Sharon leaves Likud convention
Photo: AP
Does Sharon need this?
Is prime minister getting sick and tired of Likud shenanigans?
Degrading? Shocking? Disgusting? Absolutely.
Attila Somfalvi is Ynet’s political correspondentIt was all there last night at the Likud Central Committee convention in Tel Aviv.
Committee members did everything they could to ensure no disgrace was left unturned. They booed, shouted, stood on chairs, waved signs, swore and cursed like sailors, and at the end of the evening cut the microphone as party leader Ariel Sharon prepared to speak.
Likud Battle
Attila Somfalvi
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Could it get any lower? Have the members of the Likud Central Committee not hit rock bottom? Do they have no limits?
In light of what happened last night, Sharon must ask himself one significant question: As a popular prime minister, what does he possibly need all this for? Why must he be dragged before this Committee, in front of these hooligans, to suffer their disgraceful habits and listen to their shouts?
Why should he subject himself to this humiliation, to allow himself to be dragged through the mud? Did he enjoy those two hours, sitting there, watching people get all worked up, calling him traitor?
Did he enjoy having Limor Livnat turn her back on him, or Ehud Yatom's lecture about unity? Was it good for him to see people do everything they could to ensure he heard their curses, almost spitting on him?
Did he consider this performance, including his extraneous, embarrassing appearance on stage, "quality entertainment"? Or maybe it was the farewell performance Sharon needed to get up Monday morning with a new song in his heart, to move on to a new political framework?
Maybe he wanted it this way, wanted to show the millions who were not at the Likud convention, that the Likud is, how shall we say it, no longer for him, and that there will be a new voting option in the near future.
One of the lowest points ever
At this stage, anything and everything is possible. Maybe all of the above is true. But the truth is also that most Likud Central Committee members are confused, and are asking themselves what comes next.
Speculation about the "microphone that suddenly didn't work" continues in high gear: Sharon's opponents say it strengthens the prime minister. They say his supporters learned a lesson from a similar incident during the 2003 election campaign and repeated it last night.
Sharon's supporters, of course, say far-right wing elements in the Likud intentionally sabotaged the electric mains in the convention hall.
"The prime minister had a great speech for tonight," said one advisor. "It's a shame he wasn't able to deliver it. He was going to say good things, realistic and wise things that this Committee really needed to hear.
And maybe, one way or another, Sharon left the convention happy, even intoxicated? If he wins Monday's vote on whether to push up party primaries, great. He's got the party wrapped around his proverbial little finger.
If he loses, the door to something new has been opened. Everything is open, including the option of letting the Likud members stir in their own juice and just simply retiring.
At the moment, the good money is on Sharon winning Monday's vote. Perhaps after the drubbing he took Sunday, Committee members won't kick him in the ribs.
But the opposite could also be true: After Sunday, they could feel Sharon is almost gone, and that one more push will rid them of the man who hurt them and their faith.
All possibilities are open, say Sharon's advisors. We will win. Maybe, maybe not.
Ironically, what is most clear is that supporters of both Benjamin Netanyahu and Uzi Landau went home completely bewildered. If, at the start of the evening, they felt victory was within reach, by the end no one knew what would happen at all.
"The night of the broken microphone" ended with a report to the police, and will certainly be remembered as one of the lowest points ever for a governing party.
