Feiglin and the Likud

Overall the candidates supported by Moshe Feiglin and Mnahigut Yehudit did fairly well. Shmuel Sackett did not make it in, and he worked very hard, so that is a shame, but MF hit as high as #20, despite all of Bibi's maneuvering to keep him out of any realistic spots.

So overall, the Feiglin group had a very successful primary.

I did not give a list of candidates I was supporting, because who cares who I say to vote for. I want you to vote for the candidates you believe in, not the candidates I believe in. Just get out there and vote. I mentioned a few names to explain why I felt they were good candidates and deserved to win their spots on the roster, but I did not give a full list of recommendations. Also, who am I to make any recommendations? Any of these guys need any such recommendation from me? Would my recommendation actually help anybody anyway? I doubt it.

Personally I chose to support 2 categories of candidates:

1. I supported the candidates directly supported by Feiglin and Manhigut Yehudit.I felt it important for the bar on the right wing of the Likud to be strengthened, and by voting Feiglin and for his people, I felt that was the right way to do it.
2. I supported the candidates who have stuck with the Likud through its hard times. not those who are tailing along and trying to get in because of the Likud's current popularity, or because of their big names. So I supported guys like Moshe Kachlon, Gidon Saar, Gilad Erdan, Ruby Rivlin (who I happened to meet at the Bet Shemesh polling station) and others. They needed my vote, and they deserved my vote. Most of them were supported by Feiglin as second tier choices. But for me they were also first tier choices.

I am very happy with the results. My candidates all pretty much did well, and the final list looks even more right wing (rather than centrist) than I expected.

Will Feiglin's success mean anything? I don't know. He will definitely not be appointed to a ministerial position by Netanyahu, considering their relationship.

If Bibi was smart, he would look at the list and see that the Likud voters have chosen a more right wing list than a center list, and he will run his government accordingly. He would also follow in Obama's footsteps and even appoint people he fought with and disagreed with to high positions, based on their qualifications, but also to "keep his enemies closer".

But he won't. He will keep Feiglin far, and demonize him at every opportunity. he will try to portray himself as centrist.

Feiglin in the end will be marginalized for the most part. The real benefit of having him in the Knesset will be that he strengthens the bar on the right side of the scale.

The people want the Likud to return to its right wing roots. this "centrist floating vote" everyone is trying to attract is a farce.

I was speaking to a friend the other day. He is a former Likud member. He told me, when I asked him if he supports Likud nowadays, that he no longer does. They have turned from the Likud way. He said he was originally in Beitar (the precursor to the Likud), and then Likud, but later stopped his involvement because of what they did.

I spoke to him again this morning and asked him what he thought about the primary results. he was very happy Feiglin succeeded, and guys like Benny Begin and boogie Yaalon succeeded. He is not religious, he is older, and he admires guys like Menachem Begin. he is not what people consider the typical "Feiglin supporter". So his response surprised me, as the first thing he said was that he was happy about was Feiglin's victory.

I said in surprise "You like Feiglin?" and he said yes. He explained "Feiglin is honest, and he is true to what the Likud used to be."