The first task the new-old Likud chairman, Binyamin
Netanyahu, will undertake this month will be to try to drive
Moshe Feiglin and his supporters out of the Likud, or at
least prevent him from vying for a spot on the Likud Knesset
list.
A resident of Samaria, Feiglin does not intend to vie for the
spot of Yesha representative on the Likud Knesset list. Yesha
representatives typically wind up way down in 25th or 30th
place and Feiglin knows this is not a realistic spot. Instead
Feiglin wants to vie for the main spots—and Netanyahu
is worried he might succeed.
Truth be told, Feiglin was a part of the Likud while Sharon
was party chairman and he came in 3rd place in the primaries.
He was also running in 38th place on the Knesset list before
the last elections and had the High Court not banned his
candidacy based on his criminal record Feiglin would now be
serving as an MK in the outgoing Knesset.
Today the High Court cannot keep him out of the running since
the 7-year statute of limitations has already expired. Now it
is the task of the Likud and its new chairman to keep him
out.
Feiglin represents a threat to the Likud not because of his
views, personality or political power, but because of the
Disengagement. Ever since Sharon disengaged from the Likud
along with another 16 Disengagement supporters, a stigma has
been attached to any and all Disengagement proponents, as if
the Feiglinites in the Likud had influenced them, for the
Feiglinites are threatening to back for the next Knesset list
only those who oppose the Disengagement.
Feiglin, dismissed by the Likud as an extremist, was pushed
to center stage by the Disengagement proponents' strategic
advisors in order to denigrate opponents. Those who remained
in the party—e.g. Dani Naveh, Gideon Saar, Michael
Eitan— were branded extremists and the public bought
this ploy, as evidenced in the polls.
Netanyahu and all ranking Likud figures are well aware
Feiglin is worth at least five mandates if they manage to
oust Feiglin from the party or at least keep him from vying
for a spot on the Knesset list. And five mandates is nothing
to sneeze at, especially when the only price to pay is
isolating Feiglin.
Netanyahu's problem is that he heads the Likud rather than
Kadima, where moving people from one place to another or
adding or removing people from the list is no problem. The
Kadima party has no institutions, no constitution, no nothing
— just a father and his son who have the final say.
Even high-ranking figures like Ehud Olmert, Tzippi Livni or
Shaul Mofaz are merely foot soldiers in the big game.
On the other hand, the Likud Constitution endows Feiglin with
the right to vie for election and nothing can change that.
Not the party chairman and not even the Likud Central
Committee—if it unites in an effort to ban Feiglin from
vying for the Knesset list.
The day after Netanyahu's victory in the primaries the new
party chairman met with his primary opponent, Silvan Shalom,
to join hands in rehabilitating the Likud Party as the
election campaign gets underway.
One of the central, unreported issues at their meeting was
how to overcome the Feiglin problem and control the damage he
causes. Netanyahu has a few options to choose from, but none
of them are perfect. In his meeting with the Likud Elections
Board Chairman Attorney Tzvi Cohen a proposal was raised to
amend the Likud Constitution to prohibit the election of any
candidate who was ever convicted of a criminal offense and
received a sentence of at least three months imprisonment.
Feiglin was sentenced to six months.
Netanyahu has several other possible strategies at his
disposal, but even if nothing pans out his efforts to oust
Feiglin will at least convey a message the Likud is not as
right wing as Kadima would have the public believe.
A Question of Age
The days when a prime minister could conceal his fragile
health are long gone. While Menachem Begin spent half of the
election campaign in the hospital and both Golda Meir and
Levy Eshkol were elected while suffering from mild illnesses,
today such health problems cannot be kept hidden.
Sharon and his staffers will invariably try to distract
public opinion from the mild stroke the PM suffered recently
and have already shifted the issue to a discussion of what
kind of a diet Sharon should maintain. After all, a person's
diet is hardly a reason not to vote for him.
The doctors at Hadassah said the chances Sharon will suffer
no recurrences are excellent, but Prof. Mordechai Ravid notes
that in 30 percent of such cases a stroke recurs within one
year.
Leading Kadima figures like Ehud Olmert, Tzippi Livni and
Meir Shetreet know that nothing further has to happen to
Sharon, choliloh. All it would take would be for a few
rumors to start circulating—rumors that Sharon is not
feeling so well, is not looking his best, dropped in at the
hospital for some tests—for voters to think twice
before voting for Kadima.
At the age of 78 Sharon is already the country's oldest prime
minister in office. Who can guarantee the public he can
continue to handle such a tough job into his 80s? And who can
guarantee voters they won't wind up getting stuck with Olmert
of Shimon Peres?
