By Adi Rubinstein and Efrat Forsher, CJN
Zehut leader Moshe Feiglin believes that his party will be the dark horse, or the “surprise,” of the upcoming April 9 elections in Israel.
In an interview with Israel Hayom, Feiglin, who in the past ran for leadership of the Likud Party, said, “We are not just talking about the electoral threshold. Looking at the momentum we have created, we can be much more than that.”
Feiglin is dismissive of recent polls that do not bode well for Zehut.
“The polls don’t know how to model politicians like myself or parties like Zehut because we bring dialogue to Israeli politics,” he said. “I don’t see a difference in the political perception of [New Right leader Naftali] Bennett, [Meretz leader Tamar] Zandberg or [Yesh Atid leader Yair] Lapid. They all say the same thing in the end. I walk around and see that the young people are drifting, and that people understand that I bring [with me] a new [kind of] politics, and that is why they will vote for me.”
Feiglin said he refused offers to unite with Otzma Yehudit and other political parties on the right.
“I’ve been with the same woman since the eighth grade,” he said. “So I am not someone who zigzags. I am constantly being asked to think like the herd and join the bloc, but the bloc doesn’t interest me. You want to know who I merged with? [Former Shas MK] Rabbi Haim Amsalem and [stand-up comedian] Gadi Wilcherski [both of whom recently joined Zehut]—from my perspective, they are the merger.”
Meanwhile, Yisrael Beytenu Party leader Avigdor Lieberman presented his party’s list for the Knesset.
“We don’t answer to polls but make an effort on the ground, and we will get a minimum of eight or nine Knesset seats, and with the help of hard work of those present in the hall, we can also make it to a double-digit number,” Lieberman said in his announcement.
Among the changes to the party in the run-up to the elections, Robert Ilatov and Sofa Landver are no longer on the list, while MK Oded Forer is now second on the list behind Lieberman.
Poll today shows several right parties do NOT make the cut including Zehut. Jewish Home (in poll as United Right) plus the New Right (Bennett/Shaked) & Likud getting most of the rights votes.
35 [11] Blue & White (Gantz, Lapid, Yaalon & Ashkenazi)
32 [29] Likud (Netanyahu)
11 [06] Hadash-Taal
08 [18] Labor (Gabbai)
07 [03] Hayamin Hehadash (Bennett & Shaked)
06 [06] Yahadut Hatorah/UTJ (Litzman)
06 [07] Shas (Deri)
06 [05] United Right List (Peretz, Smotrich & Ben Ari)
05 [05] Yisrael Beitenu (Liberman)
04 [05] Meretz (Zandberg)
Under 3.25% electoral threshold:
2.4% [01] Gesher (Orly Levy)
2.1% [–-] Zehut (Feiglin)
2.1% [06] Raam-Balad (with Hadash)
1.9% [10] Kulanu (Kahlon)
0.6% [–] Magen (Gal Hirsch)
00 [01] Tzomet (Oren Hazan)
00 [–-] Yachad (Eli Yishai), Achi Yisraeli (Adina Bar Shalom) and others
62 [66] Current Right-Religious Coalition+Y.B.
58 [54] Current Center-Left-Arab Opposition-Y.B
I wish Moshe Feiglin all the best. He is one of the most loyal citizens to run. He is also the first person to suggest paying the arabs in Judea and Samaria to leave. Ironic how at the time his out of the box thinking was dismissed as nonsense. Now years later his ideas are viewed as seriously potential solutions. If we were not confronted with radical Islamists within and on all borders and beyond, then maybe it wouldn’t be that urgent to get Feiglin in as PM but since that’s not the case and has never been the case in modern Israel’s history, we need him more than ever.