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Moshe Feiglin
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Moshe Zalman Feiglin (Hebrew ??? ???? ???????, born 1962) is an Israeli politician. In 1993, he co-founded Zo Artzeinu ("This [is] our Land/Country") movement with Shmuel Sackett to protest the Oslo Accords. He is one of the founders of the Israeli civil disobedience movement that developed in protest against the accords. As a result of his activities, he was sentenced to six months in prison in 1997 for sedition, but the sentence was later commuted to community service.
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Moshe Zalman Feiglin (Hebrew ??? ???? ???????, born 1962) is an Israeli politician. In 1993, he co-founded Zo Artzeinu ("This [is] our Land/Country") movement with Shmuel Sackett to protest the Oslo Accords. He is one of the founders of the Israeli civil disobedience movement that developed in protest against the accords. As a result of his activities, he was sentenced to six months in prison in 1997 for sedition, but the sentence was later commuted to community service. In March 2008, Feiglin was banned by the Home Secretary from entering Britain, on the grounds that his presence "would not be conducive to the public good".
Personal life
Feiglin was born in Haifa in 1962. His family later moved to Rehovot, where he attended the local Tachkmoni school (of the Mizrachi movement), and subsequently graduated from Rabbi Haim Drukman's yeshiva, Or Etzion, and served as a major in a combat unit in the IDF. He is the author of the books Where There Are No Men, and War of Dreams, publishes numerous articles and appears frequently on international TV and radio. He writes columns regularly for the Brooklyn-based Jewish Press and the Israeli daily Maariv. Moshe and his wife Tzippy have five children and two grandchildren. They live in the Jewish Settlement of Karnei Shomron, in the Samaria region of the West Bank.
Manhigut Yehudit
Feiglin is the co-founder and president of the Manhigut Yehudit ("Jewish Leadership") faction in the Israeli Likud party. Manhigut Yehudit was started to, in Feiglin's words, "return the country to the people and lead the State of Israel through authentic Jewish values". The movement believes Israelis deserve a chance to learn about their historical and spiritual past and that Jewish values should be taught in the nation's schools. The movement has challenged the hegemony of Israel's secular elite, demands free speech and open airwaves for all sectors of the Israeli public, and wants to break the monopoly the state has on radio and television broadcasts. Feiglin has demanded that Israeli schools stop teaching the Arab view of the history of Israel, such as describing the creation of the State of Israel as a disaster (nakba in Arabic). He also has spoken out against Israel's undemocratically chosen Supreme Court and called for its members to be selected by representatives of the people.
Feiglin says that the movement’s leadership will arise from "those who have a deep commitment to Torah values." Still, 30 percent of its present members are secular (2005). He opposes the surrender of Jewish land and has demanded the government take action against the estimated 50,000 illegal Arab structures built throughout the country. Feiglin has stated that Likud had "given up true Likud values and acquiesced in the Gaza evacuation."
Feiglin has been on public record supporting the willful transfer of Arab citizens of Israel who refuse to pledge allegiance to the State of Israel, similar to proposals from other right-wing groups in Israel.
For this and other reasons, some of Feiglin's opponents have described him as a latter-day version of Rabbi Meir Kahane While Manhigut's co-founder, Shmuel Sackett, had close ties with Rabbis Meir and Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, there is little evidence directly connecting Feiglin with Kahane, although there are several ideological similarities between them, such as supporting "transfer" or as Feiglin says "induced emigration", developing a legal system more consistent with Halakha, and restricting Israeli citizenship to Jews. In 2005, Feiglin took this idea a step further and suggested that all Jews who wished to be citizens of Israel, regardless of where they lived, should be given full citizenship and voting rights. Feiglin and Sackett are distinguished most from traditional Kahanism through their commitment to nonviolent protest. Kahanism is often associated with militancy and a tacit acceptance of, if not outright support for, violence. Conversely, Feiglin and Sackett are also attacked in some right-wing Religious Zionist circles (including Kahane supporters) for selling out to the Likud.
Several left-wing commentators have depicted Feiglin as fascist. Yossi Sarid has also compared Feiglin to Hitler.
Feiglin in the Likud
In December 2005, Feiglin ran for Likud chairman and won 12.5% of the votes. He came in third out of seven candidates, after Benjamin Netanyahu and Silvan Shalom. He attempted to run for a slot on the party's Knesset list, but encountered severe opposition from Netanyahu, who delayed party elections and advocated making changes to its charter to bar "anyone who has served three or more months in prison" from running as a Likud MK. This would have prevented Feiglin, who served a six-month sentence in the mid-90s for civil disobedience, from running for either an MK or leadership position in the future. Feiglin withdrew from the race on January 3, 2006, following the release of a statement from the Likud party election chairman declaring, in agreement with a prior decision by the Israeli High Court, that Feiglin's conviction was not for "dishonorable" violations of the law, allowing him to participate in future Likud affairs.
In the August 14, 2007 primaries, Feiglin nearly doubled his previous showing and received 23.4 percent of the votes to Netanyahu's 72.8 percent. Netanyahu, fearing a strong showing by Feiglin, tried to have him ousted from the party prior to the vote, and has said he will continue such efforts. On December 10, 2008 Feiglin was voted to the 20th place in Likud primaries. On December 11, following a petition submitted against him by Ophir Ekonis, he was demoted to the 36th spot.
Peace plan
Feiglin has proposed a plan to end the conflict between Israel and the Arabs living in Israeli controlled lands. His plan would include using much of the internal military budget projected for the next 10 years to offer every Arab family in these areas $250,000 as an incentive to emigrate to other countries.
Feiglin points to a recent poll by An-Najah University in Nablus, which showed that one in three Palestinian Arabs want to emigrate even without such a financial incentive, as supporting his plan.
Controversy and criticism
Comments on Nazi Germany and Arabs
In a 1995 interview with the Haaretz daily, in which he spoke disparagingly of Hitler and Arabs, Feiglin called Hitler "an unparalleled military genius." Feiglin also said "Hitler savoured good music. He would paint. This was no bunch of thugs. They merely used thugs and homosexuals," Feiglin was quoted as saying at the time. "Nazism promoted Germany from a low to a fantastic physical and ideological status. "The ragged, trashy youth body turned into a neat and orderly part of society and Germany received an exemplary regime, a proper justice system and public order," he said. Yediot Aharonot daily said Feiglin "was not ashamed of considering Hitler a genius." Ten years following the Haaretz interview, Feiglin clarified his position to the Maariv newspaper that just because he considers Hitler a military genius that this does not mean he has any personal admiration for him.
Of Israeli Arabs, "They will have to seek the right to self-determination in Arab states. Israel will encourage the Arabs to emigrate to their countries and assist any Arab who wishes to do so," Feiglin was quoted as saying. He insisted there is no such thing as a Palestinian people and that they and Israeli Arabs should relocate, citing a text he had posted on the website of his Manhigut Yehudit ("Jewish Leadership") movement. "They will have to seek the right to self-determination in Arab states. Israel will encourage the Arabs to emigrate to their countries and assist any Arab who wishes to do so". In a 2004 interview with Yediot he spoke of "a voluntary transfer to the 22 neighbouring Arab states" of the some 1.4 million Israeli Arabs, who make up 20 percent of Israel's population. "Arabs don't live in the desert, they create it," he was quoted as saying.
"The Arabs engage in typical Amalek behaviour. I can't prove this genetically but this is the behaviour of Amalek."
"We shall offer them human rights without civil rights, so long as they prove their loyalty to their Jewish state host and accept Jewish sovereignty over their land. In such a situation they will be given legal-resident status and they can carry on their private affairs without anyone infringing on their human rights."
Banned from Britain
Feiglin is banned from entering the United Kingdom due to a decision by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, made public in March 2008, excluding Feiglin on the grounds that his presence in the country "would not be conducive to the public good." A letter to Feiglin from the Home Office said that Smith based her decision on an assessment that his activities "foment or justify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs; seek to provoke others to terrorist acts; foment other serious criminal activity or seek to provoke others to serious criminal acts and foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK." Feiglin responded, "Seeing that renowned terrorists like Hizbullah member Ibrahim Mousawi are welcomed in your country in open arms, I understand that your policy is aimed at encouraging and supporting terror."
Resistance to Oslo Accords
Feiglin was arrested for organizing mass acts of resistance and blocked highways across Israel during the period in which the Oslo accords were debated and implemented. Feiglin was charged with "break[ing] the barrier of obedience to the rule of law" and incitement to commit crimes. Feiglin was quoted as stating, "We will do all that it's possible to do, including break the law."
He was sentenced to six months in prison in 1997 for sedition, and the sentence was later performed via community service.
Reaction from Likud members
Relations between Feiglin and his fellow Likud members have been mixed. Likud Knesset member Limor Livnat stated that Feiglin and his friends are "not real Likudniks" and that his faction "cannot be allowed to prevail." In a interview with the Jerusalem Post, Livnat explained that Feiglin and his faction must be prevented "from taking over, or the party and the state will be in danger," adding, that "this is not democracy, this is anarchy."
Despite criticism from fellow Likud members, Feiglin has displayed favorable relations with a significant number of former Likud Knesset members. This was manifest during a Feiglin rally at Jerusalem's Ramada Hotel that took place before the 2008 Likud primary. Former Likud Knesset members Gila Gamliel, David Mena, Daniel Benlulu and Ayoub Kara attended the event despite warnings from Netanyahu's advisers not to do so.
Support for Jonathan Pollard
Feiglin is a highly vocal supporter of Jonathan Pollard, a former American naval intelligence analyst who is currently serving a life sentence in the American Federal prison system for spying for Israel. Feiglin, who has called Pollard a hero, has written a number of articles in support of Pollard. In a recent article, Feiglin stated that "Pollard is a Jew who saved the Israelis from American treachery."
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