Moshe Feiglin, founder of the Manhigut Yehudit faction of the Likud, reviews the mistakes he and others made in the battle for Gush Katif.
A candidate for Likud Party Chairman, Feiglin founded and led the Zo Artzeinu [This is Our Land] movement in its struggle against the Oslo Accords.
Speaking with Eli Stutz and Yishai Fleisher this week on Israel National Radio, Feiglin said,
"There were four points where a potential struggle could start. The first one and the most important one was to disobey orders in the army. The second one and also a very important one was blocking the roads. The third one was breaking out of Kfar Maimon. The fourth one was the actual fight within Gush Katif in the last week. In all these four points, these were potentially the real struggle. I'm not saying if we would have done all of these things, we would definitely have won, but at least then we would have known."
So, as is always the case in a post mortem review, who’s to blame? Feiglin does not mince words. “The Yesha Council sent out a calendar... with the slogan 'We shall not forget, we shall not forgive'. The slogan is a good one, but it's a joke when it comes from the mouth of Yesha Council. With all due respect to those who deserve it (not many, apparently), when they say it, it is really not serious," says Feiglin.
"I'm not really even angry with them, because I had no expectations, and therefore no anger. When deep inside, you are a slave to the old secular Zionist system, this is what you get," Feiglin adds.
The timing of looking back at the failures of Gush Katif plays well with the coming of Yom Kippur. Feiglin puts it into perspective. "The atmosphere of Yom Kippur is going to be very meaningful this year. We definitely have to ask ourselves many questions. We can't say that the destruction of Gush Katif happened because the 'Orange Army' was not pure enough, made sins, did not pray enough, and did not say enough Psalms. What's the message? Where did we go wrong? After all, we did everything by the book. Maybe everything is not so great with our books. Maybe we should look," adds Feiglin.
But, along with blame comes forgiveness. “I think that I personally have to ask forgiveness from many people. I believe in what I say, and it brings me to speak in a very sharp ways in many ways, maybe too sharp. And I also have to ask forgiveness from all those who I told there would be no disengagement. I believed it, and I said it. I also feel I have to give people the strength by telling them what I feel. I wanted to create a struggle by giving people strength. It did not happen. I actually said there will be no disengagement, because we would not let it happen, but the end result was that we did let it happen,” says Feiglin.
But, can it all be put into the simple terms that we all truly know in our hearts, but have failed to acknowledge? Certainly. "The sin is disconnecting ourselves from reality. The reason why we lost the battle of Gush Katif is very simple. We did not fight... we expected G-d to fight for us. G-d is not working for us, we are working for Him...and that's why we got punished. We didn't get punished by Sharon...he's nobody next to G-d," says Feiglin.
OK. So there’s the internal as well as external blame. Mea Culpa. But, besides the obvious loss of Gush Katif, what’s the damage? “The result is much worse than just the loss of Gush Katif, and the horrible tragedies of the individuals who lived there. The result was that the average Israeli who watched on TV saw how easily in just a few days, the whole of Gush Katif was wiped out. And, nothing happened to the country. Mr. Israeli went to work, came back home, he was told that they all got a lot of money, and everybody had a place to live, and everything was fine.”
“The Orange Army was just the tip of the iceberg of a whole big national camp that was against Sharon. Now, the average Israeli and the whole national camp moved toward Sharon’s side, and we were left alone. Now we saw that a month later in the results of the vote in the [Likud] Central Committee that represents the average Israeli. It was not because of jobs, and all these things, that Sharon won. No. Sharon really won in the Israeli conscience. He really swept the national camp into the hands of the extreme left and the only ones to blame are those leaders and those rabbis who destroyed the struggle of Gush Katif."
“Sharon was right, we were wrong all the time. It was proven in Gush Katif. We have nothing to do there, we have no values to stick to in Israel, in Judaism, we are all pragmatic these days, and we give up on everything. Everything is on the line now because of what happened in Gush Katif. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not talking from the point of despair. Whoever knows me, that is not the way I feel and function. I’m just saying the situation we are facing now is very, very problematic and the collapse and the catastrophe is much bigger than the destruction of Gush Katif because of the fact that we did not fight,” says Feiglin.
Not prone to throwing in the towel, Feiglin says, “Sharon is an obstacle. Nothing more. He is not my Prime Minister. He is not my leader. Everything starts and ends with what you and I will do. It all leans on us, not on him. I’m not even angry at him. I’m not expecting anything; it’s all on our shoulders. We should get into this conscience. I believe that when we will, and when we understand it’s all on us, we will be able to win. And we will."
Feiglin's positions are further explained at "www.jewishisrael.org".
A candidate for Likud Party Chairman, Feiglin founded and led the Zo Artzeinu [This is Our Land] movement in its struggle against the Oslo Accords.
Speaking with Eli Stutz and Yishai Fleisher this week on Israel National Radio, Feiglin said,
"There were four points where a potential struggle could start. The first one and the most important one was to disobey orders in the army. The second one and also a very important one was blocking the roads. The third one was breaking out of Kfar Maimon. The fourth one was the actual fight within Gush Katif in the last week. In all these four points, these were potentially the real struggle. I'm not saying if we would have done all of these things, we would definitely have won, but at least then we would have known."
So, as is always the case in a post mortem review, who’s to blame? Feiglin does not mince words. “The Yesha Council sent out a calendar... with the slogan 'We shall not forget, we shall not forgive'. The slogan is a good one, but it's a joke when it comes from the mouth of Yesha Council. With all due respect to those who deserve it (not many, apparently), when they say it, it is really not serious," says Feiglin.
"I'm not really even angry with them, because I had no expectations, and therefore no anger. When deep inside, you are a slave to the old secular Zionist system, this is what you get," Feiglin adds.
The timing of looking back at the failures of Gush Katif plays well with the coming of Yom Kippur. Feiglin puts it into perspective. "The atmosphere of Yom Kippur is going to be very meaningful this year. We definitely have to ask ourselves many questions. We can't say that the destruction of Gush Katif happened because the 'Orange Army' was not pure enough, made sins, did not pray enough, and did not say enough Psalms. What's the message? Where did we go wrong? After all, we did everything by the book. Maybe everything is not so great with our books. Maybe we should look," adds Feiglin.
But, along with blame comes forgiveness. “I think that I personally have to ask forgiveness from many people. I believe in what I say, and it brings me to speak in a very sharp ways in many ways, maybe too sharp. And I also have to ask forgiveness from all those who I told there would be no disengagement. I believed it, and I said it. I also feel I have to give people the strength by telling them what I feel. I wanted to create a struggle by giving people strength. It did not happen. I actually said there will be no disengagement, because we would not let it happen, but the end result was that we did let it happen,” says Feiglin.
But, can it all be put into the simple terms that we all truly know in our hearts, but have failed to acknowledge? Certainly. "The sin is disconnecting ourselves from reality. The reason why we lost the battle of Gush Katif is very simple. We did not fight... we expected G-d to fight for us. G-d is not working for us, we are working for Him...and that's why we got punished. We didn't get punished by Sharon...he's nobody next to G-d," says Feiglin.
OK. So there’s the internal as well as external blame. Mea Culpa. But, besides the obvious loss of Gush Katif, what’s the damage? “The result is much worse than just the loss of Gush Katif, and the horrible tragedies of the individuals who lived there. The result was that the average Israeli who watched on TV saw how easily in just a few days, the whole of Gush Katif was wiped out. And, nothing happened to the country. Mr. Israeli went to work, came back home, he was told that they all got a lot of money, and everybody had a place to live, and everything was fine.”
“The Orange Army was just the tip of the iceberg of a whole big national camp that was against Sharon. Now, the average Israeli and the whole national camp moved toward Sharon’s side, and we were left alone. Now we saw that a month later in the results of the vote in the [Likud] Central Committee that represents the average Israeli. It was not because of jobs, and all these things, that Sharon won. No. Sharon really won in the Israeli conscience. He really swept the national camp into the hands of the extreme left and the only ones to blame are those leaders and those rabbis who destroyed the struggle of Gush Katif."
“Sharon was right, we were wrong all the time. It was proven in Gush Katif. We have nothing to do there, we have no values to stick to in Israel, in Judaism, we are all pragmatic these days, and we give up on everything. Everything is on the line now because of what happened in Gush Katif. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not talking from the point of despair. Whoever knows me, that is not the way I feel and function. I’m just saying the situation we are facing now is very, very problematic and the collapse and the catastrophe is much bigger than the destruction of Gush Katif because of the fact that we did not fight,” says Feiglin.
Not prone to throwing in the towel, Feiglin says, “Sharon is an obstacle. Nothing more. He is not my Prime Minister. He is not my leader. Everything starts and ends with what you and I will do. It all leans on us, not on him. I’m not even angry at him. I’m not expecting anything; it’s all on our shoulders. We should get into this conscience. I believe that when we will, and when we understand it’s all on us, we will be able to win. And we will."
Feiglin's positions are further explained at "www.jewishisrael.org".