Israel to get its own ‘Tea Party’ movement

Version promises to be just as patriotic, provocative and antagonistic to Obama as American version; opening rally held at ZOA house in TA.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
tea party rally US (photo credit: Mark Holloway/JTA)
tea party rally US
(photo credit: Mark Holloway/JTA)
Move over America. Israel is joining the tea party.
A new grassroots effort is beginning that is modeled after the American conservative social movement. The Israeli version promises to be just as patriotic, just as provocative and just as antagonistic to US President Barack Obama.
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The movement will hold its opening rally on Sunday night at the Zionist Organization of America House in Tel Aviv under the banner “Saying no to Obama.”
The immediate goal of the movement will be to pressure Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to give in to Obama’s demand that Israel renew the construction moratorium in Judea and Samaria.
Israeli Tea Party spokeswoman Sarah Tiktinsky predicted that Obama would renew efforts to push Israel following next Tuesday’s midterm elections in the US, and said Obama’s leverage on Netanyahu must be countered with equal force by the Right.
“Netanyahu has been under intense pressure from Washington,” Tiktinsky said. “History has proven that Bibi caves in to pressure, so something must be done to stop him. No one in the Likud faction is taking the serious steps to stop him, so it must come from the grassroots.”
Current and former politicians will take part in the event, including Likud MKs Ayoub Kara, Danny Danon and Yariv Levin, as well as former Likud MK Michael Kleiner, who is one of the rally’s organizers. Settler leaders will also be welcomed, led by Shomron Regional Council Chairman Gershon Mesika, who has publicly compared Obama to Haman and Antiochus.
The Tea Party movement in the US began in 2009 with protests against Obama’s economic policies and spread like wildfire across America. It is named after the 1773 Boston Tea Party, in which American colonists demanded “No Taxation without Representation.”