Kadima's Hypocricy and Irresponsibility

I have not written anything about Kadima in a very long time. Mostly because they have been a non-entity.

Yesterday they took the cake.

In two separate instances, they showed they are both hypocrites, and even worse irresponsible. Hypocrisy isn't really a big deal, as most politicians are hypocrites and only do whatever suits them at any given moment. Irresponsibility, however, is much worse.

The first incident, the less important one, is regarding a decision that the Prime Minister's Office took to put out a tender for a new plane for the PM and senior ministers usage in which a double bed would be installed. This is needed because of certain tight schedules and the current plane being used cannot hold the bed.

I have no opinion on whether the extra expense is worth it. It sounds excessive, but a prime minister traveling internationally to Europe and then Canada and then back to Israel needing to get back to a full days work right away needs to be able to get his sleep on the plane so he can be rested and ready to go when he lands.

The hypocrisy is because Kadima activists, and later Kadima MKS in a quasi-filibuster in Knesset, criticized Netanyahu, and tried to mount pressure to get him to cancel the tender, for his spending too much taxpayer money so he can sleep a little bit better.

It is a legitimate claim, whether you agree with it or not, and would be worthy of discussion and public debate. That is, if not for the fact that it was Kadima under Ehud Olmert who first started the process of buying the new airplane with the extra amenities. When Olmert was prime minister, he started the process and at the time Kadima supported it wholeheartedly. It is only now that Netanyahu is in the seat that they are opposing it. Hypocrisy at its best.

The second, and worse, incident, is the quasi-filibuster.

When 40 Opposition MKs sign that they want a filibuster debate, the PM and other senior ministers are obligated by law to participate and be present from beginning to end. Kadima got the 40 signatures, and Bibi and his gang couldn't get out of it. The filibuster had no specific purpose other than to pester the prime minister and debate his spending.

The problem with it is that this week is a 5 day massive, country-wide drill, in which the army and support services are testing their readiness in case of massive missile attack and war. Due to the senior ministers being tied up in the Knesset debating a pointless issue, they could not participate in at least a day and a half of this drill. They sent a deputy minister to represent the government who would report back to the PM by telephone and get instructions.

The PMO says they requested a number of times from Kadima to delay the filibuster by a few days, but they refused all the requests.

So the senior members of government could not participate in the most important and largest scale army and home front drill of the year just so Kadima could debate Bibi's spending on an airplane and some reforms. That is irresponsible.