Praying for victory at the cave

Liberman prays for electoral victory at Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Liberman at Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron 370 (photo credit: Tovah Lazaroff)
Liberman at Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron 370
(photo credit: Tovah Lazaroff)
Hoping God would grace him twice, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman traveled to Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs on Monday to pray for electoral victory for his party’s joint list with the Likud.
He drove up to the cave in a gray van and was immediately mobbed by photographers and reporters.
Wearing a white kippa and a blue suit, he recalled for reporters a trip he took to the cave right before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was elected to his first premiership in 1996.
“I was Likud’s election headquarters manager. On election night, I sat together with Bibi [Netanyahu] as the media reported that [current President Shimon] Peres had won.
“I told him this made no sense to me, as all day long I had received reports from the field that we had won.
“We drove to the exhibition grounds and thanked the party activists.
“I felt that moment that I had to go to Hebron, to the Cave of the Patriarchs.
“So, with a small group, at 2 or 3 in the morning, without security, we climbed the steps up to the tomb, and were told that the tide had begun to turn and the counting had become a lot closer. We went in and prayed,” he said.
Liberman glanced at the stairwell leading to the cave and added, “When we exited, on those same steps, we were told the final result. Likud had won, Bibi had won.
“This same impulse to visit here returned, and before this election, I felt I had to come here.”
Surrounded by Border Police and security guards, he entered the cave. While he posed for the camera, he refused to take any questions.
He then entered the Abraham and Sarah hall adjacent to Abraham’s tomb and prayed.