'Star Wars' among parties continue as Nachman Shai joins Kadima

Ya'alon set to be choosing between Likud and Rightist party.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN, TOVAH LAZAROFF
Former IDF chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon will be making a decision "very soon" on whether to enter politics and if so, whether as a Likud MK or head of a new party being formed to the right of the Likud, sources who spoke to Ya'alon said Monday. Likud officials close to party chairman Binyamin Netanyahu expressed confidence that their party would be Ya'alon's destination. They hinted that talks between Ya'alon and Netanyahu had made progress and would continue as soon as Tuesday. "He has taken a few days to deliberate and examine his options and he seems to be coming around," a source close to Netanyahu said. "Benny Begin's decision to return to the party probably helped convince him to come," the source added. The Likud officials said that Ya'alon was afraid of making the same mistake as MK Effi Eitam, who had considered joining the Likud and later regretted his decision to head the National Religious Party instead. During a press conference at the Knesset on Monday, NRP leader Zevulun Orlev broadly hinted that Ya'alon could be tapped to run for the leadership of the new religious-Zionist and traditional party that is being formed out of the parties that made up the National Union-NRP. When asked if a leadership candidate with qualifications that matched Ya'alon's had been approached, Orlev said, "we are already inviting him." Orlev said his past negative experience with Eitam would not prevent him from bringing Ya'alon in to head his party. The emphasis on education in the new party could fit with Ya'alon, who considers himself an expert on the issue. A spokeswoman for Ya'alon denied that there had been any contacts with the new party. In an effort aimed at blocking Eitam from joining the Likud, MK Yisrael Katz, who heads the party's governing secretariat, said the secretariat would hold secret-ballot votes on whether to approve waiving the minimum 16-month membership in the Likud that is required to run for Knesset on its behalf. A Likud source said the secretariat might also not approve the application of former IDF spokeswoman Miri Regev, who joined the party on Sunday. The source said Netanyahu was not enthusiastic about Regev and that many secretariat members might not feel comfortable with the spokeswoman of the Gaza Strip disengagement joining the party. Earlier Monday, Kadima leader Tzipi Livni responded to the Likud's acquisition of Regev by bringing in Nachman Shai, who is considered the highest profile and most successful former IDF spokesman. Shai, whose joining of Kadima was reported first on www.jpost.com, gained fame during the Persian Gulf War when he comforted the population in sealed rooms during scud missile attacks and instructed concerned citizens to "drink water." He later served as director-general of the Science Ministry and chairman of the Israel Broadcasting Authority and he is currently senior vice president of the United Jewish Communities and its director-general in Israel. "I considered this move a long time, and I decided that now I am ready," Shai said. "I think there is a time to come down from the stands and enter the playing field. I know the field well and I have been involved in many ways, but I decided this time to become a player." Shai emphasized that he had not been promised any position or reserved slot. Livni praised Shai's contribution to advancing the Israel-Diaspora relationship and said that he would be a fitting component of Kadima's Knesset list. Likud MK Yuli Edelstein mocked Kadima for bringing in Shai, saying that "if Kadima formed the next government it would need a good spokesman to explain its failures and blunders." Netanyahu told the Likud faction that his acquisition of many new Knesset candidates proved that "the nation is coming back to the Likud and the Likud is coming back to the nation." He guaranteed that more big names would come. Kadima leader Tzipi Livni and Labor chairman Ehud Barak both accused the Likud of shifting to the Right by bringing in Begin. "These people are certainly appropriate but their joining the Likud clarifies its political agenda and signals that Likud's way can lead us again to a political dead-end," Barak said. Shas chairman Eli Yishai mocked Likud and Kadima for competing for celebrities for their Knesset lists. He said he hoped Shas would add new MKs too, but they would come from his party having more MKs in the next Knesset. "So many stars are coming that Kadima and Likud must be checking if they can do a campaign on the moon," Yishai said. Shelly Paz contributed to this report.