Kadima candidates fear 'Deri effect' on coalition

Officials speculate Yishai may want to hold election soon to avoid challenge to his Shas leadership.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Yishai brill 248.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Yishai brill 248.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Both leading candidates in next Wednesday's Kadima primary, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, have vowed to do everything possible to form a new government and avoid initiating a general election. But Kadima sources said Wednesday the chances of a new coalition being formed following Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's expected resignation next week may depend on the fate of one man: former Shas leader Aryeh Deri. Shas's 12-man faction holds the balance of power and its current chairman, Eli Yishai, can bring down the government whenever it is most convenient for him despite the wishes of the leaders of Kadima and Labor. Kadima officials speculated that Yishai might be interested in holding an election soon to avoid a challenge to his leadership from Deri. The chairman of the Central Elections Committee, retired Judge Eliezer Rivlin, decided against ruling on whether Deri can run for Jerusalem mayor or whether he must wait for seven years since his release from prison before he can seek office as the law states. The High Court of Justice could end up making the final decision, unless President Shimon Peres issues Deri a pardon. Should the court rule that Deri must wait seven years, Yishai could initiate an election to ensure that it takes place before the seven years are up in July 2009, so that Deri would not be allowed to run for the Knesset. "We believe in political stability, but if Shas or other coalition partners want an election, we will be ready," said coalition chairman Yoel Hasson, who supports Livni in the primary. "I can only hope that the heads of all our coalition partners put the needs of the country as their top concern and not narrow, internal political considerations." A Shas spokesman said that what mattered to the party was child allotments from the National Insurance Institute, and that Yishai was not concerned about challenges to his leadership because he had the support of Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. "Yishai will prefer to initiate an election rather than enter the next government if it does not raise child allotments, and we have been saying that for months," the Shas spokesman said. "Apparently in Kadima they are starting to understand that if the payments do not rise, there will be an election and they will lose half their mandates. That's why they're worried." The four Kadima chairmanship candidates continued on the campaign trail Wednesday. Livni held a rally in Haifa and Mofaz held one in Beersheba. The two other candidates, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit, gave interviews. At Livni's event, she and her top supporter, Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On were heckled by a group of university students protesting about their tuition. Livni ended her speech and left the room in anger. In his Beersheba speech, Mofaz said it was forbidden to hold a general election at this time and that he was sure he could form a broad coalition. Mofaz received good news: 15 former generals signed a letter endorsing him. Former OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yair Naveh told Army Radio he was not a member of any party but that Mofaz had the "courage to make decisions and implement them while being sensitive to the public's needs." In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Sheetrit compared his experience with that of his opponents. He noted that Mofaz and Dichter had each been in the Knesset for only two years and Livni only became an MK in 1999. "Wherever I was, I left my footprints, and that's what's really important," Sheetrit said. "[To be] prime minister of Israel is one of the hardest jobs in the entire world. I wouldn't dare run with as little experience as my opponents. I think it's a sin against the people of Israel. "To be prime minister, you have to know the country's problems inside and out, or you won't have enough time to fix them before you leave office. That's what happened to Bibi [Binyamin Netanyahu] and [Ehud] Barak. They crashed because they lacked experience." Dichter responded to charges of inexperience in an interview with Channel 1, saying he had been involved in making key decisions since he was appointed head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) in 2000. "I looked at the other candidates and saw that my skills are no less than theirs," Dichter said. He attacked Vice Premier Haim Ramon and Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann in an interview with Channel 1. Ramon's conduct "brought shame on the Israeli government," Dichter said.