Natan Sharansky of the Likud retired from the Knesset this week after a ten-year political career, and will be replaced today by former Knesset Member Chaim Katz. Katz served in the two previous Knessets, from May 1999 until April 2006, first as a member of the One Nation faction and then of the Likud. In the Likud, he was known as one of the 13 "rebels" who strongly opposed Ariel Sharon's Disengagement plan - and led Sharon to the conclusion that his political future would be better served by quitting the Likud and forming Kadima.
Katz, who will be sworn in today, said recently that he was not sure if he would take the job - and did not show up to Tuesday's Knesset session for his originally-scheduled swearing-in. Serving as head of the Israel Aerospace Industries workers union, Katz said, "I am making a living, I like what I'm doing, and I don't know if it's smart for me right now to return to the Knesset. The MKs have lately become subjects of persecution and slander. Now I'm outside the lights - no one writes about me, no one bothers me."
In the end, however, the pull of the Knesset was too strong and overcame his doubts. If Katz had decided not to join the Knesset, Sharansky's replacement would have been Dr. Uzi Landau - known as the leader of the Likud rebels camp, who served in five consecutive Knessets from 1984 until this year.
Also reportedly resigning from the Knesset is Eli Aflalo of Kadima, who is set to be named head of the Jewish Agency's settlement division and president of Kadima International. The appointment has been met with some opposition, and is not certain. If it goes through, however, he is set to be replaced not by the next in line on the Kadima list - Prof. Yitzchak Ben-Yisrael, a retired Maj.-Gen., who has chosen not to join the Knesset - but by 35-year-old Yochanan Plesner.
Plesner is now serving as the Director-General of Kadima and is considered to be close to Prime Minister Olmert. He served as an officer in the elite General Staff Sayeret unit, and has experience as a senior analyst in an American body for long-range Middle East strategic planning.
A special farewell Knesset session was held for Sharansky on Monday, in which Prime Minister Olmert and Opposition Leader Binyamin Netanyahu spoke in his praise. Sharansky, 58, began his career in the Knesset in 1996. He served in several ministerial capacities, including Industry, Interior, Housing and Jerusalem Affairs. Sharansky originally became famous for his Prisoner of Zion status in the Soviet Union, and caused a national stir when he was finally permitted to immigrate to Israel in 1986 after serving a nine-year prison sentence in Siberia. His wife Avital, whom he married shortly before he was arrested, waged a worldwide campaign for his freedom.