Manhigut Yehudit - Manhigut Post-Kadima

Manhigut Post-Kadima

Ariel Sharon's 2005 split from the Likud resulted in a power vacuum among the leadership of his former party. In December 2005, the top three favorites running for Likud Party Chairman were Binyamin Netanyahu and Silvan Shalom, with Moshe Feiglin running a distant third.

While Feiglin and his supporters remained optimistic about his chances of winning the position, in the last weeks before the primary there were calls from both the center-right and the Religious Zionist movement for him to withdraw from the race. The present Yesha Council Chairman, Bentzi Lieberman, who endorsed Netanyahu, went so far as to characterize Feiglin's plan to co-opt the Likud as a "moral failure" . In response, Feiglin compared his detractors with "a battered woman who covers the bruises on her face with make-up and keeps going back to her husband."

In mid-December, Netanyahu won the election for Chairman with 47% of the vote. Shalom came in second with 32%. Feiglin won 12.5% of the votes, up from 3% the first time he ran in 2003. Two years later, in 2007, he came in second behind Netanyahu with 24% of the vote.

Many left-wing and centrist politicians, as well as some journalists, agreed with Feiglin's assessment, asserting that while he did not come close to winning, the comparatively large number of votes cast for him indicated a radical shift among Likud voters, which could possibly result in changing both its vision and image in the future. Several prominent Likud members also denounced Feiglin's gains as indicative of a serious problem in the party, although others attempted to de-emphasize Feiglin's influence within the Likud. Feiglin responded by accusing his Likud critics of "anti-Semitism".

With all due respect, I also think that there is a certain small element of anti-Semitism here. I have been in the Likud for eight years already, and I haven't seen any such demonization efforts directed at any other element. We are all loyal members of the Likud, and renew our membership every year. Let's put the cards on the table: I believe that if I didn't have a kippa and beard, this demonization would not exist, and it's about time to put an end to this nonsense.