Kadima’s #2, Sha’ul Mofaz, met with the beleaguered #1, Tzipi Livni, at her home in north Tel Aviv on Thursday, and demanded primaries as the way to forestall the impending party split.
Speaking with reporters afterwards, Mofaz did not say whether Livni agreed to his demand or not. The Kadima Party Council will convene on Thursday afternoon to discuss the internal party crisis.
Mofaz lost narrowly to Livni in the previous party primaries in September 2008. However, given the current discontent in the party, his chances this time are much improved.
Mofaz told reporters, “I recommended to party leader Tzipi Livni the steps I think Kadima should take in order to repair the damage and prevent the split.” Asked specifically if he had suggested holding new primaries, he confirmed that that was true. “She has heard other advice in the past,” Mofaz said, “and now she will hopefully hear mine and perhaps, for the first time, even listen.”
Mofaz has zig-zagged often in his political career. He is remembered for insisting, in late 2005, that he had no plans to leave the Likud – followed two days later by his jump to Kadima. After his loss to Livni in last year’s primaries, he announced that he was quitting politics – a threat that he did not fulfill.
One Has Left, Six on the Way
Meanwhile, MK Eli Aflalo, one of the MKs who left the Likud four years ago in order to join Kadima, has announced his resignation from Kadima and his formation of a one-man Knesset faction. He told Voice of Israel Radio that he has “stopped believing in Livni’s leadership.” He said he does not doubt her integrity, but said that she "has taken a centrist party to the left.”
Six other Kadima MKs have reportedly initialed an agreement to quit Kadima.
Criticism has also been heard of the manner in which some MKs in Kadima are given preferential treatment by faction whip Dalia Itzik, who arrived in Kadima from the Labor Party. “There are some [Kadima MKs] who are good only for drawing water and chopping wood,” Aflalo said. “I’m apparently good for bringing votes, but not good for being one of [Livni’s] close aides…”
Voice of Israel reporter Ayala Hasson said she knows for certain that Aflalo was chosen to the #6 spot in the Kadima party primaries, but was somehow moved down to #14. A police investigation of the Kadima primaries was closed last week with no results.