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Moshe Feiglin: target of Netanyahu's "witch hunt"
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Netanyahu and his wife Sara (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners December 21, 2005 |
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Newly elected Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday delayed the vote for the party's list of Knesset candidates by a week in a transparent effort to prevent the head of the Likud's Jewish Leadership faction, Moshe Feiglin, from running for the Knesset.
Netanyahu hopes to buy time to change the party's constitution and thus deny Feiglin a chance to stand for the list.
Netanyahu held a meeting with Zvi Cohen, Chairman of the Likud's Elections Committee, discussing various schemes to exclude Feiglin, who finished a strong third, with 12.5% of the vote, in the race for party leadership. In the end they came up with a formulation of a proposed amendment to the party's constitution: "A person who has been convicted of an offense, and sentenced to three months of prison or more, will not be eligible to stand for the Likud party Knesset list."
The amendment does not specify when the offense was committed, meaning that Feiglin, who was convicted five years ago, would be excluded from the party. It would also exclude Knesset member Natan Sharansky, who served for years in Soviet prisons.
There are doubts over whether the legal maneuver will hold up in court or lead to Feiglin being expelled from the party he helped to revive with an influx of tens of thousands of new members.
Feiglin was convicted of sedition in 1997 for his non-violent civil disobedience activities in the Zu Artzeinu (this is our land) movement, which played an instrumental role in expressing popular opposition to the Oslo "peace process."
Feiglin and Shmuel Sackett, co-founder of the group, were sentenced to nine months imprisonment and a year on probation. They served six months.
Without the maneuver, Feiglin would almost certainly secure a high place on the list. 130 members of the Likud Central Committee, which selects the list, are affiliated with his Jewish Leadership Movement.
The Knesset allows a person to serve if seven years have passed after a conviction.
Feiglin is weighing an appeal to the High Court if he fails to stop the proposed amendment within the Likud.
After his election as party chairman, Netanyahu vowed to fight "criminal and negative" elements but it was unclear at the time that he was referring to Feiglin, a religious Jew who is regarded even by those who disagree with his ideology as a straight-shooter.
Holding his first Likud faction meeting as chairman Wednesday, Netanyahu hinted that Feiglin had no place in the party and played the "corruption" allegation: "There were malfunctions committed by marginal elements in the party. I gave myself the central goal of fighting corruption, and I ordered my legal team to launch a campaign against corruption, to handle these malfunctions."
"There will not be room in our party for corruption and extremist lawbreaking," Netanyahu told the Likud faction. "Our party will work to restore its image to the good old days of Menachem Begin." He added: "The path of integrity and clean hands must be returned."
It is unclear how Netanyahu's maneuvers to subvert the democratic process supports that goal.
Feiglin received unexpected backing from from the Likud MKs called "rebels" during their battle against Sharon and his disengagement plan. They accused Netanyahu of conducting a "witch hunt" against Feiglin.
"I still support Bibi, but I don't think Feiglin is a problem," MK Michael Ratzon said. "Criminals shouldn't be in the party but people shouldn't be kicked out for ideological reasons. In a large party there is room for everyone, even people on the fringes."
Netanyahu insisted that the Likud was a moderate party: "We in the Likud made a peace agreement with Egypt, we supported the peace agreement with Jordan without reservation, and I as prime minister conducted successful negotiations with the Palestinians, signing a number of incremental agreements."
Netanyahu is expected to convene the Likud Central Committee at the beginning of next week to approve Shalom's placement in the number two position on the electoral list, a move expected to pass by a large majority.
Netanyahu argued that the Likud was not an extremist party and announced that he would establish a committee to draft a new Likud platform. The committee would include Health Minister Dan Naveh, party whip Gideon Sa'ar and MKs Yuval Steinitz and Uzi Landau, Haaretz reported.
Although Netanyahu and Shalom are opposing Prime Minister Sharon's Kadima party in the March 2006 elections, both men served under the PM and went along with his "Disengagement" program.
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