Israel Matzav

Backbiting Starts in Likud

The (inevitable) backbiting has started in the Likud. Uzi Landau, who was the leader of the anti-expulsion forces, and who will not be in the next Knesset, has blamed unnamed former ministers for the Likud's failure in yesterday's elections.

Asked to pinpoint the reasons for his party's failure in the election, Landau blamed his fellow former ministers, the media, the economy, and more.

Considered the leader of the "orange"/hawkish/anti-Disengagement camp within the Likud, Landau told Army Radio, "We partially deserved the punishment the public gave us, but not totally." Listing the party's sins, he said, "We zig-zagged, promising things to the voters which we didn't deliver. Our internal infighting was also to blame. In addition, our ministers were perceived as being too stuck to their ministerial seats; we claimed one thing, but did something else."

This last point is possibly Landau's most emphatic point. He himself voted against the Disengagement plan as early as October 2004, even though he knew Sharon would promptly fire him, which he did. When the interviewer asked if he is therefore blaming former Ministers Silvan Shalom, Limor Livnat, Danny Naveh and others for his party's failure, Landau said he does not want to mention names. [He could have added Netanyahu to that list - he also waited too long to oppose Sharon's plan. CiJ].

Landau rejected the notion that his party was punished for being too right-wing: "We lost some voters who went even further to the right than us - but our hard-core supporters remained with us, or simply stayed home and didn't vote... I am proud that I and others showed that not all politicians can be bought, and that some of them stand on their principles."

Another reason for the Likud's failure, Landau feels, involved the economic reforms led by party leader Binyamin Netanyahu when he served as Finance Minister. "What we were unfairly punished for was the economic policy," Landau said. "People told us that because their pensions decreased, they wouldn't vote for us." The Pensioners' Party in fact scored a totally unexpected success, jumping from oblivion to 7 Knesset seats. [He's right about that too. Olmert said during the campaign that he wanted to continue Netanyahu's economic policies. Hopefully that will happen, because otherwise it will be a disaster for the economy. CiJ].

Landau also blamed the media to a certain extent. "Look," he said, "I ran against Bibi [Netanyahu] for party leader, and I have some criticism of him - but what was done to him by some of the media, especially Channel Two and Yediot Acharonot, was simply a targeted killing. I believe the media should perform a self-reckoning of its role in the campaign; it did not act like the watchdog of democracy it is supposed to be."

Landau said he believes it is in the nationalist camp's interest to form a united right-wing bloc in the Knesset. "At present, there does not exist a Jewish majority in the Knesset for the unilateral withdrawal plan, and certainly not the overwhelming majority that would be necessary for such a plan." [I don't quite see the argument that there is not a Jewish majority. If you put together Kadima Achora, Labor and Meretz, that comes to 52 seats. If the pensioners go in with Achora (which they presumably will), that's 59, and if you discount the Arabs that leaves everyone else at 51 seats. CiJ]

Likud MK Michael Eitan, #6 on the party's list, said, "We paid the price for everything - for carrying out the Disengagement, for objecting to the Disengagement, and for the economic plan."

Netanyahu said last night that he plans to remain in his position and lead the party "back to better times." Silvan Shalom, who lost to Netanyahu in a recent race for party leadership, reportedly plans to ask for another vote so that he can try again.

If in fact the Likud ends up with 11 MKs - it won 38 in the previous election - its abbreviated party faction will look like this:

Netanyahu, Shalom, Moshe Kachlon, Gilad Erdan, Gideon Sa'ar, Eitan, Ruby Rivlin, Naveh, Shteinitz, Livnat, and Natan Sharansky. A slight majority exists for those who opposed the Disengagement. [A slight majority of what? CiJ]

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:46 AM