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| By Israel Insider staff and partners November 19, 2006 |
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Russian-Israeli business tycoon Arcadi Gaydamak is aiming high, very high. Having won the sympathy of northern residents during the war in Lebanon last summer when he set up a tent for families fleeing Katyusha attacks, and having invited Sderot residents to Eilat last week, Gaydamak has the prime minister's office as his next target.
"I have enough public support today to be elected as prime minister with a large majority," Gaydamak told Yedioth Ahronoth on Saturday.
"If I decide to run, I will get 40 seats in the Knesset. Politicians know that and they are scared."
Gaydamak, 54, is estimated to have a networth as high as $4 billion. Starting out as a laborer in France, Gaydamak worked his way up in the business world, leveraging his Russian language skills to start a business translation firm, Gaydamak Translations, in Paris and later using his Soviet contacts to launch a lucrative import-export concern.
After amassing considerable wealth in France, Gaydamak was forced to flee the country in 2000 when he learned that the French government was seeking his arrest in connection to arms dealing and tax evasion charges.
Gaydamak settled in Israel where he began rising to prominence for his sponsorship and purchasing of popular Israeli sports teams such as the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team Betar Jerusalem soccer team.
" I bought Betar Jerusalem a year ago," Gaydamak said. "It is not just sport, it is a symbol of the country. I showed leadership. When the war in Lebanon started, I housed a thousand people in Nitzanim. I showed leadership. Today in Sedrot it is only a small operation to show solidarity. I showed my leadership again."
Despite his ambitions, Gaydamak said he has not decided yet whether to run for the Knesset.
"It is easy to be elected, but this a heavy national responsibility, and not a personal matter. I have not decided yet if I would want to take this on my shoulders."
Gaydamak doesn't hide the contempt he holds for government ministers, especially for Defense Minister Amir Peretz who said that "the State will not allow philanthropists to control the citizens' distress."
'Ministers lack intelligence'
"I have no respect for him and his work. If he is responsible for security before the public, that's a shame to the Jewish nation. That's a man who tried to destroy Israeli economy through struggles of the Worker's Union. Is this man thinking about the future of the nation. If Peretz is no longer in the government what will he do? What does he know to do? To be a taxi driver?"
"Government ministers are primitive and uncultured. They are not fulfilling their public duties. Everything emanates from their personal interests. They think like taxi drivers or waiters and that's how they act. They don't understand how important their responsibility is, especially for the survival of the Jewish state and its fate."
Former Science, Culture and Sport Minister Ophir Pines-Paz is perhaps as unpopular with Gaydamak as Peretz, with the Russian billionaire furious over Pines' decision to ignore him during a ceremony at which both men were present.
"I funded various activities and this Pines saw me in an official event and didn't even say hello to me. It is an expression of disapproval of me. The minister for culture and sports of the State of Israel should show respect for Gaydamak in the government's name. That's a great insolence."
Gaydamak has no doubt that he can run the country better: "If I am in the government I will have more responsibility than anyone else. How can one compare my life and experience with these people? They don't have the intelligence to be ministers."
Ynet contributed to this story.
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