According to polls, Jewish Leadership Faction head Moshe Feiglin trails behind ex-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in the race for Likud party chairman. The primaries are scheduled for this Monday.
Political analyst Dr. Aaron Lerner of Independent Media Review Analysis (IMRA) outlined the argument of those pressing Feiglin to pull out. "There is every indication that potential Feiglin supporters [in the Likud] will play a pivotal role [in Monday's primary]," Lerner wrote. He explained that supporters of Feiglin's Jewish Leadership faction, who would vote for Netanyahu if a second round of voting were to take place, should realize that Feiglin does not have a chance to win and vote Netanyahu in the first round to make sure Sharon-sympathizer Silvan Shalom does not take the election.
Feiglin told Arutz-7 Friday that there is no chance that he will pull out of the race. He said that those in Judea and Samaria who believe Netanyahu will save their homes from destruction are misguided.
"The bottom line is that both Netanyahu and Silvan Shalom left the voters for the Disengagement," he said. "The only difference between the two is that Netanyahu's influence could have actually stopped the expulsion and Shalom could not have. I really don't understand how people can still think that Netanyahu is less dangerous for Jewish settlement than Shalom. He actually had it within his power to stop the Disengagement and chose not to." Feiglin insists that Netanyahu knew he could lead a successful struggle from outside the government, but Shalom could not have.
"I can't understand how people can still think that voting for something that failed so many times is the answer instead of developing their own beliefs and alternatives," he said.
An alternative argument for voting Netanyahu, advanced at an informal meeting of Land of Israel Likud voters in the Binyamin region north of Jerusalem, is that a strong Netanyahu, untainted by the 'extreme' image the media have painted Feiglin with, could win many middle-of-the-road voters away from Ariel Sharon's Kadima Party. Netanyahu, they argue, is the only one that could beat Sharon's Kadima Party and thereby prevent the destruction of communities like Beit El, situated outside the Partition Fence.
Feiglin responded to this reasoning: "If people think that the danger to Beit El with Netanyahu is less than that posed by Sharon, they are wrong. This thinking is what brought us to the collapse of the settlements. Instead of taking the bull by its horns, we are trying to think in a manipulative manner. The result of that kind of thinking is that all candidates know they have our votes because we are in their pockets. If I leave the race, the only forces pushing Netanyahu will be from the left. Look at [recently withdrawn candidate] Uzi Landau. Do you think he has any influence on Netanyahu? Netanyahu gave him a commitment just like he gave the Chabad rabbis before he became prime minister last time. It won't matter when [US Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice tells him to erase Beit El and Shilo."
Feiglin says that should he be elected as Likud Party chairman, he would be happy to have Netanyahu serve as his finance minister.
Feiglin is urging everyone with a membership in the Likud to disregard the polls, which have repeatedly been revealed to be merely tools used to tell voters how to choose, and come out and vote in Monday's primaries.
"I believe that within five years, Israel will have a real Jewish leadership," Feiglin concluded. We must understand that our lives depend on it."
Moshe Feiglin
Feiglin told Arutz-7 Friday that there is no chance that he will pull out of the race. He said that those in Judea and Samaria who believe Netanyahu will save their homes from destruction are misguided.
"The bottom line is that both Netanyahu and Silvan Shalom left the voters for the Disengagement," he said. "The only difference between the two is that Netanyahu's influence could have actually stopped the expulsion and Shalom could not have. I really don't understand how people can still think that Netanyahu is less dangerous for Jewish settlement than Shalom. He actually had it within his power to stop the Disengagement and chose not to." Feiglin insists that Netanyahu knew he could lead a successful struggle from outside the government, but Shalom could not have.
"I can't understand how people can still think that voting for something that failed so many times is the answer instead of developing their own beliefs and alternatives," he said.
An alternative argument for voting Netanyahu, advanced at an informal meeting of Land of Israel Likud voters in the Binyamin region north of Jerusalem, is that a strong Netanyahu, untainted by the 'extreme' image the media have painted Feiglin with, could win many middle-of-the-road voters away from Ariel Sharon's Kadima Party. Netanyahu, they argue, is the only one that could beat Sharon's Kadima Party and thereby prevent the destruction of communities like Beit El, situated outside the Partition Fence.
Feiglin responded to this reasoning: "If people think that the danger to Beit El with Netanyahu is less than that posed by Sharon, they are wrong. This thinking is what brought us to the collapse of the settlements. Instead of taking the bull by its horns, we are trying to think in a manipulative manner. The result of that kind of thinking is that all candidates know they have our votes because we are in their pockets. If I leave the race, the only forces pushing Netanyahu will be from the left. Look at [recently withdrawn candidate] Uzi Landau. Do you think he has any influence on Netanyahu? Netanyahu gave him a commitment just like he gave the Chabad rabbis before he became prime minister last time. It won't matter when [US Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice tells him to erase Beit El and Shilo."
Feiglin says that should he be elected as Likud Party chairman, he would be happy to have Netanyahu serve as his finance minister.
Feiglin is urging everyone with a membership in the Likud to disregard the polls, which have repeatedly been revealed to be merely tools used to tell voters how to choose, and come out and vote in Monday's primaries.
"I believe that within five years, Israel will have a real Jewish leadership," Feiglin concluded. We must understand that our lives depend on it."