Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
Earlier today I did something I hadn’t planned on doing. I shocked myself in doing it, and surprised my wife when I told her what I planned.
I have considered myself a fan of yours. I remember the first time I saw you on CNN during the first Gulf War. You were so poised as you demonstrated, quite graphically, with your hands on a map, the difference in size between tiny Israel and the vast area of lands that are Arab controlled. You were able to get your point across so strongly that the image was breathtaking.
I remember going to the April 2002 rally in Washington DC with my two oldest children. Despite the extreme heat, heavy traffic, and congested streets, over 100,000 of us came together to show our support for Israel. I remember your speech and the rousing emotion you drew from the crowd that day. Your eloquence and clear love of and devotion to your country shone through so brightly.
I have often lamented, both privately and publicly (in this column), how terribly our public spokespeople represent us. Their lack of skill in the English language makes them seem weak and almost dishonest. As someone with a mother-tongue level command of the language, I have believed for years that you are our best advocate to the world—someone with whom the average person can relate.
When we came on aliyah five and a half years ago, we came with a dream for the future. We came with a devotion and love for our land and our country. We came to fill both our religious and our Zionist yearnings for Israel.
We, and many others like us, chose to leave our families and the familiar surroundings of our origins to come to a land which was foreign to us in many ways. We came in answer to the clarion call of you and your predecessors, a call that thousands have answered, a call to be a vastly needed part of the State of Israel.
We did not, as have many more thousands of others, run away from our homes. We were not facing vast persecution; we were not indiscriminately harmed or tortured by our neighbors. No, all other things being equal, we could probably have lived happy lives in “the old country.” Yet we still came.
We came because instead of running away, we were running towards. We ran towards our dream. And our dreams have often come true. Despite the difficulties we may have faced in acclimating to different systems and ways of life, often our dreams have come true. Our children are living a fulfilling life, one in which they are more comfortable and secure in who they are and in being Jewish than they ever did living abroad.
Some of us have fully integrated into existing communities, while others have chosen to group together into our own communities. Some commute abroad for work while others joined the Israeli labor force. Each person, each family, has their own unique way of finding their level of “fitting in.”
Yet we are all here to be a part of our land and our country. Something that you and every prime minister before you has encouraged as a necessary part of the growth of our country.
I was so excited and proud to cast a vote in the last elections. Excited to have my voice heard and proud to have that opportunity. No longer one to sit and talk about what should be done, I had a voice in choosing who would get it done.
I eagerly voted for you. Not wanting to see Kadima dismantle the country, I voted for you because I thought that you were the best option for the future of the country. While I may have agreed more closely with some of the minor parties and their platforms, I saw a vote for them as a vote for confusion and disagreement. I did not want to see the national government so weakened by a lack of mandate that it was effectively paralyzed.
I did not want to make a protest vote or a statement vote, one that ultimately supported you when my chosen party became a part of a coalition in your support, because I wanted you to have a stronger hand. One in which you did not have to cave in on every little issue that arose.
When you first regained the prime ministership, I was alarmed at how badly our relationship with the U.S. was turning. Yet, you stood tall and refused to knuckle under to President Obama’s need to live up to his Peace Prize. I thrilled at every gesture and nuance in your address to the U.S. Congress and felt vindicated in my choice; here was a leader who knew how to work Congress and how to stand up for his country. Here was someone they could identify with, despite President Obama’s clear dislike for you.
As the Likud elections approach, I had planned to ignore them. You were clearly going to win, despite Moshe Feiglin’s efficient support network. If he were to win, I doubt that Mr. Feiglin could carry the next election as leader of the party. It would thus be either a Kadima- or Labor-led government moving forward, neither choice one that I would be happy with. I believed (and still believe) that of all the choices for leadership currently available, you are still probably the best one.
With Mr. Feiglin unelectable (in my opinion) as prime minister and you as a shoo-in choice to win the Likud primaries, I figured I didn’t need to show up. Furthermore, your decision to essentially ignore the activities in Bet Shemesh, be it the actions of extremists in terrorizing little girls or the current city government’s plan to seemingly leave the Zionists out in the cold here, was not encouraging. I was happy to not vote at all and by not showing up in support of you, my candidate, I hoped to send you a message.
I wanted to tell you that making private deals to promote Bet Shemesh as a chareidi city is unfair to the current majority of residents and to point out to you that all we want is to maintain the demographic status quo. I wanted to tell you that you need more backbone in standing up to those who support religious extremism and standing together with those who voted for you when you were elected rather than standing with those with whom you made political deals to support you. I wanted to tell you that you should stand more strongly in not giving away our land simply because the American president wants you to do so. I wanted to show you that you need to be mindful of the ideals of the many of us who have come here and contributed so much to our country.
Yet, as the news has leaked over the past few days, it seems clear that, if the reports are true, you will soon cave in and turn over more than 95% of Yesha to people who will not allow us to live in our land, many of whom I suspect would rather kill us than have us as neighbors. You have not denied these reports.
Instead, your reported stance is that this information was prematurely leaked in an effort to undermine developments. So, in essence, you seem to have confirmed the news, while refusing to officially do so.
So, I went and did something today I never thought I would do. Despite years of supporting you and believing that you were our best hope, I went to the Likud primaries and voted for a guy who I doubt could win the general election.
Your spin doctors have already starting talking about how the election will be skewed because the Feiglin voters actually vote while the rest of the Likud voters stay home. They are already worried that a strong Feiglin showing will indicate weakening of your support. I sure hope they are right.
I hope that you think about that weakening as you approach the national elections. If they were held today, I would vote for a small party. Not because I think they can solve the crisis, but in the hope that being forced to build a fragile coalition will paralyze your ability to make sweeping changes on an international basis. And with the prayer that you do not join with Kadima or the new Lapid party and make a disastrous “unity” government.
Perhaps if you are worried about losing, you will come home to the people who voted for and supported you. Perhaps if you think your support is wavering, you will play to the faithful, those who would love to support you if you would actually represent what they view as their interests.
Until then, Mr. Prime Minister, you have lost my vote.
Shmuel Katz
Shmuel Katz, his wife Goldie, and their six children made aliyah in July of 2006. Prior to his aliyah, Shmuel was the executive director of the Yeshiva of South Shore in Hewlett. You can contact him at shmuel@katzfamily.co.il.