Bill to Stop ‘Surplus Vote’ Swapping Passes First Knesset Reading
March Election Almost a Certainty
Knesset Opposition Aims for Early Elections to be held in March
Baruch Marzel Announces He’ll Run as Head of a New Party
Shas Not Worried About Losing Votes Due to ‘Peretz factor’
Sharon Continues Gaining on Opponent Netanyahu
FM: Sharon Ready to Agree to March Elections
Excerpts:
“Haaretz poll shows PM widening lead in Likud”
A Haaretz-Dialog poll conducted on Tuesday night under the supervision of Professor Camil Fuchs found that if the Likud primaries were held today, and the candidates were Sharon, Netanyahu, Uzi Landau (who led the anti-disengagement Likud “rebels”) and Moshe Feiglin (leader of the right-wing Jewish Leadership faction of the Likud party), Sharon would get 47 percent of the votes, Netanyahu would get 23 percent, Landau would get 9 percent and Feiglin would get 6 percent. The poll had 614 respondents and a 4.3 percent margin of error.”
“This poll also shows Landau’s increasing weakness within the party. A Haaretz-Dialog poll held on September 27 showed Landau winning 16 percent of Likud votes in a four-man race, and beating Netanyahu by 7 percent in a two-man race. This does not compare favorably with Landau’s third-place standing in Tuesday’s poll.”
“Despite the election of Amir Peretz as the Labor Party head, there are no visible signals of mending fences between the Sharon-led faction and the loyalist opposition faction headed by MK Dr. Uzi Landau.”
Commentary:
A very disturbing question has been making it’s way around on emails. When secular people express their quiet support for the Land of Israel, such as with Gush Katif, and are asked why they don’t become publicly vocal against giving up land, their response is this; “…we don’t feel comfortable at the big demonstrations because 99% of the demonstrators are religious.”
So what’s the answer? Are we supposed to compromise ourselves, i.e. take off kippot, wear a different color other than black hat, jacket, chop off pais, beard, etc., or whatever outward display of Yiddishkiet we happen to wear, not Daven Mincha or Ma’ariv in public, not have Kosher food vendors at Hafganot, not see and hear our Rabbis, not recite Tehillim publically and more, thus compromising our own Religious values so that the secular are “comfortable” in coming to our events and supporting a Gush Katif, or Mt. Zion, Shalchevet neighborhood, the Jordan Valley, etc.??
Please read this link on my blog which I wrote a few days ago responding to a news article about Israelis and “values.”
If these seculars are truly and heartfully principled and sincere in their love and support for their home — Eretz Yisrael, then black hats, jackets, Tzitzit, other religious aspects won’t so repulse them.
If not, then their blind sinat chinom may Cha V’Chalila cost them and us our homes and all of Eretz Yisrael.
Perhaps we need to engage them in non-threatening aspects of life — such as sports, business, etc. in a straight-forward, honest, totally sincere manner.
Maybe it’s amazing what a beating in American touch football, or basketball by a bunch of kippoted, tzitzit and pais attired Yeshiva bocherim would do to secular Israelis — so that they see that Religious can equal and excel over Seculars in other facets of life in addition to Beis Medrash, Tefillah, etc. MB
Feiglin and Manhigut Yehudit must Hit The Ground Running on Tuesday AM! MB