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.
RELATED:'Tea Party’s Christian ties will alienate Jewish voters' America: Anyone for a tea party? 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.”