By Uriel Heilman –  29/7/2012 - www.jta.org

If there’s one thing Danny Danon doesn’t do, it’s shy away from controversy.

Danon, a deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset and chairman of World Likud, has come under fire for describing African migrants in Israel as a “national plague,” for hosting controversial U.S. TV personality Glenn Beck at the Knesset and for demanding government investigations of left-wing NGOs.

Though Danon is in his first term in the Knesset, his profile is rising quickly on the Israeli political scene — perhaps more than anything else because of his unapologetically nationalist vision for Israel’s future.

He wants Israel to annex all the Jewish-occupied and uninhabited land in the West Bank. He wants Palestinians living on the remainder of the West Bank to become part of Jordan, Egypt to take control of the Gaza Strip and the international community to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state on the west bank of the Jordan River (it’s fine by him if the Palestinians take over the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on the east bank). Danon does not believe in land for peace or the two-state solution.

Danon outlines his blueprint for Israel’s future in a book due out in September, “Israel: The Will to Prevail,” though the book focuses more on history than the details of the blueprint.

“I’m working very hard to present a different approach for the peace process,” Danon told JTA in a recent interview in his Knesset office. “Our goal should be to annex the maximum land with the minimum Arab population,” he said of the West Bank. “We should speak about our rights and not apologize for it. We have biblical rights, historical rights, rights according to international law. We also have common-sense rights: We won the war.”

While his ideas might seem far-fetched and antiquated — a throwback to notions that haven’t been discussed with much seriousness since the pre-Oslo era — Danon believes Israelis are warming to them.

“We live in the Middle East; everything is dynamic here. With time it can be feasible,” he said. “I don’t accept that my views are on the fringe. I do believe one day they will be accepted.”

Danon’s detractors fear this is becoming true – in Israel, at least.

“Ostensibly, one could even ignore the existence of this Likud backbencher, but little Danny Danon will be big, the sugar of the Israeli right,” Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy, a left-wing critic, wrote last summer. “So it’s better to pay attention to him now rather than later.”

Levy’s column compared Danon to Joe McCarthy for backing legislation targeting left-wing nongovernmental organizations and for initiating a bill to dismiss Israeli-Arab Knesset member Hanin Zuabi for participating in a flotilla aimed at breaking Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

For the full article please click here

World Likud praises the report released by the Committee to Examine the Status of Building in Judea and Samaria, headed by Supreme Court Justice (Ret.) Edmond Levy. The report affirms the legality of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, concluding that Israel is not an occupation force and that the State must ease land acquisition and zoning protocols for Jews residing in Judea and Samaria. It also ruled that Israeli settlement in the West Bank is not in violation of international law and that “Israel does not meet the criteria of ‘military occupation’ as defined under international law.” The ruling is based on the fact that “no other legal entity has ever held sovereignty over the area, including Jordan.”

Click here for conclusions from the Levy Commission Report

By Danny Danon

The people of Israel lost a true leader with the passing of Yitzhak Shamir. Before assuming the reins as our seventh prime minister, Shamir dutifully served his people and his country first as head of the underground Lehi, then in the Mossad where he was responsible for tracking down and eliminating some of our worst enemies including Nazi war criminals who had fled to Egypt, and finally in the political arena where he served as a member and then speaker of Knesset, foreign minister and finally prime minister after the resignation of his mentor Menachem Begin.

Upon the death of a loved one, we often take the time to look through the memory book of their life and search for the lessons their legacy can teach us. In the case of Yitzhak Shamir, a multi-volume set of thick-bound tomes might be more a appropriate metaphor. These books are filled with the earth of the whole land of Israel, and immersed in values and an understanding of our unique place in history. His spirit and his values are an inspiration to all of those who love this land, and especially to the members of his beloved Likud movement that strives to stay true to Shamir’s teachings.

You do not negotiate on your core ideology.

This is what guided Shamir in his steadfast defense of the rights of the Jewish people to their historic homeland. In the years he guided Israel’s foreign policy, he would not compromise on this basic tenet. In 1992, under intense pressure from the American administration, Shamir stood fast and made clear to the world that money cannot buy values. He bravely rejected the US demand that he stop building in Judea and Samaria in return for loan guarantees.

This money was very much needed to absorb our brothers who were then coming home from the former Soviet Union, but Shamir knew that such an act on his behalf would be a slippery slope that would set a terrible precedent for the future leaders of Israel. Such a move would have endangered his beloved settlement enterprise which he knew was invaluable for the future wellbeing of the state.

Shamir’s decisions and policies were not always popular or politically correct. There was no end of criticism both in Israel and from the international community. In fact, there were times when his refusal to abandon his core values probably cost him at the ballot box, such as when he lost to Yitzhak Rabin in the 1992 elections. Nevertheless, over time, his steadfastness disproved today’s assumption that you must be guided daily by opinion polls to obtain power, and then govern.

Without ever abandoning his beliefs, Shamir was able to not only reach the highest office in the land, but he also ended up serving in office longer than any other prime minister since David Ben-Gurion. Moreover, because of his intellectual honesty and core decency, since leaving office Shamir was admired by all Israelis – whatever their political persuasion – for the great leader that he was.

To better convey Shamir’s unique foresight and leadership capabilities, I must share a short story. In the early 1990s, while serving as a Betar emissary in the United States, I invited one of my childhood heroes to come speak to my host community. Yitzhak graciously agreed to speak at an event I had organized promoting Israel and aliya. When he was asked for his opinion about the demographic threat that is so often raised, Shamir answered with full confidence that we must remain steadfast and work tirelessly to bring millions of Soviet Jews home to Israel.

At that time, such a prediction seemed completely unrealistic, and even a tad naïve. Nevertheless, Shamir’s analysis proved with time to be completely accurate and proved how important it is for a leader to remain true to his values. By believing and planning, one million Russians ultimately came to live in Israel, changing our core demographic reality forever.

That night, after he had finished addressing the group, I had the honor of spending an evening with the former prime minister. I was enthralled with his stories and life lessons, especially with his core conviction that a leader must truly believe in and be ready to defend his policies. If a leader does so, he told me, there is no need to worry about the criticism that will inevitably follow any brave decision.

Yitzhak Shamir was truly made of the very fibers of which history is woven. We must all strive to fulfill the legacy of Prime Minister Shamir. He starkly proved that sometimes in history, saying “no” is the best possible way to achieve “yes.” We should all do our best to remain true to our beliefs and none of us should go to sleep at night without asking ourselves: “What have I done today for the Jewish people and the land of Israel, and what can I do tomorrow to ensure the safety and wellbeing of these two unwavering commitments of the beloved Yitzhak Shamir.”

For the full article please click here