Likud to Target Jewish Home 'Extremists' in Latest Campaign

Arutz Sheva ^ | 3/1/13 | Elad Benari

[Eleutheria5]

In its latest campaign against Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home), the Likud is planning to attack the candidates on its list which are considered to be more "extreme".

Israeli mainstream media has been criticizing the Jewish Home for supposedly "hiding" some of its candidates and refusing to allow them to be interviewed, while giving other candidates who "sound better" on television much more airtime.

Now, the Likud is planning to use this criticism and point out the "hidden" candidates to the public. These are mostly candidates from the Tekuma party's list, headed by Uri Ariel, which merged with the Jewish Home for the elections.

The online campaign, which will be launched Thursday, will expose some of the views of the Jewish Home's candidates against inclusion of women under the slogan "The Jewish Home Against Women."

It will target, among others, number 4 on the Jewish Home list, Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan from Tekuma, former director-general of the rabbinical court system, who has called in the past to cancel the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women. The campaign will also name Motti Yogev from the Jewish Home, former director of Bnei Akiva and deputy head of the Binyamin Regional Authority in Samaria for leading "the separation between girls and boys at Bnei Akiva."

The Likud also plans to mention Rabbi Dov Lior, the spiritual leader of Tekuma, who "thinks a woman should not appear in court."

Explaining the reason for the campaign, the Likud said on Wednesday, "Many of those who are considering voting for the Jewish Home are not aware of the party's connection with Tekuma and the people who head it."

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[Eleutheria5]

Hello. Earth to Bibi. Bibi. Come in please. Ahead of Bayit Yehudi in the polls is Labor. Remember them? They are supposedly your ideological foe. Do you want to form a coalition with Labor, or a right-wing party. You are right wing, aren't you? That's what everybody says you are, and they also say you are an "extremist". Maybe you aren't an "extremist," but if you want a coalition with Labor, then you also aren't right wing. So who's the remaining genuine right wing party that's in the lead? Bayit Yehudi. So I'll vote for them, "extremism" and all. Thank you for your time. Just got my voting card. Can't wait to vote against you.

[goldstategop]

I see a good chance of Bayit Yehudi overtaking Labor to become #2. The Likud isn’t worried about Labor so much as parties to its right, which are siphoning off votes.

If trends hold up, Bibi will still be re-elected but his preference for a centrist government probably won’t be realized.

And Israel is entering the home of the stretch of the election campaign.

[Eleutheria5]

“The Likud isn’t worried about Labor so much as parties to its right, which are siphoning off votes.”

I would worry too, if I were Bibi. He’d prefer a coalition with Labor, because then he could be “centrist” (great series of Latma sketches on the abuse of that term). Parties to Likud’s right are right wing. Likud merely poses as right wing, so genuinely right wing voters who twig that fact then look for a real right wing party.