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Marina Solodkin
Photo: Gil Yohanan

Marina Solodkin exits Kadima

Party suffers another blow when long-time champion of immigrants' rights leaves over unrealistic Knesset list position

Kadima was shaken again Wednesday, when Marina Solodkin announced that she will not seek elections as part of the party.

 

Solodkin, who is the veteran of five House terms, was slated ninth on Kadima's roster. The party's dismal performance in the polls indicates that it may only barely pass the electoral threshold.

 

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A long-time champion of immigrants' rights, Solodkin told Ynet that her position on the list was akin to "spitting in the face of integration."

 

Solodkin entered Israeli politics in 1996, as part of the Yisrael BaAliyah Party, which merged with the Likud in 2003.

 

In 2005 she joined Ariel Sharon and made the move to Kadima, as its fourth MK.

 

Her Knesset terms saw her serve as deputy immigration and absorption minister twice, and as chairwoman of the Knesset's Committee on the Status of Women.

 

She currently serves as a member of the House Control Committee and the Committee on Human Trafficking.

 

Solodkin promoted several social laws in her years in the House, and is considered one of the hardest-working MKs in the Knesset.

 

"I have a good relationship with (Chairman Shaul) Mofaz and after the unity agreement between the Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu we had a real chance of winning the Russian vote but he just killed it," she said.

 

The Russian voting sector, she added, "Is not the type of public to get offended – we get angry. I've been getting a lot of calls saying that maybe it's time we form a new party."

 

Solodkin's departure is another blow in what has been a tumultuous day for Kadima: Earlier Wednesday, faction Chair Dalia Itzik, who previously served as Knesset speaker and acting president, announced she was quitting politics.

 

The party was rattled again a few hours later when veteran politicians MK Ronnie Bar-On and Jacob Edery informed Mofaz that they were quitting politics as well.

 

 

 

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פרסום ראשון: 12.05.12, 21:53
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