I really don't understand how this didn't make headlines: Head of the opposition and Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni warned in an interview aired last night on "Uvda" ("Fact") with Ilana Dayan that the policies of the current government may lead to either anarchy or the desire for a strong, fascist leader. She accused the leaders of the three main coalition parties, Netanyahu, Lieberman and Barak, of joining forces with her party's number 2, Shaul Mofaz, in an attempt to break up Kadima, thus eliminating any serious opposition within the Knesset.
She used that term, 'fascism'?
ReplyDeleteYes, at first she used the word "dictator", and when Ilana Dayan said "That's fascism", Livni agreed and used the word "fascism" herself.
ReplyDeleteIs there truth in it, do you think? Certainly trying to carve up an opposition party and absorb it into the ruling coalition parties would be very convenient for the ruling coalition. Perhaps even the only way to ensure some longevity...
ReplyDeleteIt's well known that Likud has been trying to get members of Kadima to break ranks and join the coalition. What's new in what Livni is saying is that Barak and Lieberman are in on it, too, and I tend to believe her, since they helped with something you might have not heard about, even though it was headline news for weeks in Israel:
ReplyDeleteA few months ago the coalition got a new law passed to make it easier for Knesset members to switch parties. The situation before was that in order to officially form a separate faction without the consent of the party, the "seperatists" had to consist of at least one third of the party's MKs. For Kadima, with 28 MKs, that meant at least 10 members had to want to leave the party. The new law states that it has to be either one third of MKs or seven MKs, whichever is lower. Essentially, what this means is that the new law applies only to parties with more than 21 MKs. Currently, that's just Likud and Kadima, and why would anyone want to leave Likud while it's in power?
This law was nicknamed the Mofaz Bill, because it was understood as being meant to make it easier for Mofaz to defect to the coalition, though he has denied any involvement and voted against the bill.
Thanks for that information.
ReplyDeleteI hope for your sake none of this will come to pass...