Bibi Trying to Form New Government, Prevent Elections
Excerpts:
“The former finance minister has the support of 55 Knesset members from several parties, which according to current polling data are expected to suffer severe losses in the next elections, according to the Hebrew web site NFC and Israel Radio.”
“Besides Knesset members in the Likud who oppose Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, MKs in the National Religious Party, Shas, National Union and United Torah Judaism are backing the move. If Netanyahu succeeds in forming and holding together a coalition, he will become Prime Minister and enable the current Knesset to continue in session until its mandate expires next November.”
Likud MKs Look to Delay Elections
Excerpts:
“A number of Likud MKs are looking to replace Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with a new national leader at the last minute and delay elections for a year.”
“To do so, they must collect 61 signatures from fellow MKs in favor of the new leader and present them to President Moshe Katsav by December 8. The strategy for delaying the elections is based on the assumption that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s new party would lose popularity in the interim.”
“It’s widely assumed that MK Binyamin Netanyahu, one of the leading candidates for Likud leadership, is behind the initiative, although a source close to him denied it. The source said he didn’t believe it was possible to gather the necessary names.”
“Until two weeks ago, MK Uzi Landau was similarly looking at such an initiative and had gathered 56 names, said a spokesman. Landau dropped the quest because he was unable to sway Shinui to join the list, a move that would have taken him beyond the required 61.”
“December 8 is the date on which it is expected that the president will approve the dispersal of the Knesset and authorize the start of the election period.”
“A Shas spokesman said it would only consider signing on to such a list, once it saw 50 other names in support. But a spokesman for Landau said that once Shinui was on board, Shas was no longer needed.”
“MK Yuval Steinitz said … ‘If Sharon is not the prime minister, his new party would collapse’… . Steinitz said he believed that such a list of signatures could reach as high as 70 or more. ‘I think most parties have a clear interest in not doing what is convenient for Sharon.'”
If these moves to postpone elections succeed, 2006 will be a lost year productively, economically for Israel. The Histadrut will see to that. Look for Labor strikes and work actions galore.
Further, if Bibi Netanyahu is, in fact, behind this move in order to achieve the Prime Ministership, once succeesful, he would have the marked advantage in the Likud leadership race. This would then reveal the sham of his backing off from running for Prime Minister under similar circumstances after Ehud Barak’s resignation in 2001.
At that time, Bibi backed away from putting together a government upon Barak’s resignation saying that he could not or would not govern under grid-lock conditions. His back-down brought Arik Sharon undisputed power which he dictatorially abused.
The bottom line on Bibi is that he openly revealed over the past year and a half that he, like Sharon, does what’s best for himself, the nation being expedient to his own sphere of power.
And the old-line political hacks of Likud: they’re scared of losing their seats, their power centers, either to Sharon or Peretz, or to as new brand of Jewish faith-based Leadership.
The only up-side would be the possible collapse of Sharon’s Kadima party. Elections: “Let’s get it on.” Waiting on the Likud Primary. MB
Yishai Says No Deal With Shinui
PM Differs With Sheetrit’s Views on Settlement
Excerpts:
“Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s aides on Saturday distanced the premier from comments made by a political ally eschewing further settlement in the West Bank.”
“Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit, who broke with the Likud to join Sharon’s new party Kadima, told The Jerusalem Post Friday that people should ‘build only in Israel’ and that ‘the true Zionism of tomorrow is not to build a single additional house in Judea and Samaria.’ He instead supported settlement in the Galilee and the Negev.”
“Asi Shariv, the PM’s media adviser, said the remarks were Sheetrit’s alone and didn’t reflect Sharon’s thinking. ‘This is his opinion and the prime minister has a different view,’ Shariv said.”
Betar Chairman Says PM Used Threats to Win Over Politicians
Excerpts:
“World Betar chairman Danny Danon will submit on Sunday a petition asking the High Court of Justice to forbid Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from holding conferences with local officials.”
“Danon claims Sharon has been using political threats to convince leaders of local authorities to switch to his new Kadima faction.”
“The Betar chairman, who is vying for a place on Likud’s list of MKs, will request from the High Court to prohibit the prime minister from meeting with local authority leaders, and from using his authority within the Interior Ministry to promote the interest of his party.”
“The petition accuses Sharon of putting pressure on leaders of local authority to join his party by forcing them to visit his official residence in Jerusalem, and threatening to subtract from their piece of the ‘public pie.'”
Excerpts:
“… Ariel Sharon currently appears poised to become the first person ever elected precisely because nobody believes a word he says. Although Sharon continually pledges allegiance to the road-map peace plan, most of his supporters do not really believe that he intends to negotiate a final-status deal with the Palestinians, which is the plan’s key provision; if they did, they would almost certainly not vote for him. Similarly, though Sharon has repeatedly vowed not to carry out another unilateral withdrawal, most of his supporters plan to vote for him because they do expect him to unilaterally withdraw from more of the West Bank.”
“And this is precisely what makes the prospect of a Sharon victory so frightening: By rewarding Sharon’s dishonesty rather than penalizing it, Israeli voters would send the message that not only do they not object to being told lies, they actually want and expect their leaders to lie to them.”
“Lying to the electorate has been the Israeli political norm for the last 13 years, ever since Yitzhak Rabin’s victory in 1992.”
Peretz Announces Plans to Step Down From Histadrut Leadership
This author holds that the issue covered in the report below is inextricably tied to the political campaign currently underway. MB
PA Appeals to Pope to Support 1949 Borders
Excerpts:
“The PA turned to the Pope on Saturday to back a new Arab state with Jerusalem as its capital. Last week, the PA addressed the EU, which ignores Jerusalem’s status as a united Israeli city.”
“Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Authority (PA) invited Pope Benedict to visit Jerusalem and Bethlehem after meeting with Italian officials on Friday. He asked them to host an international peace conference, according to its Italian envoy, Nemer Hammad.”
“‘You will be very welcome in Jerusalem and the holy places,’ Abbas told the Pope during a 20-minute private audience. Reuters News Agency reported, ‘By specifically mentioning Jerusalem, which is under full Israeli control, Abbas was making a clear political statement.’”
“The PA radio network, Palestine National News, reported, ‘His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI accepted a Bethlehem passport from the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today [and] becomes the first new citizen of Bethlehem following the launch of ‘Open Bethlehem’, an international campaign to save the city.’ However, Abbas, denied that the document include a passport.”
Sad Prediction: The Vatican will pressure Israel hard regarding Jerusalem as capital of the proposed “p.a.(sic) state” with Mt. Zion as a key bargaininmg chip. Will Israel be morally strong enough to do what Jews must do, what’s right in the eyes of Hashem? The answer hinges on what kind of leadership, either faith-based Jewish Leadership or secular leadership, arises in Israel in the coming weeks and months. MB