The Likud membership will be voting on November 28th to pick the party's candidate for Prime Minister. Three men are vying for the position. They are Ariel Sharon, the present leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, the former leader, and Moshe Feiglin, a newcomer to politics and to the Likud. All three speak of their devotion to Eretz Yisrael. Two of them, Sharon and Netanyahu, have had previous opportunities to demonstrate that devotion when they held the reins of power. They come to the voters with a record, so we know something about how they act once they are in office. It isn't pretty.
Netanyahu came to power with the best of credentials. He was a "hawk". He spoke a beautiful English. He knew the United States. He was a real ideologue. In office, however, he was a disaster. He talked the talk but he didn't walk the walk. When the tunnel riot erupted, he faltered. When he had to negotiate in the big leagues he caved in on Hebron and collapsed at Wye. He led the Likud to its worst defeat, at the hands of a novice, Ehud Barak, and walked away leaving the party in shambles.
Sharon is another story. One cannot detract from his military record - he is a genuine Israeli hero who has devoted his life to our defense. He is an experienced politician who has the ability to rise like a phoenix from the ashes time and again. But the knock on Sharon is legitimate. Hu boneh v'hu hores - he builds and then he destroys. By now, we should be used to it. Prime Minister Menachem Begin couldn't give Egyptian President Anwar Sadat the Sinai without the assurance that Sharon would go along with it. For anyone who cares to remember, the man in the helicopter overhead directing the forced evacuation of Yamit from the Sinai was none other than Sharon. He fought his way back from undeserved censure in Lebanon, built settlements and then, when he returned to a position where he could do Eretz Yisrael some good, he faltered. He was at Wye for the Netanyahu giveaway and he openly defies the Likud today by telling them that they can literally go to hell if they think they can stop him from going along with a Palestinian state. He has no affirmative policy for dealing with the Arab problem and thus we have come to live with an ever-growing number of Jewish dead. He is fond of telling us how he is so close to the American president when all who look can see that George Bush's ?roadmap? is going to lead us to the hell of a Palestinian state, European intervention and, yes, war and more war until we are overwhelmed. Sharon is prepared to sacrifice Eretz Yisrael in order to be popular with foreigners. Based upon his pronouncements, he should be thrown out of the Likud, much less continue as its leader.
Moshe Feiglin and his Manhigut Yehudit party are the future. He is what we admire about our faith and our country. He threw himself into the breach when he organized Zo Artzeinu and he has come into the Likud with something that the Likud has not had in years - an ideology - a dream - a vision for Eretz Yisrael. He is the only one who has a dream that it the exact opposite of ?Oslo?. We dare not forget that since Shimon Peres and Yossi Beilin concocted Oslo it has remained the compass of every government that has followed Yitzhak Rabin - Bibi, Barak and Arik all worship this idol. The reason is clear. They are not prepared to stand up to foreign powers, be it the United States or Europe, and to declare that Israel is the Jewish state - that the land is our G-d-given heritage for all time and it will not be carved up to please others.
I am one of those "practical" people who have been urging Moshe Feiglin to drop out of the prime ministerial race lest he lose it for Bibi, who seems to be the lesser of the two evils running. I hereby do tshuva (penance). I was wrong. It occurs to me that I voted for Bibi against Peres in order to stop Oslo. And what did I get when Bibi got elected? I got Peres. I voted for Bibi again against Barak and what did I get? Nothing happened. Then I voted for Sharon to throw out Barak and what did I get? I got Shimon Peres again, in the body of Ariel Sharon, who is ready to dismantle my state. Now, I am being asked to get Feiglin out of the race so that I can help Bibi beat Arik so I can elect Bibi, who can screw us again. There is much to the old adage "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Forgive me, but twice is enough. There will not be a third time.
Moshe, the fog is clearing from my brain. I understand what you are doing and why you are doing it. Bibi, Arik, what is the difference? I'm voting for my future. Godspeed to you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sol Margolis is a successful US trial attorney. He divides his time between homes in Jerusalem, Israel and Potomac, Maryland.
Netanyahu came to power with the best of credentials. He was a "hawk". He spoke a beautiful English. He knew the United States. He was a real ideologue. In office, however, he was a disaster. He talked the talk but he didn't walk the walk. When the tunnel riot erupted, he faltered. When he had to negotiate in the big leagues he caved in on Hebron and collapsed at Wye. He led the Likud to its worst defeat, at the hands of a novice, Ehud Barak, and walked away leaving the party in shambles.
Sharon is another story. One cannot detract from his military record - he is a genuine Israeli hero who has devoted his life to our defense. He is an experienced politician who has the ability to rise like a phoenix from the ashes time and again. But the knock on Sharon is legitimate. Hu boneh v'hu hores - he builds and then he destroys. By now, we should be used to it. Prime Minister Menachem Begin couldn't give Egyptian President Anwar Sadat the Sinai without the assurance that Sharon would go along with it. For anyone who cares to remember, the man in the helicopter overhead directing the forced evacuation of Yamit from the Sinai was none other than Sharon. He fought his way back from undeserved censure in Lebanon, built settlements and then, when he returned to a position where he could do Eretz Yisrael some good, he faltered. He was at Wye for the Netanyahu giveaway and he openly defies the Likud today by telling them that they can literally go to hell if they think they can stop him from going along with a Palestinian state. He has no affirmative policy for dealing with the Arab problem and thus we have come to live with an ever-growing number of Jewish dead. He is fond of telling us how he is so close to the American president when all who look can see that George Bush's ?roadmap? is going to lead us to the hell of a Palestinian state, European intervention and, yes, war and more war until we are overwhelmed. Sharon is prepared to sacrifice Eretz Yisrael in order to be popular with foreigners. Based upon his pronouncements, he should be thrown out of the Likud, much less continue as its leader.
Moshe Feiglin and his Manhigut Yehudit party are the future. He is what we admire about our faith and our country. He threw himself into the breach when he organized Zo Artzeinu and he has come into the Likud with something that the Likud has not had in years - an ideology - a dream - a vision for Eretz Yisrael. He is the only one who has a dream that it the exact opposite of ?Oslo?. We dare not forget that since Shimon Peres and Yossi Beilin concocted Oslo it has remained the compass of every government that has followed Yitzhak Rabin - Bibi, Barak and Arik all worship this idol. The reason is clear. They are not prepared to stand up to foreign powers, be it the United States or Europe, and to declare that Israel is the Jewish state - that the land is our G-d-given heritage for all time and it will not be carved up to please others.
I am one of those "practical" people who have been urging Moshe Feiglin to drop out of the prime ministerial race lest he lose it for Bibi, who seems to be the lesser of the two evils running. I hereby do tshuva (penance). I was wrong. It occurs to me that I voted for Bibi against Peres in order to stop Oslo. And what did I get when Bibi got elected? I got Peres. I voted for Bibi again against Barak and what did I get? Nothing happened. Then I voted for Sharon to throw out Barak and what did I get? I got Shimon Peres again, in the body of Ariel Sharon, who is ready to dismantle my state. Now, I am being asked to get Feiglin out of the race so that I can help Bibi beat Arik so I can elect Bibi, who can screw us again. There is much to the old adage "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Forgive me, but twice is enough. There will not be a third time.
Moshe, the fog is clearing from my brain. I understand what you are doing and why you are doing it. Bibi, Arik, what is the difference? I'm voting for my future. Godspeed to you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sol Margolis is a successful US trial attorney. He divides his time between homes in Jerusalem, Israel and Potomac, Maryland.