Feiglin (pictured above) heads the Jewish Leadership (Manhigut Yehudit) faction within the Likud, and headed the This is Our Land (Zo Artzeinu) protests against the Oslo Accords in the mid-1990's. The campaign of anti-government protests mainly featured the blocking of central intersections, and Feiglin was arrested and charged with sedition. He was convicted in September 1997, and later sentenced to six months of public service.
In January 2003, when Feiglin was positioned in the 40th slot on the Likud's list of Knesset candidates, the Supreme Court sustained an Election Commission ruling to disqualify Feiglin from running for Knesset. The reason: his conviction on charges of "sedition" was a crime involving "moral turpitude."
Israeli law states that conviction of such a crime makes one ineligible to run for Knesset for seven years from the date he completes his sentence – mid-2005, in this case. Feiglin emphasizes that the Supreme Court did not rule at the time on the "moral turpitude" issue, which was raised by the Election Commission, but rather disqualified him for technical reasons.
Several months ago, when it appeared that new elections might be in the offing, Feiglin turned to the Elections Committee and asked for official approval to run for Knesset. The committee is headed by Judge Yaakov Tirkel, who had expressed his opinion in the past that no moral turpitude was involved in Feiglin's actions. Tirkel asked Mazuz for an advisory opinion, and Mazuz said, Yes, Feiglin's crime of organizing road-blockings was one of moral turpitude.
Tirkel ignored this opinion and ruled that Feiglin could in fact run for Knesset. Mazuz promptly turned to the Supreme Court to overturn this ruling – even though new elections before mid-2005 do not currently appear likely.
Feiglin said, at the time of his disqualification, "Acts against the Oslo agreements are honorable, and do not involve moral turpitude." Yesterday, he told IsraelNationalRadio.com, "Mazuz's position shows that they are afraid of Jewish Leadership, and therefore we're on the right path, and we have to continue. It's ironic that on the very day that the government releases 500 terrorists and 'cleansed' their sins, is the same day that they're running after me, who tried to stop these murderers from coming into Israel and continuing the Oslo process, and calling my actions shameful... I have no faith in the Supreme Court. However, even if I can't run for Knesset, it will be someone else from Jewish Leadership, someone who's better than me; no need to worry."
Asked how he sees the continuing struggle for Gush Katif, Feiglin said, "Everything up to but not including using weapons is justified in this struggle." He said that three steps must be taken: "People must start going now – not in 2-3 months – to Gush Katif, and there must always be 20-30,000 people there; coordinating road-blockings all over Israel when necessary; and organizing the campaign of refusal to heed the army's disengagement orders. Unfortunately, I don't see these steps being taken by the Yesha Council or the current leadership. How come we don't hear of generators being brought down there, to be used when the electricity is turned off? What about emergency food and water stores? What about communication systems when the phones are turned off? If we take these steps, we can prevent the withdrawal."
"What type of victory would this be?" he was asked by another Arutz-7 correspondent. "Are you not afraid of what Israel will look like if its government and army are not able to carry out their policies?"
Feiglin responded, "I'm much more afraid of what will happen if they do succeed. The country is working against itself, and our victory will be a salvation for the country and the army. I believe that the State is holy – but it does not overrule everything else. What, for the State's sake we can transgress half the Torah's commandments, such as not stealing [land, homes and businesses], and not oppressing widows and orphans, and paving the way for more terrorist murders (every time we give away land, terrorism goes up), and more... I believe that our task at this time is to disengage from secular Zionism."