There are no demands for a recount, no one contesting the outcome, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was reelected as leader of the Likud Party, taking 75% of the popular vote. Nevertheless, there are no tears in the Feiglin camp, for Moshe Feiglin and his Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction have earned the support of 25% of registered voters, which Feiglin explains is not just a vote for him, but for Eretz Yisrael.
Voter turnout was low and in a late-day move, a panicked party leader convened the powers-that-be and they extended the closing of voting stations by an hour, from 10pm to 11pm, seeking to minimize the damage to the prime minister’s image. In fact, Feiglin and his team were not dreaming of taking the popular vote, hence the latter’s victory, since he managed to grab a respectable portion of the Likud pie, enough to send a message to Mr. Netanyahu, that the Manhigut faction is here to stay and it has become a force to be reckoned with.
On the flip side, Feiglin earned the same percentage in the last vote, and yet a last-minute manipulation of the party’s charter by Netanyahu found Feiglin outside Knesset, so even if he lands a realistic spot on the party lineup, one cannot know just how far the prime minister will go to stifle the Manhigut voice, a voice that echoes the ideals of Torah Jewry and the nationalistic aspirations of the late Menachem Begin, a far cry from the current-day policy of Likud.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
Victory? Ha! Most Likudniks stayed away, Faiglin’s followers voted as a bloc. Big deal, The man should open his own party and get a seat in the knesset and a say in Israel’s future instead of being marginalized by Bibi,
Feiglin’s approach would be analagous to the “tea party” in the US trying to take over the Democrats,or the “occupy wall street” trying to take over the Republicans. Likud was formed by a merger of the secular “Liberals” and the revisionist “Herut/Liberty” parties. Likud was always somewhat nationalists, but not fanatically so (Labor said Begin was a fanatic, but that was propaganda – אצ”ל were the fanatics), and was never a religious party.
Given Israel’s electoral system, Feiglin should join a party that supports his position and try to build it up to the point that it can force Likud to form a coalition with it.
#2-
Just for the record- Begin was the of אצ”ל
That should of read: Begin was the head of אצ”ל