 |
Dr. Aaron Lerner is co-founder of , Independent Media Review and Analysis, an Israel-based news organization which provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events relating to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
|
|
|
|
By Dr. Aaron Lerner
October 3, 2005
There is no question that many relatives of Likud Central Committee members breathed a sigh of relief knowing that their direct line to the teats of the Israeli budget, patronage jobs etc. would not be cut short by early primaries.
But the vote was also certainly affected by its transformation into a Netanyahu-Sharon issue in many people's eyes, something problematic when Mr. Netanyahu's flip-flop over retreat (the Arutz 7 internet radio station news magazine features also voice clip of Netanyahu, only months ago, proclaiming his support for it) served to cloud the meaning of the vote.
Thus with world leaders pitching in with their voting recommendations -- and a full court press by the Israeli media to label anyone who does not embrace Sharon's retreat and postponement of the Likud primaries as a wacko whose views don't deserve consideration (and possibly worse since the "extremist" label was liberally used -- and there is no telling what the future may hold for "extremists") with the added well-timed mysterious silenced mike
incident it is a surprise that the vote was so close.
What happens now?
Given that the Sharon team is genuinely clueless as to what they are actually going to do in the face of post retreat challenges and instead is engaged in a series of shots from the hip and lips (while Mr. Peres works busily in the background on arrangements for Palestinian ports etc.) it is hard to project what will happen.
Hard to project -- yes. That is, it is hard to project, unfortunately, just how bad it can get.
What with all this going on to the ultimate detriment of the Likud it is extremely unfortunate that the National Union appears determined to avoid making a substantial electoral gain from the situation. To accommodate such questionable vote getters as Effie Eitam, the top secular
MK in the Party, Arieh Eldad, has been pushed down -- rather than advanced -- in the list of Knesset candidates.
One may ridicule the Likud Central Committee members for putting self-interest ahead of that of the nation. But, unfortunately, the ranking in the National Union list reflects just as poorly on that party.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
