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Dr. Aryeh Eldad imbibes for the cause.
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| By Orit March 2, 2006 |
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| MKs Effie Eitam and Dr. Aryeh Eldad hit the bars. |
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The Lilenblum bar compound in Tel Aviv received surprise visitors when members of National Union-NRP MKs Aryeh Eldad, Effie Eitam and number 23 on the list Yehoar Gal -- identified with the "orange" anti-withdrawal camp -- decided to go bar-hopping Wednesday night to tour and campaign in an area where they are unlikely to find their natural constituency.
Nightlife establishments in Tel Aviv have the image of being a hub of antipathy towards right wing parties, so National Union-NRP decided to talk with people out on the town in Tel Aviv and to let them know that members of the right-wing party can also enjoy a nice cold one in a Tel Aviv pub.
"I think the main idea of coming here is to say that at the end of the day despite our differences and the major dispute we are facing, we are one nation," said MK Effie Eitam, who seemed comfortable sitting at the bar.
As the MKs sat at the various pubs over beer and casual conversations with the Tel Aviv night owls, activists handed out postcards of pictures of right wing MKs and religious youth with the slogan "do you want us to be your neighbors?", an allusion to the party's stance against withdrawals from Judea and Samaria. The postcard plays on the perception that Tel Avivians generally don't like religious Jews and settlers.
"Don't you think the land of Israel is the natural place for the Jews?" Gal asked one of the youth having a drink at one of the bars.
"I'm a person first and then a Jew," answered the youth, reflecting the widespread disconnect secular youth feel from Judaism.
MK Eitam thinks that this disconnect stems from the embracement of secular liberal values represented by the Israeli metropolis. "From my experience, many Israelis adapt a very extreme version of individualism. They find after a while they don't have strong ties to the nation and to the religious sector."
Different and surprising conversations sprung up on the street with the MKs and passersby, one of them being Yoni Shaim, head of Meretz at Aviv High School in Ra'anana.
In a friendly tone and with some banter in between, he asked MK Eitam, "Is land more important than human life?" to which MK Eitam answered, "What's more important: your father or your mother? It's because the land will cost blood that we don't want to give it up." Shaim wasn't convinced, but each wished each other well, while MK Eitam praised him for at least having an ideology.
Amit Barak of Gush Etzion, a National Union-NRP activist, handed out the postcards to mixed reactions from people strolling the pub-lined street. Some laughed, some even said they would vote for National Union-NRP, and some said they'd be happy to have settlers as neighbors. But most of them just took the postcard and went on their way.
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