This shortened out of context description of Netanyahu's statement has been picked up on by a number of blogs as the Jpost reported it.
This made it appear as if Netanyahu was criticizing Barak for not supporting Fatah. Which is not the case. This is the full statement.
Quite a different statement entirely. Note I am not endorsing Netanyahu, any more than I am endorsing Feiglin. Netanyahu failed once already. Unfortunately he's what we're stuck with barring a more credible candidate and that candidate is not Moshe Feiglin obviously whose role in this election will be exactly the same as his role in the previous election.
There are candidates I believe the country could get behind. Men like Effi Eitam, Benny Elon, Aryeh Eldad. Feiglin was never going to be one of them. He hasn't transformed the Likud. What he has done is weakened it and there is no genuine Zionist party that can benefit from its weakening only Labor and Kadima. The result is simply the same present the right gave Barak once before when Netanyahu was toppled and the same present Feiglin gave Olmert in the previous election.
"In the interview, Netanyahu also leveled criticism at Defense Minister Ehud Barak for his comments that there is no difference between Hamas and Fatah and that there is no partner among the Palestinians. Barak is zigzagging again, Netanyahu said.
This made it appear as if Netanyahu was criticizing Barak for not supporting Fatah. Which is not the case. This is the full statement.
"I welcome that he saw reality but the question is how long will he keep his point of view, because he is known for his zigzagging," Netanyahu said. "Barak is proving once again his diplomatic amateurism and zigzagging. It's shocking that a man who was willing to give up the entire West Bank and led the fleeing from Lebanon not too long ago has suddenly become more Right than the Likud."
Quite a different statement entirely. Note I am not endorsing Netanyahu, any more than I am endorsing Feiglin. Netanyahu failed once already. Unfortunately he's what we're stuck with barring a more credible candidate and that candidate is not Moshe Feiglin obviously whose role in this election will be exactly the same as his role in the previous election.
There are candidates I believe the country could get behind. Men like Effi Eitam, Benny Elon, Aryeh Eldad. Feiglin was never going to be one of them. He hasn't transformed the Likud. What he has done is weakened it and there is no genuine Zionist party that can benefit from its weakening only Labor and Kadima. The result is simply the same present the right gave Barak once before when Netanyahu was toppled and the same present Feiglin gave Olmert in the previous election.
Comments
Why can't the people endorsing Feiglin get behind Danny Danon, who is a real Likudnik (as is Bibi, but Feiglin is a fundamentalist fanatic)
ReplyDeleteThank you. I could not understand how so many intelligent people were lining up behind Bibi. You clarified the situation by explaining that while there are better people, they are not organized to win. I just have this bad feeling that Bibi is not seriously better. But removing the current bunch is more important. So Bibi is the best of a mess. Hopefully better people will come along.
ReplyDeleteI've seen people extremely enthusiastic about Bibi and those extremely enthusiastic about Feiglin and I can't share either of their sentiments
ReplyDeleteI'm suspicious of overenthusiastic endorsements of candidates but people don't like the idea of supporting a flawed candidate who can win
Feiglin has become the israeli equivalent of Ron Paul with a small but very enthusiastic following that belies the basic problems there
in the aftermath of the Kadima coup, I hoped a genuine zionist party to become what the likud was meant to be would form and that people would put aside their differences and unite behind it
at this point that unfortunately seems like a pipe dream
Same old same old candidates like a dog returning to its own vomit.
ReplyDeleteThe defect in Likud is the lack of "tradition." Please let me explain. In most countries the right-wing/conservative/"religious right" is often tied to Religion. Generally that means Christianity, since most developed/democratic countries are just that, Christian.
ReplyDeleteNow why would a non-religious person who is otherwise conservative vote for a Christian based party? The answer is that Christianity, as generally practiced, is a very lukewarm belief. One can easily support people on the Right without fear of having religion stuffed down your throat.
However, such cannot be said for Israel. The Religious Right is just that. PM Begin was traditional enough to offer a conservative party that the non-religious was comfortable with. But, since then the fundamentals of a true conservative party has been gutted. Now you have the same human wants and desires that you see on the Left. So, much of the voting population has a simple choice. They can vote for a religious party or not vote at all. When you look at the voter turnout you see that the Left won by default. Had all those who saw no point in voting turned out to vote for a religious party the left would have lost big time.
What we need is a party that aspires to Jewish traditions without espousing a theocracy. Its platform should be to run the country based on sound fiscal policy and stop the abandonment of Eretz Yisroel.
The trick is forming such a party in a very short amount of time.
Indeed, should it be possible, I predict that the current government will go hog wild to sign all kinds of letters and agreements before lossing control.
Of course, this assumes that the legal system doesn't try to stop its leaders with police investigations.
yes i agree such a party might be ideal
ReplyDeletecertainly the folks talking about torah law as practice really have no clue of what the issues involved would be
begin strove to respect religion while maintaining a zionist identity
today's likud increasingly is discarding both
We need a religous person to lead a pro-Zionist party that is not linked to a religious group. This was something that Rabbi Kahana of Kach did, until the legal system stopped him. Interestingly even Likud did not complain. Nor did anyone complain about various Anti-Israel Arab parties. Sorry about those double standards. Anyway I noted an interesting note on the IMRA website. Seems our newly elected President has a great idea to release all PA prisoners over 5 years, if the Arabs behave. He said this is better because the PA cannot secure the land. So if they cannot maintain security how will they prevent monsters from killing Jews? Of course there was no mention of releasing Jews.
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