Manhigut Yehudit
Feiglin is the co-founder and president of the Manhigut Yehudit ("Jewish Leadership") faction in the Israeli Likud party. Manhigut Yehudit began as a brainchild of Feiglin and a friend of his, Moti Karpel, who began the movement as the continuation of the Zo Artzeinu protest movement. The main tactical difference between the two in Feiglin's thought is that Zo Artzeinu protested government policy without suggesting an alternative, whereas Manhigut Yehudit seeks to become the government and be the alternative.
Manhigut Yehudit as an initiative was first proposed by Feiglin and Karpel, coincidentally, on the night of Yitzchak Rabin's assassination in November 1995. Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu's surprise defeat of Labor's Shimon Peres the following year on the heels of Zo Artzeinu's protests had, in Feiglin's mind, given the Oslo Accords the Israeli Right's sanction when Netanyahu shook Yasser Arafat's hand and continued the Oslo Process, giving the Israeli voter no real alternative to Oslo besides slight tactical differences toward its eventual fruition. It was at this realization that Feiglin decided to enter politics in order to formulate that alternative himself by running for the Prime Ministership directly.
Lacking the tools to do this and absent a political party with which to stake his run, he was approached by a founding member of the Likud party and participant in the Zo Artzeinu protests who proposed that Feiglin register for the Likud party and register, in turn, the thousands who participated in the protests, thereby building a support base for himself in the party and running for the party leadership, thereby attaining Prime Ministerial candidacy. At present, Feiglin has an estimated 12,000-15,000 loyalists in the party, making Manhigut Yehudit the largest consolidated faction in the Likud's approximately 100,000 strong party membership.
According to Feiglin's own words, Manhigut Yehudit was started to "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 what he regards as 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 do not accept Jewish sovereignty over the state. This emigration would be encouraged with financial incentives.
Although some of Feiglin's opponents have described him as a latter-day version of Rabbi Meir Kahane, he has stated on several occasions that he disagrees with many of Kahane's policies. 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 "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, but for his part, Feiglin rejects this label, claiming that he is fighting fascism himself.
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