The Chairman announced that his party will not participate in Round C: "We must not join any party, must wait" • "All proceeds go to cover debts, we work voluntarily"
Feiglin Announces Retirement // Photo Archive: Oren Ben Hakun
Moshe Feiglin, chairman of the Identity Party, announced Friday in his Facebook account that his party will not run in round three of the elections. "The political space is not listening to our gospel. Identity will resonate with its vision outside it, and will again cope when Israeli society matures for change, "he wrote.
In a lengthy, well-reasoned post, Feiglin explained the reason for the move. "On Day 1, we talked about the real issues and moved the discussion to the identity space. The debate that is plaguing Israeli society is not about right and left questions, nor is it about corruption and cleanliness, but about the question of who we are at all. The government for the last 20 years ceased to be expressed in the Knesset, because after a time of identity, Avigdor Lieberman was also able to understand that the loss of the right and left spaces was lost - and the focus shifted to the identity space.
Netanyahu and Feiglin in joint statement // Archive photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
"He removed from the right-wing camp the rightists who do not want a Jewish identity, so his right-hander to the left and the joint list - and created a crippling draw. We were very close, but in my wrongs it did not happen. I do not blame anyone but myself. And maybe, after all, besides my own fault, Israeli society is simply not yet ripe for a revolution that offered identity. "
On the second day of the election, he wrote: "Despite the exhaustion and the financial difficulty, we decided to fight again. Identity members argued that our main difficulty was the right-wing voters' concern that we would join Gantz, so we announced that we were part of the right. Later, we connected with Netanyahu and no longer listened to our gospel.By the second day, the political system became a device that ear infiltrates listening to any message except for or against Netanyahu.
"Identity has never joined the Likud, as it was slandered and no secret annex has been attached to an agreement with Netanyahu. The opposite is true - even though Netanyahu strongly wanted it, and even though such joining would have eradicated all party obligations, I rejected this proposal outright to keep it "The independence of identity and its ability to continue to preach its gospel. Identity remains completely independent and continues to be fully committed to all its obligations."
"Identity must run itself"
Continuing on the path of identity, Feiglin wrote: "It's no secret that right now we want to run in one technical block or another, to take votes from Lieberman, also the option of running in the framework of religious Zionism has arisen. But today I understand that such a position of identity will not hear. Member of Knesset - but identity gossip will die.
"An identity must run itself and must not join any party. If at present it is unable to do so - it must wait and act as a conceptual movement. Don't worry, the opportunity to realize our ideas in politics will come.
"We will not bury our diamond again in the quicksand of the right and left spaces. We are here for the people of Israel not for politics. When conditions under which politics will serve our gospel rather than bury it - we will use it again. In the meantime, we will rebuild the movement and ourselves."
On his party's duties, he said, "All of the proceeds of Identity are directed only to the repayment of debts. All the activities we do are voluntary. I make a living today by giving lectures in Israel and abroad, and writing articles. I want to end with a heartfelt thank you to all the dedicated activists and all the generous donors I have been with for almost three decades. "