Mofaz announces candidacy, vows J'lem to remain unified

Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz formally announced his candidacy in the Kadima primary elections at a small rally in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Mofaz kicked off his bid to succeed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as party chairman and, possibly, prime minister, with weighty rhetoric. Speaking before 350 of his supporters, Mofaz said he "vows to keep Jerusalem unified as the eternal capital of Israel. We will continue the magnificent dynasty of King David, who declared the city as Israel's capital 3,000 years ago."

Greeted by an enthusiastic crowd outside the walls of the Old City, Mofaz invoked his defense credentials: "Defense is the base foundation of our reality here. It is easy sometimes to fall under the temporary false illusion that defense issues are not pressing and should not be at the top of our priorities, particularly in times of relative calm. But this is a dangerous illusion.

"Experience and expertise the field of defense is not just an 'edge,' they are a necessity of the utmost importance to any prime minister in Israel."

Earlier in the day Mofaz met with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the longtime spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. Mofaz received a blessing from the rabbi and heard out Shas' future demands for joining any government under his premiership – namely the reinstatement of State-funded child support stipends.

On Sunday Mofaz told attendants at a Kiryat Ono rally that if elected, he would form a national unity government until after the upcoming municipal elections are held in November. "Israel doesn't need a general election when faced with such existential challenges," Mofaz said.

Several days earlier he also called for Israel to push forward with efforts to achieve a peace agreement with Syria, even after Olmert steps down.

As for the Iranian nuclear threat, Mofaz warned that by 2010 Tehran would have the capability of enriching uranium on a military scale.

A former chief of staff and minister of defense, Mofaz, who is himself of Iranian descent, reiterated that he would prefer to see the crisis resolved through diplomacy.