Michael Ben Ari (R) and Aryeh Eldad
under their campaign slogan "No Duties – No Rights," introduced their
new party "Power to Israel" at a press conference in Jerusalem, Tuesday,
November 13, 2012.
Photo Credit: Miriam Alster/FLASH90
MKs Aryeh Eldad and Michael Ben Ari are leaving the National Union
party to set up "Power to Israel," with a slogan that translates,
roughly, "No Duties – No Rights."
In third place in the list is right-wing activist Baruch Marzel, and in
fourth place right-wing activist Aryeh King, known for his efforts to
enhance Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem. In fifth place you'll find
Itamar Ben-Gvir, MK Ben-Ari's media consultant.
Eldad and Ben-Ari announced their new party at a press conference in Jerusalem Tuesday morning.
MK Eldad, a renowned plastic surgeon who decided to devote his life to
preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state, said at the
conference: "We announce the establishment of a new Knesset faction, but
you can't talk politics without talking about southern Israel. At this
hour, a million civilians are in shelters under the threat of missiles,
while a government I can only describe as crazy continues to provide
water and electricity to the Gaza Strip. This is one of the things we
want to change as we stand as a new faction in the political arena. The
lack of security in the south also reflects a picture of insecurity in
central Israel. Terrorism threatens us from the outside, and the terror
of illegal infiltrators threatens us from inside, and we will deal with
both."
Eldad described a vacuum on the right: "Liberman has joined Netanyahu
and is now sitting in one list with Dan Meridor. Deri is dragging Shas
to the left, to the Oslo days, and therefore there is a need for an
ideological right-wing that will say things that have been forgotten:
Without duties you cannot have Rights. The Land of Israel belongs to the
people of Israel. The National Union is collapsing, this is no way to
run a political system. We bless our colleagues, Ketzele and Uri Ariel,
who are returning home to the NRP. We have no doubt that they will take
care of the national-religious sector, but we have a different agenda."
Eldad was referring to MKs Yaakov Katz and Uri Ariel, his partners in
the now abandoned National Union faction, who will be running to the
19th Knesset on the Jewish Home list.
MK Uri Ariel attacked Eldad and Ben Ari's decision in an interview on
Arutz-7 (owned by his partner, Katz). "I'm very upset about this move,"
he said. "We approached them and offered in writing to go together and
lead the National Union to winning a lot of seats and to serve as an
anchor for the Netanyahu government, but, unfortunately, they chose to
split."
MK Ariel warned that Eldad and Ben-Ari will not pass the threshold vote
(about 2%) and end up causing great damage to the right and to Israel.
Michael Ben-Ari explained that his new party "means what it says, it's
not just talking, it's doing. We will join the coalition not for
positions or budgets, but only for the implementation of the principles
that will add power to the State of Israel. We represent loyalty to the
people of Israel."
As an example of wrongdoing, Ben-Ari added: "MK Benny Begin just boasted
of transferring funds to the Arab municipal authorities. Are they
paying municipal taxes over there? Are they paying income taxes? First
do your duty, then receive your Rights, this is our message."
Incidentally, a recent poll predicted that a new party headed by Eldad
and Ben-Ari should pas the vote threshold and receive two Knesset seats.
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