Beilin announced Sunday that he is withdrawing from the race for party head, but will continue serving in the Knesset. He gave his endorsement to MK Chaim (Jumas) Oron as party leader.
MK Hendel: I prefer political integrity like Beilin's over the stance of Likud MKs who presented one position to the nation and then did the exact opposite.
Meretz MKs Zahava Gal'on and Ran Cohen, who are also seeking to head the party, responded to Beilin's announcement. Gal'on congratulated Beilin for withdrawing, while Cohen criticized him for supporting Oron. The party's primaries are scheduled for three months from now.
Beilin was originally elected to the Knesset on the Labor Party ticket in 1988, and even served as Deputy Finance Minister. He conducted secret - and illegal - ties with representatives of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), which led to the Oslo Accords. However, his popularity in Labor dropped, and when he was chosen to an unrealistic spot on the party's Knesset list in 2001, he quit the party. In 2004, he was chosen to head the Meretz party.
Beilin has been widely criticized within his party for not improving its national popularity. Meretz, which once had 12 Knesset mandates, now has only five, and shows no sign of improving.
At his Sunday press conference, he explained that he only ran for party leader at the time because the incumbent, Yossi Sarid, resigned after leading the party to poor results in the national election. Sarid, for his part, welcomed the withdrawal of his once-rival from future consideration for party leader.
Hendel and Yishai
At least two religious MKs praised Beilin's integrity, while emphasizing that they totally rejected his anti-religious and extreme left-wing policies. Shas Party leader Eli Yishai said Beilin was a "fair and noble" man who acted with "great friendship," though "the gap between our views is tremendous."
MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union) expressed similar sentiments to Arutz-7's Uzi Baruch. "He is a dangerous political enemy," Hendel said, "but on a personal level, he is very straight. I prefer political integrity like his over the stance of Likud MKs who presented one position to the nation [against withdrawal from Gaza - ed.] and then did the exact opposite."
Baruch asked, "How then do you explain his pre-Oslo machinations, which were done without proper government approval?" Hendel said, "This is further proof that politically he is dangerous; he received the backing of then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and knew how to take advantage of then-Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin's weakness."