The Andrew Jackson of the Middle East

Yesterday, Reason published a
profile of Moshe Feiglin, an Israeli politician whose views
remind me of Andrew Jackson’s: He wants more liberty for his own
people while giving the Gazans the Cherokee treatment. The article
includes a link to Feiglin’s recent
open letter to Benjamin Netanyahu but it only quotes a few
words from it; I thought I’d post a longer selection, just to
underline how ugly it gets:

What is required now is for
Israel to internalize the fact that Oslo is finished: That this is
our country—our country exclusively, including Gaza. There are no
two states, and there are no two peoples. There is only one state
for one people….

Israel must take the following action:

A. The IDF will designate certain open areas on the Sinai border,
adjacent to the sea, in which the civilian population will be
gathered, far from the built-up areas that are used for rocket
launches and tunneling. In these areas, tent encampments will be
established, until relevant emigration destinations are determined.
Electricity and water supply to the formerly populated areas will
be disconnected.

B. The formerly populated areas will be shelled with maximum fire
power. The entire civilian and military infrastructure of Hamas,
its means of communication and of logistics, will be destroyed
entirely—down to their foundations.

C. The IDF will divide the Gaza Strip laterally and crosswise,
significantly widen the roads, take control of commanding
positions, and destroy nests of resistance—if any remain.

D. Israel will start to locate destination countries and
immigration quotas for the refugees from Gaza. Those who wish to
emigrate will be given a generous economic support package and will
arrive at the receiving countries with significant economic
capabilities.

E. Those who insist on staying, contingent on proof that they have
no affiliation with Hamas, will be required to publicly sign a
declaration of loyalty to Israel. They will then receive a blue ID
card similar to that of the Arabs of East Jerusalem.

F. When the fighting will end, Israeli law will be extended to
cover the entire Gaza Strip. The people expelled from Gush Katif
[that is, the Israeli settlers removed in 2005] will be invited to
return to their towns and villages and the city of Gaza and its
suburbs will be rebuilt as Israeli tourist and commercial
cities.

Feiglin has also
rejected the idea that Israeli Arabs should be fully equal
citizens and
called for the government to use live bullets against
Palestinian protesters.

When The New American, the John Birch magazine,

interviewed Feiglin last year, he claimed that his worldview
was “very similar to the libertarian concept.” It may be similar
where conscription, marijuana, marriage, and U.S. aid are
concerned, but unfortunately Feiglin’s opinions do not stop there.
I have a big-tent vision of libertarianism, but that tent isn’t big
enough for ideas like forcing civilians into camps, holding them
there indefinitely while “destination countries” are found,
shelling the homes they left behind, and telling them that if they
want to return they’ll have to accept a second-class
citizenship.