The Likud has set 20 mandates as their goal. Some figures
even said if Netanyahu does not come through with at least 20
mandates in the Knesset elections, party primaries for a
leader should be held again.
Presumably this idea was the brainchild of Silvan Shalom
supporters, who are finding it difficult to come to terms
with his loss in the election for party chairman. Especially
after the media pushed him hard in the days leading up to the
elections, providing Shalom support and the feeling he was
lagging just slightly behind Netanyahu. But the elections
results showed a decisive defeat for Shalom.
Netanyahu supporters believe with a little hard work the 20-
mandate mark is attainable. Their working principle is that
they can recover 7-8 mandates from Kadima as long as they
manage to present a respectable list free of corruption and
extreme rightists.
Officially Netanyahu does not intend to interfere with the
election list, but behind the scenes he can be counted on to
be heavily involved. After Silvan Shalom, who will serve as
heavy reinforcement in second place, at the top of the list
Netanyahu would like to see Gidon Saar, Dani Naveh, Yuval
Steinitz, Michael Eitan and Uzi Landau. This group includes
both staunch Disengagement opponents (Saar and Landau) and
Disengagement supporters (Steinitz and Eitan). What they all
share in common is conveying a sense of honesty and
integrity.
Netanyahu would also be happy to see Knesset Chairman MK
Reuven Rivlin high up on the list along with Limor Livnat to
provide female representation. He will also work to court
former MK Natan Sharansky in an effort to draw Russian voters
to the Likud.
On the other hand Netanyahu would not be sorry in the least
to see people like Yechiel Hazan, Naomi Blumenthal, Michael
Gorlovsky or Ayoob Kara relegated to unrealistic spots at the
bottom of the list. Neither would he regret seeing Yisrael
Katz, who refused to retract his candidacy for party
chairman, slide down the list—though clearly with the
broad support he enjoys in the Likud Center he is sure to
secure a solid spot.
At the next Likud Center convention, which will be held
before the Knesset list is selected, Netanyahu might
introduce a proposal to grant him the power to include a
figure of his choice in the top ten spots and another figure
of his choice in the second ten spots. This would allow him
to bring in serious new figures without them having to deal
with the Likud Center, because new candidates who do not run
around attending brisos, bar mitzvahs and weddings
have little chance of securing a realistic spot on the list,
which is set by Center members. Netanyahu is hoping to insure
that the list is balanced, solid and free of distortions, and
he hopes he can bring in a star to help the Likud vie against
the star-studded Kadima list.
Affirmative Action in the Knesset
How would you feel about a law requiring every Knesset party
to have at least 30 percent green-eyed members? Or 30 percent
of MKs with red hair or Ethiopian or from the former Soviet
Union or balding or in need of glasses or Beer Sheva
residents? For each of these MKs the party would receive an
additional NIS 29,000 in party funding every month.
Sound absurd? Definitely. But before the Knesset left for the
winter recess it passed in a first reading a proposal to
provide any party with at least 30 percent women a bonus
equal to half the party's funding unit.
According to the explanatory material the initiative is
intended to promote female representation, which is practiced
around the world. France is cited as an example, where a law
was legislated a few years ago levying a fine on any party
that does not have equal representation of men and women.
Hopefully nobody intends to replicate the French law here.
But it certainly begs the question: Why discriminate against
southern residents? Don't they deserve fair representation?
Why should the majority of MKs be Jerusalem or Dan Region
residents? And why should the huge segment of the public
whose shoe size is over 46 suffer prejudice?
The single consolation is that the proposal only passed a
first reading and the task of completing the vote will fall
on the next Knesset, which will hopefully be a bit more
levelheaded, less populist and more logical, and will realize
despite the great desire to resemble Western nations many
other issues are of greater priority in rectifying Israeli
democracy.
