Analysis: Bibi's hoops team and the Left's limitations

In this free agent season, Labor is not even on the court.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
dan meridor caesaria 298 (do not publish again) (photo credit: Flash 90)
dan meridor caesaria 298 (do not publish again)
(photo credit: Flash 90)
Kadima leader Tzipi Livni compared the Likud on Sunday morning to the free agent window in basketball, when teams try to sign the best players they can. She mocked the players that Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu has brought to his party, ranging from Bennie Begin on the Right to Dan Meridor on the Left, accusing them of not having enough common ground to function as a team. This will indeed be a challenge for Netanyahu, who will now have to run a party with politicians who believe that an agreement with the Palestinians is necessary to save Israel, others who believe that such a deal would endanger the country, and some who have either not made up their mind or change it regularly for their own political gain. If the press conferences of Begin and Meridor are any indication, Livni is exaggerating the problem. Begin the hawk went out of his way to endorse direct peace talks with Syria to see whether President Bashar Assad would be willing to give what his father was not, while Meridor the dove said he did not believe it was possible to achieve peace with the current Palestinian leadership. Meridor and Begin praised each other's leadership and said they were looking forward to working together. This is a far cry from previous divisions in the Likud that led to splits in the party. Begin didn't sound like the kind of rebel leader that Uzi Landau was when he protested 2005's disengagement from the Gaza Strip, which ultimately persuaded then-prime minister Ariel Sharon and his Likud allies to form Kadima. Meridor said the current divisions in Likud were nothing compared to the infighting over prime minister Menachem Begin's peace agreement with Egypt, which led to the establishment of Tehiya in 1979. The return of the very different Likud princes, Meridor and Begin, to their fathers' party ironically came at the same time that prime minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination was being marked in ceremonies from Beit Hanassi in Jerusalem to the square named after him in Tel Aviv. The Rabin rallies are used every year to attack the Right and accuse it of collaboration with assassin Yigal Amir. Rather than highlight the positives about Rabin's life that could be used to unify the population, the rallies always emphasize the divides at the time of his death and are used as a pulpit to blame nearly half the nation. Labor chairman Ehud Barak continued that tradition when he used his speech to warn of the dangers of "bad seeds" on the Right, whom he said had become "tumors" threatening Israeli democracy. Livni's speech was less divisive. She made a point of talking about the Israelis who were not in the square. President Shimon Peres scolded the organizers of Saturday night's rally in Rabin Square for not inviting people on the Right to the event. Two prime ministerial candidates, Livni and Barak, addressed the crowd while the third, Netanyahu, was not invited, even though he might get the vote of Rabin's own son, Yuval, in the February 10 race. It is not surprising that when the Left is excluding people, its flagship party, Labor, is falling to nearly single-digits in the polls. And the Likud, which is opening its doors to people of varying views, is climbing in support. While the Likud is constantly drafting new political rookies and returning veterans, in this free agent season, Labor is not even on the court. If the Left does not start becoming more inclusive soon, it might end up having to invite Netanyahu to come to next year's rally in Rabin Square from the Prime Minister's Office.