"The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see." -- Ayn Rand
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Likud Committee: Feiglin Drops to Mid-30s on Party List
Kislev 14, 5769, 11 December 08 06:46
by Hillel Fendel
Netanyahu & Feiglin (IsraelNN.com) The Likud Election Committee ruled in favor of Netanyahu-ally Ophir Akunis on Thursday afternoon, and ordered a re-shuffling of the list of Likud candidates for the Knesset in the upcoming national elections.
The chief significance of the ruling is that Moshe Feiglin will be moved down from the 20th spot to a slot in the mid-30's.
Feiglin plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The 20th slot, into which Feiglin was voted, had actually been reserved for a woman - as were the 24th and 29th slots. However, because three women (Limor Livnat, Tzipi Hotobeli, and Gila Gamliel) received enough votes for even higher places than had been reserved for them, their reserved places were left open for other candidates to fill them. Feiglin thus was placed #20, Michael Ratzon received the 24th place, and Ehud Yatom became #29.
Akunis claimed that this was not fair. He said that the candidates running on the national list were only supposed to be placed in slots 1 through 19, and that the slots following those were reserved for regional and other minority candidates. If slot #20 is not needed for a woman, his logic ran, then don't give it to a "national" candidate, but rather to a "regional" candidate. He claimed the same for slots #24 and #29.
The court accepted his argument, and Feiglin has announced that he will appeal to the Supreme Court. If the ruling stands, the Likud Knesset list from slots 20-34 will be re-shuffled. Elkin, Levine and Pinian will move up one slot each to 20, 21 and 22; right-wingers Ayoub Kara and Danny Danon will advance two slots to 23 and 24, and Carmel Shama and Akunis will jump two slots to 25 and 26. The candidates Alleli Admasu, Danino, Even-Tzur and Feiglin-supporter Keti Sheetrit will jump three places each to 27-30. The next four candidates – Miri Regev, Feiglin-allies Asulin and HaEtzni, and Guy Yifrach – will also be moved up three slots, to 31-34 (though Regev’s being a woman could complicate matters somewhat). Feiglin will then move into slot number 35, followed by Ratzon and Yatom. Netanyahu-allies Assaf Heifetz and Yechiel Leiter will remain in place at 38 and 39.
If the ruling stands, it will be a blow to Feiglin - but not to the candidates associated with him and with the party's right wing. Many observers, including high-ranking Likud sources, say that Netanyahu and his allies have simply increased Feiglin's stature in the public via their well-publicized war against him.
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Likud committee bumps Feiglin down to 36 on Knesset list
Dec. 11, 2008
Gil Hoffman and Jpost staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
Gil Hoffman and Jpost staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
Moshe Feiglin, the far right-wing Likud member who surprised pundits by winning the 20th seat on the Likud Knesset list in the primaries held earlier this week, suffered a major setback on Thursday evening when the Likud Central Elections Committee decided to push him back to the 36th spot on the list.
"The decision was not surprising," Feiglin said shortly after the decision was announced. "The election committee of the Likud has been following [Likud leader Binyamin] Netanyahu's line the entire election campaign, and continues to do so with this decision."
Channel 2 reported Wednesday that a majority of the judges on the court were in favor of moving down Feiglin and advancing candidates elected to regional slots, for technical reasons.
The reason for the demotion was that women candidates Leah Nass, Limor Livnat, Tzipi Hotovely and Gila Gamliel, who did well enough that they did not require slots reserved for them, canceled the women's reserved slots and therefore those slots did not belong to the next top vote-getters on the national list - Feiglin and former MKs Michael Ratzon and Ehud Yatom. Instead, slots reserved for regions would begin earlier, thus bumping down Feiglin and the others.
"It was a mishap on the part of the legal advisers," a source close to Likud chairman Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu had said Wednesday. "Bibi did not initiate the lawsuit, and it was not specifically aimed at Feiglin."
The lawsuit was filed by Netanyahu-ally Ophir Akunis, who had won the 28th spot on the list.
Miri Regev, the former IDF spokesperson who had served in the post during the Second Lebanon War, and who had initially been voted into the 34th spot on the Likud list, also scored a victory on Thursday when the elections committee decided to push her up to the 27th spot.
Other changes in the list include Michal Ratzon, previously number 24 on the list, and Boaz Haetzni, initially 36 on the list. They were pushed to 39 and 40 on the list.
Keren Barak, who had been elected to the 40th spot, was moved up to 32.
Kadima was unimpressed with the Feiglin's demotion. "Netanyahu cannot cloud the fact that under his leadership, the Likud has become a right-wing extremist party," said the party in a statement. "Netanyahu's bluff of trying to move to the Center will not succeed. Whoever votes Netanyahu get the extreme Right that will torpedo any chance of peace and security."
Separately, Kadima faction head Yoel Hasson said it was clear that "every vote for Bibi would help the extreme Right enter the next Knesset."
Meanwhile, Kadima's election committee decided Thursday that the party's 70,000 members would select their Knesset list by computer and not manually, despite the problems with computer systems that plagued the primaries in Labor and Likud.
Labor's system crashed in their December 2 primary, forcing the party to cancel the vote
at noon and hold a revote with manual voting two days later. Likud's system did not crash
entirely in Monday's primary. But many computers broke down, and the system was so complicated that it took voters much longer to vote, creating long lines at polling stations.
at noon and hold a revote with manual voting two days later. Likud's system did not crash
entirely in Monday's primary. But many computers broke down, and the system was so complicated that it took voters much longer to vote, creating long lines at polling stations.
A Kadima spokesman said the decision was made because Malam, the company that provides the computers, offered to boost the number of polling stations to 600 and provide 400 ushers to explain people how to vote. Malam wanted to redeem its reputation after the problems in the Likud primary. Labor used a different company.
But a Kadima source said the real reason for the decision was that the party had already spent $2.5 million on the computer system. Kadima director-general Moshe Shehori vowed to quit if there are problems with the voting.
To maximize voter turnout, the party also decided Thursday to keep the polls open from 10 a.m. until midnight.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1228728162641&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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Bibi tells EU he will pursue peace
(Freeman Note: Even when it is impossible and will damage Israel's security).
Dec. 11, 2008
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST
Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu sought Thursday to reassure Europeans that he will continue peace talks with the Palestinians if he wins February's general election, despite a rightward tilt in his Likud Party.
He was speaking to Israel-based EU ambassadors in the wake of Likud primaries, which catapulted several ultra-hawks into the top 30 places on the party's slate of candidates for Feb. 10 elections.
Netanyahu was the guest speaker at a lunch hosted by the European Union and arranged long before Monday's primaries. He used the occasion to try to quell concerns fueled by the outcome, which delivered significant advances for a wing of Likud seeking to halt peace talks, ban minority Arab citizens of Israel from the parliament, encourage non-Jews to leave the country and pull Israel out of the United Nations.
Following the primary results, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of the rival Kadima Party warned that a victory for a Likud slate peppered with die-hard opponents of concessions to the Palestinians could plunge Israel into international isolation.
Netanyahu resisted peace efforts when he was prime minister from 1996-1999 but says he will carry on existing negotiations with the Palestinians if he is returned to power, as polls indicate, though with more emphasis on encouraging Palestinian economic growth rather than a speedy transition to a sovereign Palestinian state.
"I told them that a Likud government under my leadership will continue the peace talks, stressing security and economic development," Netanyahu said in a brief statement after Thursday's lunch. "We intend to interlace them with economic development, rapid economic development for the Palestinians and regional cooperation with Jordan and Egypt."
Netanyahu spokesman Ron Dermer said that despite the primary upset, the former premier remained in firm control of his party and its policy and said so to the ambassadors.
"He made it clear that he is the party leader, he will call the shots and he will also choose a government that will enable him to carry out his policy," Dermer said.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1228728162236&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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Netanyahu Continues War Against Feiglin
Kislev 14, 5769, 11 December 08 06:03
by Hillel Fendel(IsraelNN.com) Likud Chairman and Prime Ministerial candidate Binyamin Netanyahu has to choose between mollifying the international community regarding Moshe Feiglin, and his own party supporters – and he is choosing the former.
Though Feiglin made a strong showing in the party primaries earlier this week – he was voted into the 20th slot on the Likud list of Knesset candidates for the upcoming national elections – Netanyahu is showing no signs of coming towards him or his supporters. Feiglin was not even invited, until an hour before the event, to a gathering for new future Knesset Members in Likud headquarters on Thursday afternoon.
In addition, it was reported in Haaretz – though nowhere else – that Netanyahu had reassured “confidantes” that Feiglin need not be taken seriously. The Likud will not end up losing votes because of Feiglin, he reportedly said, and “the entire faction is with me… They all called today and expressed their support. Feiglin will fade away very quickly.”
“They can blow it up more and more, but even this lemon doesn't have much juice left in it," Netanyahu was quoted as saying.
Netanyahu also met on Thursday with 26 European Union ambassadors, and sought to allay fears that what is perceived as his new “right-wing” Likud Knesset faction will sabotage the “peace process.” He told them that he would continue negotiations with both the Palestinian Authority and Syria, but slightly differently. He said he does not accept Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s position of “all or nothing,” meaning that nothing can be finalized until all the issues – including Jerusalem and the refugees – are finalized. He did not spell out his own position, however.%ad%
Regarding Syria, he said he favors dialogue with Damascus, but that Israel must remain on the Golan Heights. Again, he did not specify how much of the Golan must remain Israeli.
Netanyahu’s remarks come as the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) and Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) parties – the Likud’s rivals in the contest for support from the nationalist sector – are choosing their own candidates for the upcoming election. If Netanyahu insists on distancing himself from Feiglin and the pro-Golan and pro-Yesha policies that he represents, many nationalist voters are liable to leave the Likud in favor of more nationalist parties.
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