Likud ministers who have bickered in recent days over controversial legislation
united Thursday against the possibility of Ehud Barak and his Independence Party
allies being given reserved slots on the Likud list in the next
election.
Pinhas Wolf, the political correspondent for the Walla News
website, broke the story two weeks ago that Netanyahu was working on a deal in
which he would ask the Likud central committee to enable him to reserve slots on
the list and in return additional slots on the list would be reserved for
current Likud MKs.
Netanyahu, Barak and their aides have all denied the
report and subsequent stories about a deal between the two. But Likud ministers
and MKs are convinced that Netanyahu will still try to pass such a proposal, and
they have become increasingly up front with their criticism.
“Barak is
not an electoral asset but an electoral burden,” Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon said
in a closed-door meeting at the Likud’s Tel Aviv headquarters that was revealed
by Army Radio. “We don’t need to bring him in to undermine us from
inside. We don’t need to reserve slots for people whose views are very
different from ours on diplomatic issues and settling the land.”
Public
Diplomacy Minister Yuli Edelstein told
The Jerusalem Post that he had been
saying for weeks that Barak was a burden and that the only way he should be
allowed to run for Knesset with the party was if Likud members would choose
him.
“Likudniks know who is an asset and who is a burden,” he said. “If
Barak thinks he’s such an asset, he could run and put himself to the test. But
the polls all say that he can’t even get his party over the
threshold.”
Edelstein criticized Barak for the many confrontations he
instigated with residents of Judea and Samaria and for his record on
international issues. “He has gotten Israel in trouble with the American
administration on multiple occasions when he promising things he couldn’t
deliver,” Edelstein said.
“The last thing we need is to give him a
reserved slot on the Likud list.”
Both Ya’alon and Edelstein said they
personally rejected advice to ask for reserved slots when they joined Likud, as
did Bennie Begin and Dan Meridor when they rejoined the
party.
Independence faction chairwoman Einat Wilf said she was thankful
to Ya’alon for ruling out her party running with Likud. She said his statements
would help Independence attract support from people who are skeptical that it
would run on its own.
“I want it clear to everyone once and for all that
our party is independent,” she said. “We’re not the Likud. We have
different views.
“I don’t understand why they keep talking about us
joining Likud. We have a base for support to at least win the five seats we have
today, but people have been telling us that they like our ideas but they don’t
believe we’re running alone.”
Wilf said it was in the interests of the
Likud for the two parties to run independently because her party could attract
support away from Kadima that the Likud could not.
Decisions about
changes in the Likud bylaws such as initiating reserved slots will be voted on
in the Likud central committee following the party’s January 31 internal
election.