Wave of the future? Hanegbi
Photo: Eli Elgaret
Living in a dream: Landau visits Jerusalem market
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Likud continues to atrophy
Hanegbi defection signifies new political reality in Israel
Party architects aren't wasting time: They are taking in anyone they possibly can, even those with the foul odor of corruption emanating from their clothing. But Sharon and his people know full well why this mainly hurts the Likud.
Hanegbi defects
Ronny Sofer
In a shock move, Likud Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi announces he will be quitting Likud for Prime Minister Sharon's Kadima Party; Hanegbi, who is under police investigation, and will probably face a call to indict him, has opposed Likud rebels for 'pushing the PM out of the party;' Kadima aide says move ‘decisive blow to Likud’
Only time will tell if Tzachi Hanegbi's defection to Kadima on the very morning police recommended indicting him on corruption charges pays off.
Presumably, the fresh Likud refugee thinks his close proximity to Sharon will help in the justice system. Might be true, might not.
Israel likes it dirty
If public opinion begins to take notice of official corruption, the connection between the Sharon family and Tzachi Hanegbi could boomerang.
At the moment, however, all indications suggest that average Israelis don't particularly care about leadership combinations.
Yossi Sarid is right when he says the public likes its representatives to be a little bit corrupt, a little bit dirty.
Before dealing with the foul smell of corruption, Israelis want to deal with other issues: Economics, security, taxes. Everything except cleaning things up. It's just not an issue. Not in Israel of 2005.
Getting even
From Sharon's perspective, this was a serious blow to the Likud, the party that vomited him out.
One of the most recognizable figures of the nationalist camp jumped ship and joined the man who in recent years has done away with all known political theories in Israel.
Sharon and his people have managed to destroy the Likud, to relegate it to the history books of Israel's political history. In the meanwhile, things aren't going too bad for them.
When Sharon gets even, he gets even big-time. He's taken every semblance of political moderation away from the Likud, every sign of balance identified with the center of the political map.
Here, too, he's been pretty successful. Hanegbi, standing at the mike swearing allegiance to Sharon – is the best possible proof of this. In front of our very eyes, the Likud is collapsing as no political party ever has, shedding its most well-known characters.
Political evolution
But Hanegbi's move from Likud to Kadima is also proof that Israel's political establishment is undergoing a process that not all politicians really understand.
The public has already figured this out, and voters now understand – but some politicians, mainly the ones who continue to hold onto right-wing political theories, have not.
What right-wingers such as Uzi Landau and Benjamin Netanyahu fail to understand is that Israeli society doesn't care about the settlements, about illegal land holdings and winks to the Yesha Council.
Israeli society is in a different place, a place in which dividing the Land of Israel is only a matter of time. And if there is someone who will apparently do something about it, it is Ariel Sharon.
Just ask Tzachi Hanegbi.
