Former MK Feiglin: ‘Trump Dangerous for Israel’

One Israeli politician who will not be lining up behind Donald Trump’s candidacy is former MK Moshe Feiglin. Feiglin, who was a Likud representative in the last Knesset, for years headed a Likud faction called Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership), and has since begun a new political movement called Zehut (Identity).

As such, Feiglin is recognized as one of the leading spokespeople for the far-right in Israeli politics – and in a statement Sunday, the former MK said that the admiration many on the right have for Trump is misplaced. Trump’s bombast, which has made him popular on the Israeli right, could easily be turned against the Jewish state – as happened with a bombastic Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon.

“The support I am hearing among many on the right for Trump reminds me of the support they gave Ariel Sharon. A ‘bulldozer’ without a responsible driver will in the end run people over, wherever they can get away with it. Trump is more dangerous to Israel than any of the candidates,” he said.

Sharon, the former prime minister who passed away four years ago, was lauded by the right for years over his policy of support for Jewish settlement in Yehudah and Shomron, and for his quelling of the second Intifada during 2001-2003 – only to be bitterly remembered as the architect of the 2005 disengagement from Gaza and northern Shomron.

“America will always be with us if we ourselves support our own independence, and will be against us if we don’t stand up for our rights,” said Feiglin. “What will set the tone for support for Israel abroad will be how we perceive our rights to the Land of Israel,” he added.