Recently fired Kadima council chairman Haim Ramon is encouraging rebellious
Knesset members in Kadima to break off from the party, MKs in the party’s
faction said on Thursday.
The MKs added that Ramon, who helped to found
Kadima, said he wanted to instigate what he called “a second political big
bang.” They said Ramon, who supported Tzipi Livni in the Kadima leadership
election on March 27, is in touch with her and she is aware of his
efforts.
A spokesman for Livni said that she is not involved in any
attempts to split.
A mini-rebellion in the Kadima faction continued to
gain steam on Thursday.
Five Kadima MKs have said they want to break off
from the party, but legally they need seven to split.
The rebels
expressed confidence that not only would they eventually draft two more MKs,
they would obtain the nine MKs needed to be the largest opposition faction and
to replace Labor chairwoman Shelly Yacimovich as opposition
leader.
Former MK Omri Sharon, the son of Kadima’s founder, former prime
minister Ariel Sharon, criticized new Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz on Thursday
for bringing the party into Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s
government.
Sharon said he would continue to support the party, unlike
Ramon, who quit Kadima on Wednesday.
But he added that going to early
elections would be better for the party.
“I would prefer replacing the
bad government we have today,” Sharon said in closed
conversations.
Yisrael Maimon, who was Ariel Sharon’s cabinet secretary,
also criticized the move, saying that Kadima needs to differentiate itself from
the Likud.