To my dear friends and
partners,
A fruitful and breathtaking
year has passed in the Knesset and I would like to summarize what has happened
since last Rosh Ha'Shanah.
We have
focused our work in two main areas:
1) Jewish liberty
2)
Jewish identity
Jewish Liberty
Education and Empowerment of
the Family Unit
Sponsored a bill to tax a
couple/family as such. This will provide true relief for the middle class as
the current system actually hurts families financially.
Annulment of the 'marriage
fine' for couples who work in a shared business.
Start of a process that will
change the disgraceful treatment of divorced fathers.
Advancement of the restoration
of responsibility for children's' education to parents and transition to the
voucher method.
Health System
Sponsored a bill to foster
rapid, professional and simple treatment with medical cannabis.
Beginning of a real change in
providing cannabis to relieve the ill, as is accepted practice in the most
respectable of countries. Our pressure produced results and more and patients
are now authorized to enjoy this gift of G-d.
The Blight of Corruption
We have managed to prevent the
Sarel Company ( a swamp of corruption that has drained the Health Ministry funds
for the past 20 years) from receiving a deferral of tender for five years,
worth 8 billion shekels (!). We have begun to uncover the
extravagant government funded pensions and are formulating a plan to deal with
this important issue.
The Right to Bear Arms
Due to the increase in terror
attacks, we have managed, for all practical purposes, to prevent the government
from confiscation of most of the firearms owned and licensed to the public.
Bearing arms for self defense is one of the most fundamental human rights and
we managed to focus government supervision on firearms solely over security
companies.
Jewish Identity
We have four major
achievements this year on our Jewish identity program:
Religion and State
The 'One Chief Rabbi' bill
that we initiated was passed by a large majority. This bill advances the Torah
of Israel from community status to national status, as befits the Return to
Zion.
Terrorist Release
The blood of Jews is not
worthless. As you may remember, I was the only coalition MK to vote against the
proposed state budget last year. My vote was my leverage against the terrorist
release. As these lines are being written, we have been informed that the Prime
Minister has toed the line and understands that Israel cannot continue with
this ethical and diplomatic lapse.
Arab Verbal Violence in the
Knesset: Delineating the Borders of Discourse
Within the framework of my
role as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, when I chaired the plenum deliberations,
we set borders on the 'understanding and containing' discourse that had allowed
the Arab MKs to publicly identify with Israel's enemies. We set a rule that any
invective against IDF soldiers from the Knesset lectern will result in the
speaker's immediate removal from the plenum. The influence of this action still
echoes in the chamber. This is actually the first time in ages that a
nationalist force has begun to determine the borders of the discourse in
Israel.
Last, Dearest and Most
Important: The Temple Mount
The Temple Mount is the
holiest place in the world to Judaism. It is the place that endows our entire
reality in Israel, all our hopes and our future with significance. It is the
first and foremost of all our aspirations. Despite all the pressure
and attempts to prevent it, we led an historic deliberation in the Knesset on
the question of Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount.
Just a year ago, I was
prohibited from ascending the Temple Mount with all sorts of excuses. I must
share my feelings with you: On this issue, we merit true Heavenly help. I have
the merit to ascend the Mount as a representative of the Nation of Israel. At
this point, I do not enjoy complete freedom of movement on the Mount and the
Dome of the Rock is still off limits to me. However, a positive process of
change has begun. A new spirit drives the Jews ascending the Temple Mount and
despite the intensifying Arab violence there, their numbers are growing, thank
G-d.
Over the year, I have been
much sought-after for interviews on varied issues and my Hebrew Facebook page
has grown to 100,000 likes, from both Right and left. My feeling is that
Israeli mentality has begun to hold a dialogue and is opening its mind to the Manhigut
Yehudit alternative. This feeling has intensified over the last year.
The end of the year (this past
summer), saw everyone, including ourselves, involved in the events in Gaza. We
managed to keep our ideology and vision strong by focusing every statement we
made on our ultimate goal; A strong and proud Jewish State!
We understood that it was
important for the true solution to be publicly stated, so we said things and -
literally - stood alone. "We must conquer Gaza,"
we said time and again. "But we must conquer Gaza in order
to stay there and to make it a bustling Israeli city similar to Jaffa."
This was a unique statement that could have emerged only from our study hall.
It was accompanied by a detailed plan and realistic answers to the questions
that arose. I was interviewed about this plan over 50 times including by the
biggest international media outlets.
The end of the operation in
Gaza left the problem simmering and additional rounds of fighting are
anticipated. This clarified to all that the existing leadership
does not have the capacity to deal with the problem. Despite Israel's military
power, above and beyond Gaza's capabilities, the existing leadership can do
nothing more than perpetuate the current situation. It is incapable of defining
who the enemy is and what victory is.
It became clear that only we,
who were able to say the simple words, "Gaza is ours," could
construct from within that concept a strategy to deal with the root of the
Hamas problem. We were able to say the words and to form the necessary tactics
for a real and swift victory.
Those who truly struggled
against the Oslo Accords and declared even then that "ZO ARTZEINU"
(This is our Land); those who did not accept any type of foreign sovereignty in
our Land; those who remained connected to the Temple Mount - only they are able
to think out of the 'peace industry' and two state solution box, which has
rendered the State of Israel incapable of winning its wars.
The foundation of Israel's
flight from Gaza and its inability to return there stems from its lack of
identity. If Israel cannot say: "Israel is first and foremost
Jewish," it cannot return to rule Gaza. If we cannot return to
rule Gaza, it is impossible to win this war. And if we cannot win in war, we
cannot safeguard our dear state - not from its internal challenges or its
external challenges.
The combination of our
Identity track and our Liberty track is the key to success. It is the key to
the new significance with which we strive to imbue our national and private
lives.
There is no doubt that we have
progressed a lot and our hearts are filled with thanksgiving to the Creator of
the World.
The political reality in the
State of Israel is full of surprises, and we do not know what the future holds.
According to all the political pundits, this coming year could very well bring
us to Likud primaries, and possibly to general elections.
Your support and enlistment
now are important. Each and every one of you can get the word out by sharing
our Facebook posts on social media far and wide and commenting on the page. And
don't forget to talk about our Jewish Liberty, Identity and Meaning ideas at
every opportunity.
Thank you for your support and
loyalty.
Wishing you a sweet and
blessed new year.
Moshe Feiglin
No comments:
Post a Comment