MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud) on Friday leveled sharp criticism on the Jewish Home party, and presented his own plan to end the “silent intifada” of Arab terrorism sweeping over the capital city of Jerusalem.
Speaking to Galei Yisrael public radio, Feiglin was asked how he would act to put down the current wave of violence if he was prime minister, and responded “I would send home most of the police and soldiers. There’s no need for them.”
“The concrete barriers and separation barriers, the mechanisms and technologies, they are all a result of a lack of strategy,” added the MK. “We will return to the Temple Mount. We will remove all foreign sovereignty from there, there will be Israeli police officers there, and there will be quiet.”
Feiglin visited the Temple Mount on Sunday. The Mount, which is the holiest site in Judaism, has been banned to Jewish prayer by the Jordanian Waqf (Islamic trust), and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed to Jordanian King Abdullah II on Thursday to keep the discriminatory status quo after Jordan withdrew its ambassador.
The MK, who is to run against Netanyahu in Likud primaries, was asked about a possible political partnership with Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett.
“I think Naftali Bennett is doing very important work in religious Zionism, but unfortunately he is not carrying the message of faith on his shoulders, and I think he knows it too,” said Feiglin.
In a likely reference to Jewish Home’s recent controversial decision to more actively target the secular and Druze populations, Feiglin said “in order to lead the people of Israel you need to go to them and not to run from the (religious Zionist) sector.”
“It’s good that Naftali Bennett is opening the borders of the sector, but that still doesn’t constitute approaching the people of Israel,” added Feiglin.
Speaking about MK Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home), Feiglin noted “she’s really an excellent Knesset member, but putting this cherry on top of the cake doesn’t make you a party of the whole nation of Israel.”
Feiglin last December criticized Jewish Home, as well as his own Likud party, for two controversial instances of legislature.
In one case, he complained “the right has disappeared” after he was the only MK from traditionally “right-wing” parties to appear at a vote that would make the division of Jerusalem more difficult; in another instance he attacked Jewish Home and the nationalist camp for passing a law giving same-sex couples a tax break as if they were a married couple.