Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Israeli naval commandos who participated in the raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla last May Photo: AFP The new movement, which has taken inspiration from the US conservative group, is being spearheaded by disaffected former and present members of Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party,
When it holds its inaugural rally in Tel Aviv on Sunday, the movement's stated target will be Mr Obama, the US president, whose call for a halt to Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank has caused anger on the Israeli right. The Likud party has long opposed the creation of a Palestinian state.
According to Michael Kleiner, a former Likud legislator who is one of the driving forces behind the movement, Mr Obama's policies towards Israel resemble the British attitudes in eighteenth century America that caused the original Boston Tea Party.
"We believe President Obama is trying to force us to do things that most Israelis believe are very dangerous," Mr Kleiner said. "We are being blackmailed to sacrifice our security and vital interests by another country, which is unprecedented."
"We also believe Netanyahu is crumbling and is going to give in on the [settlement] freeze."
The Palestinian leadership has effectively frozen its participation in peace talks until Mr Netanyahu decides whether or not to extend the settlement moratorium.
Sunday's rally, which will draw several serving Likud legislators, will also be an uncomfortable reminder of the backbench rebellion, led by Mr Kleiner among others, that forced Mr Netanyahu to call an early election in 1999, which he then lost.
