Moshe Feiglin, chairman of the Zehut party, has issued a sharp response to attacks against him following an extensive interview with the Olam Katan newspaper, in which he presented a framework for anchoring Israel's Jewish identity, combining preservation of the national-state sphere alongside transferring communal management authority to residents.
In a special clarification video he posted, Feiglin firmly rejected the claims circulating against him: "Since this morning they've been spreading false and ugly spin against me, trying to cut half a sentence to present me as someone who decided to support public transport on Shabbos. We held a deep ideological discussion about the Jewish identity of the State of Israel, and I explained exactly what I always say: state institutions must maintain a distinctly Jewish character. Ben Gurion Airport as a national airport must be closed on Shabbos, as must Channel 11 as a public channel, and there must be no harm to Jewish identity in any way or form."
Feiglin addressed a question put to him in the interview regarding a law that would ban public transport across the board: "In the last half-minute of the interview, when time had already run out, they threw me a completely theoretical and hypothetical yes-or-no question, would I even support a law designed to ban public transport on Shabbos across the board, even in places where it has existed for decades? And I answered honestly: yes. Why? Because we're fed up with political provocation laws whose entire purpose is to ignite civil war in Israel."
"Judaism is based on freedom of choice, not on coercion. For 30 years political operators have been waving sterile coercion laws. What did we get from all this? Did we get more Jewish identity? Did we get more Shabbos? Exactly the opposite. They brought the supermarket law, and didn't close a single pizza shop, but they set the country on fire, invited destructive High Court rulings and caused the situation today where 'Na'im B'Sofash' bus lines race across Gush Dan free of charge, funded by all our municipal taxes. These laws don't protect Shabbos, they destroy it, create a backlash and hatred for Torah and desecrate the holy things of Israel for another headline and a few more votes at the ballot box."
