanyahu won the day. This is the way the media work ? they lack depth, and go for dramas of this kind. Yet, what happened yesterday in the Likud was totally different. What we saw were the first buds of deep processes, seeds first planted by the Jewish Leadership movement six years ago in the consciousness of the believing public, seeds that developed into young seedlings that were in turn planted in the political system two years ago.
Those who see the overall picture, are familiar with the development of the situation and understand the processes in depth, also understand that Netanyahu's victory yesterday was for his ego only. Netanyahu was drawn into the move, which was initiated by Jewish Leadership and other members faithful to Eretz Israel in the Likud, because he had no choice: He could not adopt a stance diametrically opposite to the Rightist line he has been pushing in the hundreds of interviews that he has given recently. However, the precedent has been created that things said here must also be maintained there, because there are people who will demand it.
Netanyahu wasn't the winner on Sunday, nor, obviously, was Sharon. Fundamentally, both of them lost. Who won? The winner Sunday was the Jewish people that once again confirmed its loyalty to its country and its values, and proved that it has the capability and desire to fight in the name of this loyalty. Because the aims of the two leaders who fought one another on Sunday in the Likud Central Committee are not synchronized with the basic objective of the Jewish people, then the process by which the Jewish people returns to itself will inevitably cause the fall of both of them.
The Likud and its Central Committee are a microcosm of the Jewish people, where you can find the traditional Israeli who does not deny his identity and loves his homeland, the middle class that supports the economy, all the ethnic groups, secular and religious Jews. There, in the Likud, you can find the Jewish people.
The victory of the Jewish people on Sunday takes two forms:
The first and immediate one is the tactical achievement ? halting the train of the Palestinian state. It appears that, when the struggle is waged in the right battlefield, it is possible to block moves that seem irreversible and return the genie to the bottle. It appears that a correct ideological analysis, that is, understanding Israel's need for Jewish leadership, leads inevitably to the microcosm through which the National Camp leads the country. In this way a group of people, although lacking great political experience, arrived at the correct tactical solution.
However, the Jewish people's victory was much greater because of the tactical problem caused yesterday to Ariel Sharon on his path towards the establishment of a Palestinian state. For the first time since the first Camp David conference in 1978 (Begin-Sadat), the ideological background, that which will decide the future of the Jewish people and Eretz Israel, has returned from the edges to the center (in every sense of the word). A few weeks ago it seemed that a Palestinian state was a foregone conclusion. The protests voiced against this (if any) came from the Rightist and religious fringes, which no-one treated seriously. It now appears that this struggle, instead of dying down, burst out with tremendous energy? in the center of the political map, in the heart of the Israeli governing party.
This is no longer just a tactical victory, but a quiet revolution, a strategic revolution. It is now obvious to everyone that the basic assumptions of the Jewish Leadership movement are correct. President Bush displayed no interest on Sunday in the doings of the leaders of the minority parties, but in those of members of the Likud Central Committee. They interested him for one simple reason - in contrast to the others, they are playing in the real court, that of national leadership, where activities effect reality.
Now let's make a simple calculation: If it is possible to influence matters in such a way and advance issues within the Likud, even before the thousands of new members of the Likud associated with the Jewish Leadership movement have expressed their views in the primaries, even before we have elected a single new member of the Central Committee, just imagine what it will be possible to do when hundreds of the members of the Central Committee belong to the Jewish Leadership movement, when many of the Likud MKs will be representatives of the movement, and when, with G-d's help, a Jewish Leadership person stands at the head of the governing party of the National Camp.
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Moshe Feiglin, founder and head of Manhigut Yehudit, The Jewish Leadership Movement, led the campaign of mass civil disobedience against the Oslo accords. For other articles by Moshe Feiglin, visit manhigut.org.
What actually took place Sunday night at the Likud Central Committee meeting? A superficial glance at the headlines in the papers the following morning gives the impression that the issue was a contest between the old knight, Ariel Sharon, and the young knight, Binyamin Netanyahu, in which Netanyahu won the day. This is the way the media work ? they lack depth, and go for dramas of this kind. Yet, what happened yesterday in the Likud was totally different. What we saw were the first buds of deep processes, seeds first planted by the Jewish Leadership movement six years ago in the consciousness of the believing public, seeds that developed into young seedlings that were in turn planted in the political system two years ago.
Those who see the overall picture, are familiar with the development of the situation and understand the processes in depth, also understand that Netanyahu's victory yesterday was for his ego only. Netanyahu was drawn into the move, which was initiated by Jewish Leadership and other members faithful to Eretz Israel in the Likud, because he had no choice: He could not adopt a stance diametrically opposite to the Rightist line he has been pushing in the hundreds of interviews that he has given recently. However, the precedent has been created that things said here must also be maintained there, because there are people who will demand it.
Netanyahu wasn't the winner on Sunday, nor, obviously, was Sharon. Fundamentally, both of them lost. Who won? The winner Sunday was the Jewish people that once again confirmed its loyalty to its country and its values, and proved that it has the capability and desire to fight in the name of this loyalty. Because the aims of the two leaders who fought one another on Sunday in the Likud Central Committee are not synchronized with the basic objective of the Jewish people, then the process by which the Jewish people returns to itself will inevitably cause the fall of both of them.
The Likud and its Central Committee are a microcosm of the Jewish people, where you can find the traditional Israeli who does not deny his identity and loves his homeland, the middle class that supports the economy, all the ethnic groups, secular and religious Jews. There, in the Likud, you can find the Jewish people.
The victory of the Jewish people on Sunday takes two forms:
The first and immediate one is the tactical achievement ? halting the train of the Palestinian state. It appears that, when the struggle is waged in the right battlefield, it is possible to block moves that seem irreversible and return the genie to the bottle. It appears that a correct ideological analysis, that is, understanding Israel's need for Jewish leadership, leads inevitably to the microcosm through which the National Camp leads the country. In this way a group of people, although lacking great political experience, arrived at the correct tactical solution.
However, the Jewish people's victory was much greater because of the tactical problem caused yesterday to Ariel Sharon on his path towards the establishment of a Palestinian state. For the first time since the first Camp David conference in 1978 (Begin-Sadat), the ideological background, that which will decide the future of the Jewish people and Eretz Israel, has returned from the edges to the center (in every sense of the word). A few weeks ago it seemed that a Palestinian state was a foregone conclusion. The protests voiced against this (if any) came from the Rightist and religious fringes, which no-one treated seriously. It now appears that this struggle, instead of dying down, burst out with tremendous energy? in the center of the political map, in the heart of the Israeli governing party.
This is no longer just a tactical victory, but a quiet revolution, a strategic revolution. It is now obvious to everyone that the basic assumptions of the Jewish Leadership movement are correct. President Bush displayed no interest on Sunday in the doings of the leaders of the minority parties, but in those of members of the Likud Central Committee. They interested him for one simple reason - in contrast to the others, they are playing in the real court, that of national leadership, where activities effect reality.
Now let's make a simple calculation: If it is possible to influence matters in such a way and advance issues within the Likud, even before the thousands of new members of the Likud associated with the Jewish Leadership movement have expressed their views in the primaries, even before we have elected a single new member of the Central Committee, just imagine what it will be possible to do when hundreds of the members of the Central Committee belong to the Jewish Leadership movement, when many of the Likud MKs will be representatives of the movement, and when, with G-d's help, a Jewish Leadership person stands at the head of the governing party of the National Camp.
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Moshe Feiglin, founder and head of Manhigut Yehudit, The Jewish Leadership Movement, led the campaign of mass civil disobedience against the Oslo accords. For other articles by Moshe Feiglin, visit manhigut.org.