Spokesmen and supporters of National Union and the National Religious Party are denouncing Baruch Marzel (and his Jewish National Alliance—Hazit) for having deprived NU-NRP of one mandate.
Before addressing this issue, let me first congratulate the 25,935 people who voted Hazit. You did not succumb to the paltry propaganda about not “wasting your vote on a small party.” Hence you are the most highly principled and intelligent citizens of Israel, and I salute you!
You were not influenced by polls and petty pollsters. What concerned you was not numbers or quantity, but names and quality; and you saw in Baruch Marzel, and in the names of Hazit’s candidates, character, courage and uncompromising conviction. That’s what you voted for, and this is why you did not vote for NU-NRP.
You would not vote for any party that joined a government whose prime minister was committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
You would not vote for any party that signed a coalition agreement that obliged the signatories to abide by the Oslo covenant of death.
You would not vote for any party that joined a government whose prime minister pursued the immoral policy of self-restraint toward Arab terrorism, a policy that resulted in the murder of 1,000 Jews.
You would not vote for any party that remained in a government whose prime minister nullified the 2003 election by adopting the opposition party’s policy of “unilateral disengagement,” a policy rejected by the vast majority of the electorate.
And you would not vote for any party that remained in that government while its perfidious prime minister was preparing the IDF and the police to dispossess and deport 10,000 Jews from Gush Katif and northern Samaria.
Again I salute you for voting for Baruch Marzel’s party, which alone called for the abrogation of Oslo, zero-tolerance for Arab terrorism, and the elimination of the Palestinian Authority, which, whether led by Fatah or Hamas, is committed to Israel’s annihilation.
The question remains: By voting for Baruch Marzel’s party, did you deprive NU-NRP of an additional mandate?
Possibly, but it’s hard to say, because no one really knows how the 25,935 people who wisely voted for ,strong>Hazit would have voted had they been deprived of the opportunity to vote for the only party opposed to Israel’s corrupt Establishment of which NU-NRP is a part.
Although some voters, in the absence of Hazit, might have reluctantly voted for NU-NRP, others might have reluctantly voted for Likud, or perhaps another party. Many might have simply stayed home out of disgust. Baruch Marzel wanted to give such people an alternative!
But let us suppose Marzel did deprive NU-NRP of an additional mandate. So what! This may toughen up the flabby leaders of that compromised coalition. They know that Hazit is a force, that even though it lacked money, was blacked out by the media, and was undermined by the propaganda about not voting for a small party, nevertheless, Marzel won the equivalent of one mandate.
But wait! How many mandates did the NU-NRP deprive Hazit by that self-serving propaganda?
In any event, NU-NRP leaders will now have to watch themselves on basic issues, because Marzel’s party will expose their failings, their compromising of Jewish principles in the name of a shallow and shoddy pragmatism. This alone justifies Marzel for competing in the 2006 elections.
To all who are committed to Israel’s Jewish and territorial integrity, you are indebted to Baruch Marzel!
