Our Tzipi is better than Kadima's

This is Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely's letter in response to Mr Obama's "67 Borders" speech

Jerusalem, 16^th of Iyar, 5771
May 20th, 2011

To my dear friends,

I have always had a great affinity for America. I lived there, when I did my national service for Israel as an emissary in Atlanta, not so long ago. As a girl in school in Rechovot, at a young age, I learned that America was the first country to recognize the nascent State of Israel's independence. So tonight is a sad night... a very sad night, for myself, for the Jewish people, and for our country.

Before another day dawns in Israel, I am obligated to correct a few inaccuracies in the American President's speech. Then I want to tell you what WE are going to do about them.

President Obama stated:  "What America and the international community can do is to state frankly what everybody knows. A lasting peace will involve two states for two peoples". I am obligated to correct the President. Not everybody knows, recognizes, or believes in two states. This is not the platform of the Likud, That is not my belief, and as a legislator in Jerusalem, I will do all that is in my power to ensure the future of the Jewish State lies from the Mediterranean to the Jordan. 

Then there was the endorsement of a return to the 1967 lines, with the quick and ambiguous allusion to the white elephant in the room, namely Jerusalem. Of course, in 1967, Jerusalem was divided and an endorsement for these borders is a de facto endorsement of dividing the eternal capital of the Jewish people. This means no Western Wall, No temple Mount, No old city. This means rending the heart of Israel from our people. This is not a sustainable policy and this is not acceptable, for unless Washington DC is negotiable than neither is Jerusalem! Yet letters, articles, and voicing discontent are sometimes not enough.

We must speak through action. We must use our actions to communicate that Jerusalem is indivisible and that no man, even the President of the United States, can put a boundary on the Jewish People's connection to its capital. This message must be communicated to our Prime Minister, so that he may know that he needs not bow to pressure, for his nation is behind him. This message must be sounded in capitals throughout the world, by citizens of all nations. For this reason, next Friday May 27th, 2011, I will be conducting a tour of unified liberated Jerusalem for the Likud Anglo movement (Details here). Likud Anglos brings together Jews of all nationalities, and together we will defend our claim.

Lastly Mr. Obama outlined how we need to make some important choices, between hate and hope, and between the shackles of the past and the promise of the future, and here I agree with him. We must recognize the hatred that is fomented against us and we must hope that if we trust in our rock and our redeemer, our morals and our convictions, that the Jewish State will persevere. We must choose to destroy the shackles of failed diplomatic tracts, and through that we can create a more secure future for our state. Lastly, no matter where you are from, we must choose to stand together, as Jews, united for the only state that we have, the State of Israel.

Long before President Obama informed us that this time of choices was upon us, King David wrote the words which every Jewish groom recites on his wedding day: "If I forsake thee oh Jerusalem, let my right hand lose its cunning". I invite you all to join me next Friday and to make that choice, to stand with Israel, and to stand with a unified Jerusalem.

Shabbat Shalom,

Tzipi Hotovely
Member of the 18th Knesset
Chairperson, Committee on the Status of Women