In a meeting between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and a delegation of leaders and activists from the English-speaking community, the Prime Minister stressed his commitment to focusing on issues of specific interest to the Anglo community. The meeting, which was hosted at the Prime Minister’s residence, included representatives from throughout Israel’s Anglo community and included a diverse demographic of younger and older immigrants from English-speaking countries.
The Likud have made a concerted effort to reach out to this community and the Prime Minister directed his campaign to set up a dedicated campaign for this purpose.
Netanyahu opened his remarks by stressing the need for continued public pressure on keeping the Iranian issue on the forefront of international concern and explicitly promised his audience that he would do everything in his control to prevent the Iranian regime from producing a nuclear weapon arsenal. Describing his unwavering commitment to the Iranian issue as an “obligation”, the Prime Minister directly responded to critics by saying, “I don’t think the survival of Israel is a partisan issue.”
Ahead of the elections, the Prime Minister accompanied by his wife Sara, appealed to an audience familiar with Western-style political systems to recognize that only a decisive victory for the Likud in the March election would produce a stable government and suggested that any other scenario would make it difficult to form a lasting government capable of enacting much needed economic reforms.
In response to audience questions that asked for his views on social and economic issues, the Prime Minister welcomed the opportunity to present his record of accomplishments. Directly addressing his political opponents, Netanyahu said that while they are apt at presenting proposals and concepts, “the Likud knows how to solve problems and get things done.” In regards to the real estate crisis, he said that he has prioritized investment in advancing residential development and transportation infrastructure in the periphery, which he said would be the primary way to address the rising prices.
“It’s impressive that the Prime Minister took his time out of his busy schedule to meet with leaders of the Anglo community and it shows his appreciation for a knowledge of the tapestry that makes up Israeli society,” said Stuart Schnee, a long-time Likud activist who attended the event. I took away three points; the continued importance of Iran, the Prime Minister’s ability sustain Israel’s economic growth despite the global slowdown and finally that voting for the Likud is the only way to guarantee that Netanyahu will return to power. Voting for other parties, as important as their message might be, in the hard scrabble politics of numbers and coalition building, the President will call upon the party with the highest numbers of seats. Let’s not repeat the fiasco of 1992 where more right-wing votes were cast than left-wing votes and we ended up with Labor and Oslo.”
With the room filled with olim from the West, Netanyahu said that he viewed encouraging aliyah as an imperative for his government. In reference to an audience question about growing anti-Semitism, he said Israel would welcome every Jew who wants to come home. Referencing the recent Paris massacres he asked “How many places in the world can Jews proudly go out on the streets and say ‘I am a Jew?’ Here they can.”
Jeremy Wimpfheimer, co-Manager of the Likud’s English Language campaign said, “This event proves the commitment of the Prime Minister to a involving all sectors of the Israeli population in this campaign. The reality is that as Western immigrants to Israel, we have specific interests in how we choose how to vote and the Prime Minister invested the time to again reiterate why the Likud is the natural choice for all those who believe in strengthening our country through the coming elections.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
What a joke, I wouldn’t vote for likud (or labor or any of these traditional big name parties) if they paid me to do it. For years all this guy has been able to do is talk about Iran but at the end of the day he doesn’t do a singe thing about it – just fancy speeches. I don’t have to face up the Iranians every month when rent is due, I have to face up to my landlord. Housing prices/rent in this country is a disgusting mess and he should be ashamed of himself for allowing this to continue for so many years under his watch. We’ve got Hashem to protect us from the nukes, Bibi if you want to be a leader then start leading already! Fix up some of the problems in our country and stop obsessing about people a thousand miles away who you can’t do anything about anyway!