Hagai Segal
Photo: Zoom 77
The small bang
What Likud party needs now is more principles, rather than additional manpower
There's no need to be a Likud
member to enjoy looking at Kadima's
hardship. If the party is indeed deserted by a large group of Knesset members, we will be able to propose a toast in honor of historic justice.
"We have detached ourselves from all types of ideologies," Sheetrit declared at the time with a sigh of relief. "This is Kadima's uniqueness. We're no longer carrying a baggage with the Ze'ev Jabotinsky or Berl Katzenelson heritage on our backs."
The desertion idea was a fundamental part of Kadima's platform, and it is now shattering the party from inside. MKs who will leave in favor of the Likud will be fulfilling the 2005 legacy of Ariel Sharon and Haim Ramon. They will be following Shimon Peres and Meir Sheetrit's desertion vision that same year.
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Ruhama Avraham, a former Likud member, declared last week that "Kadima is my home," and did not hear all the giggles around her. Most of her colleagues made similar declarations of loyalty in 2005, a moment before fleeing the Likud's Metzudat Ze'ev building in favor of Kadima.
"You don't leave your home," Shaul Mofaz swore in a fervent letter to the party's members, "and I plan to stay in the Likud no matter what." By the time the letter reached them, he was no longer there.
What is the difference really?
Still, we shouldn’t go overboard with our malicious joy, as it is mostly a joy of the poor. Kadima's deserters are submissive politicians, who will not upgrade the Likud or restore its days of glory, if it ever had any. What it needs now are more principles, rather than additional manpower.Its recent leaders have systematically emptied it of any ideology or bit of faith. Most of its voters support the party out of habit or due to a historic hatred for the Left. When they are asked to provide an ideological difference between Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni or between Dan Meridor and Nachman Shai, they begin stuttering.
Because what is the difference really? Livni wants two states for two people – and so does Netanyahu. Meridor supports a massive uprooting of settlements – and so does Shai. They all support a freeze, a systematic surrender to American impulses and a release of hundreds of dangerous terrorists for one lone Jewish captive.
Psychologically, they have belonged to the same party for a long time now. So has Ehud Barak. Therefore, any shift of Knesset seats from Kadima to the Likud can merely be seen as seasonal transfer of players from one group to another.
As reported, Netanyahu is interested in a reinforcement of Kadima MKs in his faction mainly in order to deduct the last people of principle in his faction. He needs Ronit Tirosh in order to overcome Tzipi Hotovely, and Eli Aflalo in order to bypass Danny Danon. He too has dropped off the Jabotinsky baggage a long time ago.
The bottom line is that we will receive a Kadima-compatible Likud. Tzipi Livni will be the only one missing to complete the picture, but she may also join eventually. Why not, actually?
