Channel 14 is reporting that Moshe Feiglin, head of the Zehut party running in the upcoming Israeli elections, has made an interesting proposal.

so word has it that Moshe Feiglin and PM Netanyahu have come to an agreement that will have Feiglin drop out the elections and rejoin the Likud. In exchange it seems he will receive a ministerial position for Zehut (him or someone else, not sure), promise of pushing legislation for cannabis legalization and something about paying off Zehut debt, or some of it.

There are claims it might be political bribery, and there is precedent on the municipal level for such a claim, but we'll let that play out and I wont deal with it. I will assume their lawyers are good enough to write out the deal in a way that won't be illegal. And, it very well may be that it is only illegal if actually implemented, not just by the offer itself. Since Netanyahu probably can't be trusted to actually pay up, he'll almost surely find an excuse (he might even say it is illegal) to avoid it, it might not even be illegal in retrospect. And then whatever happens, happens.

Two interesting, for me, points:

1. A lot of people online are scoffing and sneering At Feiglin and his supporters for coming to this deal. Feiglin is a sellout. Feiglin is only looking out for himself. Feiglin went back on his promise to not take a deal. etc etc etc

My comment would be that all these people, until today, have been screaming about how Feiglin should drop out and he is wasting votes and he will be the cause of a left-wing government. Yet now that he is dropping out they are calling him a sellout and a hypocrite and selfish. They just want to complain about Feiglin no matter what he does. It is all under the guise of election behavior and responsibility, but they just want to take pot shots at Feiglin, no matter what he does.

2. When Ayelet Shaked recently tried to get back into the Likud, Netanyahu and his cronies pushed her away with two hands. they even said at one point that Shaked is undesirable because she is a party-jumper like Tzipi Livni. Yet here Netanyahu goes and brings in Feiglin, who was in the Likud and then left and formed Zehut. Netanyahu has brought others into the Likud as well from Kadima and other parties who would all qualify as party-jumpers.

Otzma Yehudit and Zehut, especially Zehut (Moshe Feiglin) are upset that Shaked and Bennett came to a final agreement for a merger with the United Right and left them out int he cold. Otzma Yehudit is saying "forget it, we will go with NOAM now", and Zehut is saying they will run alone. And they are laying the blame on Ayelet Shaked for their running alone, and for any eventual right-wing votes that will be wasted as a result.

Personally I see no problem with her first working on the deal with the main party, United Right, and only going to the smaller parties after. A deal with Feiglin in advance could have complicated negotiations with the United Right and that deal was far more important, to Shaked, to Bennett, to Smotritch, to Peretz and to the Right, than a deal with Feiglin or Ben Gvir.

And Shaked has said that now that this deal has been finalized, she will spend the coming days working on bringing in Zehut and Otzma. So another deal may, or may not, work out anyway, but she did the right thing by moving first to work out a deal with Peretz and Smotritch.. 

As much as Moshe Feiglin has always said he is not the focus but Zehut is the focus, the ideas are the focus, and he can leave one day and someone else will take over and everything will be the same, that was never really true. Moshe Feiglin was always the focus, always the issue. Feiglin is the draw for his supporters, not Zehut. They never put up anybody else to share the spotlight and to try to attract voters, because Feiglin has always been the guy for Zehut.

On Friday Zehut had a crisis. It seems Moshe Feiglin has been fighting with the controlling board and reserving a high spot on the list for a personal appointment. The steering committee has rejected Feiglin's request and has refused to allow him to appoint his guy to the spot he wanted to. The steering committee points to the recent primaries held, open primaries that Moshe Feiglin himself devised and was so proud and boastful of, and says we cannot change that. Feiglin resigned from Zehut.

Feiglin resigned from Zehut.

Feiglin resigned from Zehut.

Basically that means the end of Zehut.

Everyone was in a tizzy. Events were quickly canceled and nobody knew what would happen to Zehut at that point. Shortly after, Feiglin took his spot back revoking his resignation, after being bombarded with requests and also after some scheduled event in Afula insisted he still come and remain in his position.

Feiglin rescinded his resignation, and in his place, most of the members of the steering committee resigned. He was left with a few other of his people. Feiglin canceled the results of the primaries and appointed 22 people and spotted them according to his own desires.

It looked like Zehut is dead in the water, but they are at least going through some serious problems that they might or might not work their way out of.

Reports have them today trying to come to an agreement and put this all behind them.

Whatever happens, with this balagan it seems unlikely any party will agree to a merger with Zehut, even just as a technical bloc. Whatever happens, many people who supported them or thought about supporting will likely stay away - nobody wants to be involved in such a chaotic party. Their chances of success were already not great, based on history, and this makes it all that much more difficult. Whatever happens, the open primaries they were so proud of, the symbol of being the most democratic party in Israel (in their words), has all been wiped away and Feiglin/Zehut is no better than Yair Lapid, Ehud Barak, UTJ, Shas, and all the other parties that appoint their people as per the wishes and whims of someone rather than through primaries - this is generally fine as most parties do it but when you have bragged about your primaries, this is no longer fine.

Zehut is all Feiglin, and it always has been.

As the campaigns get into high gear for the final blast before the elections, there have been some interesting videos and ads from various parties. None have been quite as noticeable as this.

Candidate for Knesset Moshe Feiglin participated in some sort of humoristic show on Ynet. The episode was absurd and confounding. I am not even sure if absurd is the right word for it, but it is the best word I can think of.

Here is the clip:

weird and pointless. I don't get it. I don't know what was going on, unless he was high on the cannabis he wants to legalize.

Smotritch and others have criticized this appearance and are pointing to it and asking potential Zehut voters, who might otherwise vote for the Ichur Yemin (aka Habayit Hayehudi) or other right wing parties, if this craziness is what they want to put into the Knesset.

While his behavior looks strange, I suspect that most Zrehut supporters will brush it off and say it is perfectly fine for him to have a sense of humor, let his hair down a bit, go with the flow and have a good time. Nothing wrong with it. As absurd as that performance was, it takes away nothing, and adds nothing, from/to anything he has said or done about his future plans. Weird, but no big deal. I doubt any voters will switch parties because of this.

My problem with [Zehut] is that I do not know if this party is party of the right. They have one person that was thrown out of Shas, they have another that is against brit mila.. I need to see their party platform.

  -- Deputy Minister Yaakov Litzman

the Zehut platform has been available for anyone to read for a while now. They are not hiding it. If you "need to see the platform", go take a look at it...

this has somehow become the hot topic of this election season...

The good news is that the political party Zehut, led by Moshe Feiglin, has finally made its first appearance in the polls as crossing the minimum threshold. Even if you do not support Zehut, it is good to see that so many votes will, hopefully, not just be wasted, if the polls are any actual indication of what to expect.

The publication of this poll by Israel Hayom on Friday has generated a lot of interesting reactions.

Zehut supporters and activists were overjoyed on social media and posted exuberantly about the polls finally show Zehut passing the threshold. Zehut opponents and others who have insisted on not voting for Zehut so as not to waste votes responded with comments such as the polls not being correct or there is no chance it will happen or other reasons not to vote for Zehut.

I find these both interesting.

Zehut supporters and activists have all along said they do not pay attention to polls and do not care about them. They wrote off Zehut not appearing in poll results explaining that pollsters do not know how to poll for Zehut, as Zehut is using new methods of campaigning and politicking never before seen in Israel. They said the polls do not know how to read the map with Zehut, so they are worthless, at least in regard to predicting Zehut's future success.

Suddenly the polls are starting to show Zehut passing the threshold and they are overjoyed, as if the polls are important and do know how to read Zehut.

So all along, they really did care about the polls but had to convince themselves the polls are not important to justify their continued support for, what was then, a failing party.

And the opponents of Zehut who have all along argued against voting Zehut so as to not waste votes on another party that will not cross the threshold, generally argued this. I am referring to people who are potential supporters of Zehut, in the Zehut wheelhouse - not political opponents. Like any political party, there is a multitude of reasons some people might support a party and others might oppose it. I am not referring to people who oppose Zehut because they disagree with the platform or dislike the leadership and other personalities behind it. I am referring to people who could be supporters of Zehut, within a similar ideological "Venn Diagram" but opposed Zehut and argued against solely because of the concern that Zehut would not cross the threshold and would be a wasted vote. These people should theoretically now see the new poll and say that perhaps it deserves reconsideration, or they should express their support.

Instead, even these potential supporters who insisted all along that they won't vote Zehut because of the wasting of the vote, are now suddenly giving other reasons why not to vote for Zehut. So all along, their opposition to Zehut was really just opposition to Zehut. Their excuse of the wasted vote was just an excuse, perhaps an easy brush-off of annoying Zehut activists.     

a guest post by Moshe Burt

Zehut Party in Israel and the First Ever Home/Office Computer/Cellular International Primary Vote

Mark Burt‏ @BloggerFool

2day the Zehut party https://zehut.org.il/ members in Israel/Intn’l held the 1st ever, anywhere, home/off computer/cellular primary vote.

the big ZEHUT kickoff conference is tonight in Tel Aviv...