We are here today, during the discussions of the committee about the advancement of equality of service.. This is definitely an issue that Kadima does not just support... (interrupted by snickering and laughter) uh, Kadima definitely supports it... (she then continued and made her point)

  -- Minister of Justide Tzippi Livni at a faction meeting of Hatnua. Livni accidentally called her party Kadima. I guess being in so many parties in such a short time span can make one slip like that...

The political bribery of creating unnecessary ministries in order to create high paying positions in which to place people who are willing to work with you, and unnecessary deputy ministerial positions as well, is bad enough, but is perhaps a necessary evil.  Do we really need 30 ministers and 10 deputy ministers? Salaries, benefits, pensions, etc.. all just to placate some people and "buy" their support - but that is politics.. A guy like Nachman Shai, as good a guy as he might be, has the power to demand support for a mayoral bid in Israel's largest city, it's capital? Or, alternatively, an ambassadorship? What has Nachman Shai done since he entered politics that makes him such an important player to be courted? Tzachi Hanegbi left the Likud with a bang to create Kadima with Ariel Sharon. since having been convicted of corruption, brings what to the table besides for political thuggery?


It's bad enough that the government has to pay so much to get people off the sinking ship of Kadima, but to court such people and throw them a political lifeline is almost abhorrent.. They should be left to go down with the sinking ship. 

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The Plesner Committee has been disbanded, and people are upset from all different directions. In Kadima there is now a faction of rebels threatening Shaul Mofaz that if he doesn't quit the coalition they will abandon him.

So, Kadima was on the verge of collapse, when for some unknown reason the prime minister brought them into the coalition, essentially throwing them a lifeline. After being propped up for just a short time, Kadima is now doing everything in it's power to insist on imploding once again.

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The best part of Shaul Mofaz's defeat of Tzippi Livni in the Kadima primary yesterday was the official response of the Likud Party. The Likud Party's published response said "We wish Mofaz many years as head of the Opposition.."

The only problem with it is that it is a bit insulting to Sheli Yachimovitch and the Labor Party....

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He did the crime, he paid the time. Somebody commits a crime - should that be held against him forever? if he went to prison and "paid the time time", should his crime still be held against him?

Omri Sharon was indicted and convicted of crimes with moral turpitude. Sharon sat in prison for 7 months.

He did the crime, he paid the time.

And now Omri Sharon is back, getting involved in politics again. Sharon has joined Tzippi Livni's team in a senior position of her campaign for re-election as head of Kadima.

Is that ok, because he paid his time? It definitely has a bad taste. Sharon was convicted of crimes with moral turpitude. You would think that in today's day and age a high level candidate would be overly sensitive to such questionable characters being involved. One wrong word, one suspicious incident, and the entire campaign can be lost (if it isn't already..)

Quote Of The Day

Already for a few days Kadima is pushing the Likud towards war, to topple the Hamas rule in Gaza. I am angry at [Kadima] that at certain times I bless the fact that the Likud is in power and not you. You have already made two wars and if you were in power you would already have gone to a third war.

  -- MK Ahmed Tibi

I don't want to change anybody, just as I do not want anyone to change me. I accept the basic concept that you don't argue with with someone's faith. Haredi Judaism has existed for 2000 years and there is no chance, nor do I want, that it will now disappear. Even if the campaign against ti is the most successful of campaigns.

--- MK Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) writing an opinion piece in Maariv against the recent anti-Haredi campaign in the media and among politicians, and against Kadima (specifically Livni) taking anti-haredi positions.

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.

Very interestingly, Kadima is finally taking a stand on something. This proposed law of allowing Israeli expats to vote absentee has upset Tzipi Livni and others in Kadima and has given them something to oppose the government on, despite their lack of any serious opposition until now.

Livni has been getting former generals to sign and speak out that they oppose allowing expats to vote, as only people who feel their future is in Israel should be allowed to. I am not sure why they went with generals as their tactic. It would seem more appropriate for them to have asked "men of spirit" - poets, academics, intellectuals, writers, artists, etc. to oppose this. This is not a security issue, rather more of a philosophical issue.

I have not heard Shaul Mofaz yet express an opinion on the matter, and I wonder why. I wonder if he is not saying anything because he is still looking to join the Likud. And now, according to news reports, activists in kadima have given Mofaz an ultimatum - that if he does not join the coalition by the end of February, they will en masse leave Kadima and join the Likud on their own.

I wonder if he is not speaking out on the expat law so as not to hurt his chances, by upsetting Bibi, of joining the Likud in the near future. While a Likudnik can speak out against Bibi's policy (like Benny Begin publicly opposed the expat law), it might be uncomfortable and inappropriate for someone from another party to oppose it and then to join the party.

Tzipi Livni is fighting for her political career. She has so far failed to bring any success to kadima, despite having two opportunities to try to form a government. For some reason unkown to anybody (except maybe to some inside Kadima), there is almost nobody in Kadima willing to stand up to her. They let her rule with an iron fist and vote sheepishly to let her continue in her losing ways.
The only one to stand up to her is Shaul Mofaz. Yet, despite his attempts to push her out, he has been unable to rally the troops. I don't know if that says more about her level of control or more of his lack of charisma and ability to lead.

Regardless, Kadima is having a session today, and will discuss the possibility of holding a primaries election to decide the leader of the party.

Livni supposedly had toyed with the idea of supporting early primaries, though not immediate, as a way of relieving the tension in the party. She has since decided to oppose early primaries, as she had until now. Livni said "The motivation behind those who insist on early primaries is only to push me out".

Wow. Livni is one smart cookie. What else did she think the reason might be?

Kadima seems to be in a panic, as Netanyahu has finally effected the process of Kadima's dismantlement that should have happened 4 years ago. Better late than never I guess.

All the big names in Kadima are in a panic, screaming about how Netanyahu's move is immoral, blah blah blah.

They all forget that this is no different, if not better, than what they did when they formed Kadima. The current MKs leaving Kadima are doing so because they are right wing politicians, mostly from the Likud originally, who now find themselves in a left-wing party. Kadima under Olmert and Livni has turned out to not be a centrist party, as they professed to be, but to be mostly a left wing party.
So much so, that Yossi Beilin has been calling, for a long time already but now he has renewed those calls, for Kadima to form an alliance with Meretz and some potential dropouts from Labor.

Good riddance, Kadima. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for you.

I can't call this Quote of the Day because I already posted one of those. I guess I will just have to quote the quote and not call it anything.

Marina Solodkin, a Member of Knesset of the Kadima party, said today that she has called upon Tzippi Livni to remove the pictures of former PM Ehud Olmert that are hanging in the Kadima headquarters.

Solodkin said, "Just a few days ago, 3 serioud indictments were served to Olmert, along with serious investigations in other cases. Ehud Olmert is the first prime minister of Israel to ever have been served an indictment....The public is laughing at us with our pictures of Olmert hanging in our headquarters and offices while we talk about justice and the rule of law.."
(source: ynet)

It is about time someone in Kadima related to the crimes of their own members and not just to those of other parties' members (such as Livni speaking up about Benizri)

The proposed law is not directed at Shaul Mofaz. I do not know who will break off and who will not. We want to establish norms. This rule would apply to everyone. It is appropriate that MKs should stay in their own parties and not receive prizes for abandoning it. If we want to return trust to the public in politics, one should act responsibly.

---------MK Shlomo Mula (Kadima)

This is regarding a proposed law to counter the proposed "Mofaz law" allowing lower numbers of MKs to split from a party. The proposed law would disallow an MK who split from a party from becoming a minister immediately.

Funny that an MK in Kadima is saying that MKs who abandon their original party should not be allowed to become ministers.

Continuous construction is the need of today to strengthen the security and the settlement bloc in the northern Jordan Valley communities. Continued construction reflects the political - security concept of Kadima, and is an implementation of the Olmert government's decision.

----MK Otniel Shneller (Kadima)

According to Shneller, he and all of Kadima support the continued expansion of settlements.
(source: NRG)
If that is really Kadima's position, they really need a better PR company to represent them.

A particularly ironic moment I enjoyed last night while watching Tzippi Livni's speech was when she was describing the formation of Kadima and its more or less "raison d'etre".

Livni was talking about clean government, getting rid of the corruption, and bringing in a new way to Israeli politics.

While she was talking about this, the camera was panning around on the faces of the happy Kadima MKs sitting at the podium behind her. While she was saying this we saw the faces of Tzachi Hanegbi, Roni Bar-On, Ruama Avraham-Balila, Eli Aflalo, and Haim Ramon, all MKs who have either been convicted or are under investigation for various crimes of moral turpitude.

Just a moment of irony I picked up on...

Tzippi Livni, for now.

It is time to send Bibi Netanyahu packing. Back to the political pasture. This was an election Bibi could not lose, and he lost.

Yes, he did tremendous, bringing the Likud back from 12 mandates to a respectable 27. But he was in an unstoppable position - a failed government, a corrupt government, a government weak on security, a bad economy - everything in fields which supposedly he is king. And he still lost. Tzippi Livni had a chance to form a government with no elections, and when she could not, this should have been in his pocket. Yet he still came out behind Livni.

True, the numbers are still not final, and anything can happen. As well, the bloc of the Right is greater, so he still might get the chance to form the government. But it should not have been this close.

I am also disappointed in Moshe Feiglin. If he really believes in his way and considers himself a realistic future leader for the Likud and sees the Likud as his home, then he should have worked harder for the Likud. He is the head of a large camp within the Likud, and had he publicly worked for the Likuds success, perhaps they would have gotten a few more seats. I understand maybe he was upset about what happened with him being moved back to 36. I thought that was wrong of Bibi (one of his obvious mistakes), but at the end of the day, how can Feiglin expect to lead the Likud if he could not get past that to help bring the Likud to success? We hardly heard his voice the past month. I also know that he told people, for internal Likud political purposes, that in the major cities it was unimportant to vote Likud, and they could vote for other parties if they wanted to - in certain areas it was more important and there he encouraged people to vote Likud. He should have been working for everyone to vote Likud wherever they are.

So what will be? I don't know. The coming days and weeks will tell us.. Numbers might change, but even if not, I see no reason Livni should not be given the first chance to form a government. It is not out of her reach. She could offer Bibi an attractive offer for unity, Lieberman a nice position, Shas some money (they went down a bit so their price tag should also go down), and other parties even less. I see no reason the parties on the right should automatically reject her offers. Bibi spent the last 3 months saying he would not form a government with the right wing parties, but would go to Kadima for a unity government - so I see no reason they should be more loyal to him than he was to them.

But Bibi should be sent home. The Likud needs to find a new leader.

Bibi Netanyahu's message from Ashkelon to the nation yesterday (the earlier video I posted was first announced as the Daily Message to the Nation, but now is being titled just as a Message from ashkelon, so they must have replaced it with this one...)

Aren't yeshiva boys supposed to be learning, and not working?

"BeChadrei Haredim" news desk found out about two yeshiva boys who thought of some witty slogans appropriate for Tzipi Livni's campaign. They sent them, with a phone number, to Eyal Arad - her publicity manager.

Arad liked the slogans and called the boys to work for him. They agreed and are now working for the Tzipi Livni campaign.
Arad said that his method is finding unknown talent and getting it to work for him.

The boys said that some of their slogans are already in use on signs and in the broadcasts of Kadima.

Very nice, but aren't they supposed to be in yeshiva learning? isn't that why they get their army service deferred? They said Arad pays well, so they are not doing this as volunteers... True, it did not say what type of yeshiva boys, but from the media source it ended up in, it is highly likely that these are haredi yeshiva boys.

(thanks to Jameel for the heads up..)

On Friday I was in the car and heard on the radio about an argument between Yoel Hasson of Kadima and Gideon Sa'ar of the Likud.

Hasson was of the opinion that people should vote Kadima because Kadima will work better with the new American administration. Bringing Netanyahu to power will cause a rift between Israel and the US. Sa'ar, obviously felt otherwise.

Personally I think that is the stupidest reason to choose for whom to vote. Who you think the US president likes better.

That is the style of voting that is encouraged in new countries supported by the US, countries that the US encouraged to recently become democracies, banana republics in Africa or elsewhere that are looking to get something from the US. Usually in these countries the option is either the US backed candidate or a dictator who will probably mass murder all his opponents and throw their bodies into mass graves in the forest.

But Israel is a country that has been around for a while. It is a democracy, and has been since its inception. Israel relies on US support, but no one candidate has it more than the other, because the support is for Israel, not a specific person. One candidate is not bringing in democracy whith the other promising the murder his opponents. Both are pretty similar with slight differences in policy.

You should choose which party you vote for based on who you think will better serve Israel's interests, as you see them. If your only concern is who you think Barack Obama will like better, then you are not concerned about Israel's interests. You are concerned about the interests of the United States.

Vote for whomever you think will best serve Israel's interests. Whether that party is Labor, Kadima or Likud. Whether it is Ichud Leumi, Yisrael Beiteinu, Meretz, UTJ, Shas, or the Green Leaf party. But vote for Israel's interests, not those of any other country.