The big question after the Likud primaries has been where does Moshe Feiglin go from here? How does he move forward?
I do not have the answer to the question. Feiglin has called a convention for Monday night in which he will announce his plans for the future, or at least begin the discussion.
However, the rumors are swirling, and the news is reporting on some of them. The two main rumors are that, first, Feiglin will either join up with Eli Yishai's new party Yachad - Ha'am Itanu, and, second, that Feiglin will form his own new party and make a run for the Knesset. Both of these rumors state that his intention would be to rally the public around him to form a large bloc that will lead the nation.
To me this makes no sense. Moshe Feiglin has spent the last 15-20 years rejecting the calls for him to join the smaller parties and has insisted that the only way to lead the nation is through the Likud. I don't see how he can go back on that now and tell people that the way forward is with the small parties, or forming his own small party.
What he can do is say he was wrong, and instead will lower his expectations and plans and then join a small party or form his own and work for the best he can accomplish through that venue, rather than the goal he has had until now of leading the nation.
He can also stay in the Likud, or he can resign from politics.
The truth is that he does not have much to show, within the Likud, for his 15 years of work. He has led the way, and paved the way for the Right and other religious people to take leadership positions and move the religious sector into leadership positions, such as the surge of Habayit Hayehudi, but within the Likud he has little to show for his work. He could not even gather 12,000 votes within the Likud after 15 years, which means he is probably not worth much from an electoral perspective to any specific party.
It is a shame. I liked him. I thought he did good work. I thought his attempt to bring faith and Judaism to government was important, and I thought he served [mostly] with honor and dignity. I think his presence will be sorely missed in the Knesset. The best I can hope for is that he will have paved the way for others to move into the type of leadership positions that he was promoting.
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