Mofaz could have cut out three weeks ago, together with Sharon
Photo: AP
Welcome to Sharon’s circus
Criticism leveled at Mofaz for defecting to Kadima party may be unfair
"It's 1:00, and here's the news. I'm Shaul Mofaz. Friday afternoon and over Shabbat, the Likud Party has turned sharply to the right. Friday, the Likud was still a centrist party, but after I said 'you don't leave your (political) house' and that I would get rid of the party's 'Feiglins' and prove my manhood, the house left me.
"Therefore, I decided to leave the Likud and join Arik Sharon and Kadima, and to do my part in saving the nation, the homeland and anything in between. The public is kindly requested to ignore my bluff and to believe everything I say. That's all from Jerusalem."
If it were possible to control a radio station for 30 seconds, it is highly questionable if we could find a better text to approximate the political drama that took place last weekend.
Mofaz may have left the Likud andjoined Kadima, but he did so in full view of the public and the media, the same public and media in front of which he denied in recent weeks having any intention of leaving the Likud, and he didn't so much as bat an eye.
He apparently thought there was no reason to blink, or sweat, or blush, or to feel any discomfort at the fact that he looked everyone in the eyes and lied to them.
Sure, on Shabbat he was still giving interviews promising to stay put, then he ran as fast as he could – this doesn't mean he should feel bad about this.
After all, the Likud left him and turned to the right. Really. In the last 24 hours.
Had his chance
Mofaz could have cut out three weeks ago, together with Sharon. Everyone would have understood, everyone would have gone along with it. Mofaz was one of the most natural candidates to ditch out on the Likud, and Sharon virtually went public with his offer of the highly sought-after defense portfolio for the coming four years.
But Mofaz decided to stay, to try and win over the Likud. To try to play hard ball. He started campaigning, hired advisors, attacked Bibi Netanyahu, Sharon and Kadima, and sniffed the polls that at first were mildly kind to him.
Last Friday, just a few days ago, he tried once again to sell reporters and Likud activists the message of home, his feeling that he could affect real change in the Likud. Leave? What you are talking about, he wondered in amazement. You don't leave your home.
Over and out
But then he immediately turned and left the building, slammed the door and ran like hell around the corner to the younger, more beautiful, more enticing neighbor.
In the wide open market atmosphere that has taken hold of the political establishment, perhaps there is no reason to be surprised at Mofaz's move, and perhaps the criticism leveled at him has been unfair and childish.
Today's bon ton is to be a "juggler" – a political magician, like at the circus. Ariel Sharon, the circus manager, throws all the balls in the air, explains the rules of the game to the poor clowns whose bewildered, teary eyes look at the near-daily polls in order to judge just how much they are on the way down. And if you want it to be good, you'd be wise to catch the ones that say "Kadima." Otherwise you'll find yourselves in a lion's den.
And the clowns, the ones we in Israel call 'politicians,' throw the balls, try their luck. They degrade themselves and give up whatever sparks of credibility they had left. The main point is for them to move forward – that is to say, to Kadima.
No criticism, no shame
The criticism interests no one any more. Nor does the shame. It died a long time ago, and no one really cares. Therefore, you can say A, do B, and sell the apathetic public C, D, E, and F. No one will say anything, except for a few frustrated journalists who once again moan that the politicians cheated them on the way to yet another term in office.
If we examine Mofaz's move with from a cold, practical standpoint, then more than the shame of having a lack of credibility, the main thing Mofaz brings with him is public prestige. Like all of Israel's defense ministers, Mofaz, too, is popular amongst the general populace. Sharon, it goes without saying, needs just such a figure on his election list.
From a political standpoint, Mofaz gives Sharon another second of enjoyment, another small laugh as he wrings the Likud into oblivion before our very eyes.
It's not that Mofaz had such great influence in the Likud. But he was liked, even by the leadership, and brought with him pathetic people who believed he could win, could affect change, could carry the party. Therefore, his defection from the Likud is so important to Sharon: Because it once again puts the crumbling party in the midst of a raging storm.
And from a personal perspective, Mofaz made exactly the right move: He left the crumbling Likud, and assured himself a good place in the upper echelon of Kadima.
And as we've said, the shame of hypocrisy moves no one.
