A strong Israel

Tomorrow, millions of Israelis will head to the polls to carry out their democratic right and duty and vote for our country’s next government.

While this is a time for celebration – we are the only real democracy in the Middle East – this is also time for Israelis to determine their future: Will we embark on a path of strength and fortitude or one of apologies, weakness and capitulation.

The Likud has endorsed Palestinian statehood; Moshe Kahlon has spoken about a withdrawal to the 1967 lines; and Avigdor Liberman talks about setting our border along Highway 6, the country’s main artery.

Without a strong Bayit Yehudi I cannot guarantee that we will succeed in preventing future concessions which are tantamount to national suicide.

In this outgoing government, we prevented the release of Palestinian terrorists with blood on their hands; we succeeded in lowering the cost of living by 5.5%; we created 138,000 new jobs; and we enacted the law to increase minimum wage.

We proved what people until now thought was impossible: you don’t have to be left-wing to be sensitive to our country’s social needs.

The same time that we in Bayit Yehudi worked to safeguard our national homeland, we also pulled people out of the clutches of poverty and integrated new segments of society – ultra-Orthodox men and Israeli-Arab women – into our workforce.

We proved that you can be right wing, you can care for the Land of Israel, and at the same time, you can be sensitive to our country’s social needs.

Our presence in the government is all the more important in light of the ongoing upheaval throughout this volatile region. While we support Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and will recommend that he form the next government, we know that without a strong Bayit Yehudi next to him, Netanyahu could potentially be steered in the wrong direction, to the left.

If we are small, if we are not big enough, we will not be able to have the needed influence. We will be able to scream and yell, but real influence comes with real numbers.

A government with a strong Jewish home is a government that will not release terrorists, that will not agree to a freeze in settlement construction, that will not discuss the division of Jerusalem and will not allow Israel to return to the dark days when our people were murdered on the streets of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Haifa and Ariel.

We will stop apologizing for defending ourselves and for living in our national homeland. We will stop apologizing when our soldiers go to war to defend us and they will know that they do not stand alone when fighting for our survival. We will do what it takes to protect Israel and to ensure our continued security and prosperity.

A strong Bayit Yehudi means a strong Israel.