No matter how the post-election wheeling and dealing plays out next week, the resulting government won’t be much different from what we have now. The party leaders will compete for the choicest ministries, and once everyone is settled in, the status quo will remain the status quo, with Bibi calling the shots and the coalition partners clinging to what they’ve managed to grab a hold of for themselves. This means being good soldiers and not questioning the wisdom of the ‘peace process’ and ‘two state solution,’ empty mantras that have led neither to peace nor any kind of solution, in spite of the fact that they have been official government policy for all these years.
 
There is only one party that has refused to compromise its principles to win approval from the media, the courts and the other elites in this country. It has held firm to the core principle that the land of Israel belongs to us, the people of Israel. It is not to be negotiated away in the false hope that we can appease our sworn, perennial enemies. While Bibi calls for another Arab state to be established in Israel’s heartland and Naftali Bennett proposes Arab autonomy over roughly half of Judea and Samaria, Otzma refuses to relinquish Jewish sovereignty or control over any part of the Land of Israel. No other leaders faced down Bibi’s bulldozers and defended the right of Jews to live in Migron, Ulpana and anywhere else in our land as did Otzma’s MKs, Dr. Michael Ben-Ari and Professor Aryeh Eldad. Not a single new Jewish settlement of any real size has been built in Judea or Samaria in almost thirty years, and Otzma is the only party that has vocally called for this to change. Yasher koach, Otzma Leyisrael!
 
No other party stepped forth to stop the illegal infiltration into Israel of many tens of thousands of African Muslims and others until Otzma shed light on the issue and shamed the ruling elites into taking action. The government had dumped the problem on south Tel Aviv, transforming it into a massive refugee colony, and bringing crime and squalor to the Jews who could not afford to leave. Otzma’s leaders refused to close their eyes to the problem. They established their headquarters in south Tel Aviv. They marched, they protested, and they brought the new inhabitants of south Tel Aviv on field trips to north Tel Aviv’s country clubs. They were condemned for pulling such “stunts,” but they didn’t care. The media was forced to report on a situation that they had all but ignored, the people recognized the enormity of the problem, and the political elites were forced to take action. Infiltrators are being deported. A wall is being completed. Thank you, Otzma Leyisrael!
 
And then there are the Arabs who live inside the mythical “Green Line.” The very mention of them in proper Israeli discourse is a surefire way to evoke shrill accusations that one is a kitsoni (extremist), a gizani (racist), or even, if the media is feeling especially frisky, a fashist (Fascist). So while other parties are happy to score political points by going after Jewish settlers, haredim or even the Russians among us, no one dares to call on Arabs to respect our laws and to honor their obligations as Israeli citizens. No one, that is, except for Otzma Leyisrael. Otzma led the charge to try and throw Haneen Zoabi out of the Knesset after she participated in the Mavi Marmara terrorist attack on Israel, and to disqualify her from running this time around. They confront illegal Bedouin construction and criminal gangs in the Negev and Muslim extremism in the Galilee. Kol hakavod, Otzma Leyisrael!
 
In short, I am convinced that we need Otzma’s voice in this next Knesset, because there just isn’t anyone else we can depend on to speak truth to power, no matter the cost. No matter how few or how many seats they win, I know that by casting my vote for Otzma Leyisrael, I will have acted on my true convictions as well.
 
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