Under the slogan "Shifting Gears", about 2,500 supporters - among them former Minister Uzi Landau and former Deputy Minister Michael Ratzon - gathered in Jerusalem's Binyanei HaUma Convention Center to discuss what they called the "ideological and leadership crisis" facing the Likud party. In his speech to the assembled supporters, Feiglin reiterated the goals of the Jewish Leadership faction - the restoration of the ideology of the Likud party by political means.
Knesset Member Uzi Landau - who, along with MK Ratzon, was removed from his ministerial post by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after voting against the "Disengagement Plan" - praised the involvement of the Jewish Leadership faction in the Likud. Such involvement, MK Landau said in his speech to the assembly, helps to restore the ideological component to discussions of the party agenda.
Also addressing the gathering was the Manhigut activist and author of The Faith Revolution, Motti Carpel, who likened the period we live in to that between the Biblical kingdom of Saul and that of David. While David took over the kingdom from a spiritually fallen leader, he did not reject the institutions of kingship established by Saul. Similarly, according to Carpel, the greatest Zionist revolutionaries have lost faith in their own power, but ideologues need not reject the state out of hand. In reference to the plan to abandon Gush Katif, Carpel noted that Gush Etzion (near Jerusalem) was also abandoned in 1948 when it was lost to the Arabs in the War of Independence, but then in 1967, the Jews returned and rebuilt it - as will happen in Gaza if it is evacuated, he predicted.
Other speakers at the convention included MK Ratzon, Manhigut activists Michael Fuah and Shmuel Sackett, Arutz-7's Adir Zik, as well as the Chief Rabbi of Gush Katif, Rabbi Yigal Kamenetzky.
The Manhigut Yehudit supporters also raised a toast in celebration of the death of PLO leader and arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat. "We pray for the death of all of God's enemies," Feiglin declared.
Towards the end of the evening, a plot of land in Gush Katif was raffled off among the attendees.
Knesset Member Uzi Landau - who, along with MK Ratzon, was removed from his ministerial post by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after voting against the "Disengagement Plan" - praised the involvement of the Jewish Leadership faction in the Likud. Such involvement, MK Landau said in his speech to the assembly, helps to restore the ideological component to discussions of the party agenda.
Also addressing the gathering was the Manhigut activist and author of The Faith Revolution, Motti Carpel, who likened the period we live in to that between the Biblical kingdom of Saul and that of David. While David took over the kingdom from a spiritually fallen leader, he did not reject the institutions of kingship established by Saul. Similarly, according to Carpel, the greatest Zionist revolutionaries have lost faith in their own power, but ideologues need not reject the state out of hand. In reference to the plan to abandon Gush Katif, Carpel noted that Gush Etzion (near Jerusalem) was also abandoned in 1948 when it was lost to the Arabs in the War of Independence, but then in 1967, the Jews returned and rebuilt it - as will happen in Gaza if it is evacuated, he predicted.
Other speakers at the convention included MK Ratzon, Manhigut activists Michael Fuah and Shmuel Sackett, Arutz-7's Adir Zik, as well as the Chief Rabbi of Gush Katif, Rabbi Yigal Kamenetzky.
The Manhigut Yehudit supporters also raised a toast in celebration of the death of PLO leader and arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat. "We pray for the death of all of God's enemies," Feiglin declared.
Towards the end of the evening, a plot of land in Gush Katif was raffled off among the attendees.