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PM originally explored merger with Kadima, source says
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| Contributor | 411 Name Removed |
| Last Edited | 411 Name Removed Oct 29, 2012 11:46am |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Asher Zeiger |
| News Date | Monday, October 29, 2012 05:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly sought to ally his Likud faction with the centrist Kadima party, long before bruiting a joint list with Yisrael Beytenu, and even before the Shaul Mofaz-led Kadima joined a unity government last May, Maariv reported on Monday.
In an interview with the newspaper, Orit Galili-Zucker, the head of the prime minister’s political communications team, said that she was instructed by Netanyahu to begin exploring the possibility of Likud forming an alliance with another party more than a year ago.
When she first began exploring merger possibilities for the prime minister, the public “loved the idea” of a joint Likud-Kadima party, “even more than the alliance with Yisrael Beytenu,” Galili-Zucker told the paper. She added that Kadima, formed in 2005 by centrist elements from the Likud and Labor factions, should have been the natural partner of Netanyahu’s parties.
Unfortunately, according to Galili-Zucker, Mofaz was “unable to deliver.” At the beginning, he talked about changing the system of governance, but once he was in the government, all he could talk about was drafting the ultra-Orthodox into the IDF.
The political operative said the alliance with Yisrael Beytenu was working swimmingly, with Liberman showing willingness to compromise, unlike Mofaz, whom she described as a hostage to his party.
The concerns that Netanyahu is moving further to the extreme right are only “meant to intimidate the public,” Galili-Zucker said, “but they have no basis in reality.” She added that the agreement between Likud and Yisrael Beytenu in fact brings Netanyahu more to a centrist position.
“Compared to [followers of far right-wing Likud member Moshe Feiglin] who represent the messianic extreme right, Liberman is a realistic politician,” according to Galili-Zucker. “Therefore the merger with him further expands the range of views that characterize the Likud.” |
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