What are the Bayit Hayehudi party ideals and plans, and to what does its
leader, Naftali Bennett, attribute his meteoric rise?
Wednesday 9 January 2013
"Join the 'Jewish Spring'"
Arutz Sheva spoke to
Bayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home)
chairman, Naftali Bennett, in English so that readers can have the
opportunity to read his answers in the original words in which they were
spoken.
Bennett's English is unhesitant and fluent. He is just as
eloquent in English as he is in the Hebrew speeches that continue
to result in rousing applause – and constantly rising polls - all over
Israel. A former commander in the elite IDF commando unit Sayeret
Matkal and a graduate of Haifa's Yavne Yeshiva High School, he is the
son of American Jewish immigrants from San Francisco.
Q. What is your central message for Anglo voters?
Bennett: Our central goal is to restore
proud Jewish identity to all Israelis. For too many years, too many
people here have been ashamed to say that they love
the Jewish people, its Torah and
its land, the values that led Western immigrants to move to Israel.
These are very interesting elections. We all know who the
next prime minister will be. The question is what kind of government he
will form, will it be left or
right? Will it be a national Jewish Zionist coalition with us as a major
party or will it be a leftist one? We have to be strong enough to make
the decision to form a nationalistic coalition the only feasible one.
Q. What about those who say you are extremists?
Bennett: Quite the opposite. We are the
real "centrists"– loving our heritage is centrist, loving the Land of
Israel is centrist, loving the Jewish People is centrist – that is what
most Israelis feel, but there were those who made them feel ashamed to
say so out loud. We are getting them to speak up.
We are the real centrist party because Israel is more
Jewish than it has ever been.
If you think it is insane to hand over land to our enemies,
you are not extremist, you are centrist. If you want user-friendly
religious services, housing that is affordable, you are not extremist,
you are centrist. The once centrist parties have turned left. In fact,
many of our views are similar to those of the Labor party in the
seventies. It is they who have changed.
We have a fantastic list. Nine of our first group of
candidates were in combat units, we have three experienced former MK's,
our younger candidates are idealists with proven accomplishments, we
have three talented women, and another Anglo besides me. The Jewish
Home has room for all Zionists.
Q. To what do you attribute your meteoric rise?
Bennett: It is not because of me, it is
the natural outpouring of what Israelis feel in their hearts and needed
an opportunity to be able to express. We are back to the basics and it
is like a volcano erupting.
In fact, we are witnessing a "Jewish Spring" that is
sweeping Israel, and that's why secular and religious Israelis are
identifying with us and voting for us. People who believe the existence
of the Jewish state is vital for Am Yisrael and love the state and the
IDF are our supporters.. They might not wear a yarmulke, but perhaps
they say Kiddush, light Shabbat candles, perhaps they put on tefillin.
They are looking for a Jewish home and we are that
welcoming "Jewish Home" that makes them feel at home with their roots.
We are a vital bridge and I hope we meet the challenge.
It turns out that most Israelis have a strong Jewish
identity, one that for many years may have been dormant – but it is
there.
Q. What is your message to the different groups
that make up Israeli society?
Bennett: We have to restore and strengthen
basic values by tearing down the walls between various "tribes" in
Israel and stop alienating one another – hareidi and secular and
religious are one people.
Our primaries showed me that we must open up to everyone,
secular, Sephardic, Ashkenazic, residents of the North and South.
Q. How do you propose to solve the hareidi issue?
Bennett: Hareidi Jews are our brothers, we
are not going to go in for hareidi-bashing. Torah learning is a national
interest of Israel.
However, there are many hareidi men that don't study all
day, but don't serve in the army. They should join, should serve and
work. The hareidim know that too, they don't want to stay locked in
poverty. We need positive steps, not penalizing, not adding more
dissension, but creating viable options that suit hareidi men, options
such as battalions with special kashrut, new ideas such as making them
firemen and ambulance drivers, suggestions that comply with their unique
lifestyle.
This needs time and patience, not force. Forcing will
curtail the progress that has already been made.
Q. Should we strengthen the Prime Minister's party?
Bennett: Anglos who are debating whether
it is important to strengthen the ruling party, Likud, should look
at its record for the past four years and see why the opposite is true
and the Likud needs a strong partner. In the last four years, the Likud
declared that it was for a Palestinian Arab state against its own
platform, it froze construction, it stopped the Pillar of Defense
Operation before a conclusive result was reached, it let anti-Zionist
hareidim take over religious services and conversion, did not accept the
Levi Report, all this despite all the religious and rightist MK's in the
party.
Q. What are your educational goals?
Bennett: Too many young people don't know
our heritage. When I was a commander, I wanted my soldiers to know my
background and respect it. Current Education Minister Gideon Saar said
we need non-religious ministers of education to succeed in including
Jewish heritage in the curriculum so it won't seem sectarian – and I
say, be proud and do what you think the Jewish people need. We have to
be proud of our people and stop the galut (exile) mentality, we also
have to be proud if we are religious Zionists, Jews who value the Torah
of Israel, the People of Israel and the Land of Israel.
Q. How do you see the Chief Rabbinate's role?
Bennett: The Chief Rabbinate should be
able to spread the beauty of Judaism to the wider nation as it once did.
It is a wonderful opportunity for the country to see that a great Talmid
Chacham can make their intersections with Judaism positive experiences.
The charismatic leader of the revitalized Religious
Zionist Bayit Hayehudi party has a message for olim in an English
video below in which he says: "My parents are from California. They
chose Zionism out of love for Israel. The Bayit Hayehudi is your home
because it represents the values and ideals that led you to make Aliyah.
It’s time to take the message of your Aliyah to the entire country."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/164038
Posted @ 15:59
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