The National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu strategy may be working. Labor MKs seem to have been very upset with anti-Peres remarks made at a memorial weekend for the assassinated Rehavam Ze\'evi in Jerusalem, and MK Ofir Pines-Paz even threatened today that his party would not be able to remain in the same coalition with NUYB, and called upon Prime Minister Sharon to choose between the two parties. The two MKs were particularly upset with repeated calls by National Union leader Tourism Minister Benny Elon for the dismissal of Foreign Minister Peres. Elon and his party colleagues are presumably happy with Pines\' threat; in response to puzzlement about their membership in a government that expresses many of Shimon Peres\' ideas, they have often said that they would much rather cause Peres to leave the government than to leave themselves.
MK Cabel said that it is inconceivable for every right-wing gathering to become a forum for strong criticism of Peres and others who promote the Oslo process. He demanded that the Attorney-General investigate last night\'s speakers. Some 600 people participated in last night\'s closing event of the memorial Shabbat for Ze\'evi, which was sponsored by the Arutz-7 Events Department. Some participants sported buttons with the pictures of Arafat and Peres and the caption, \"Oslo Criminals.\"
Selected quotes from last night\'s event:
Peres\' remarks in the UN were akin to \"me giving a speech in the UN saying that most of the nation is in favor of transfer [of Arabs out of Judea and Samaria] but that it is not yet official government policy.\" - Tourism Minister Benny Elon
\"We need elections now, when our opponents, the opponents of Zionism, those who would reverse our power, are in the weakest position they have been in generations. They have never consumed themselves with internal fighting as they have now... Elections would enable us to get rid of Shimon Peres, the great informer against the State of Israel, the great weaver of lies against Israel, who unceasingly undercuts against the Zionism of pioneering, of labor, of settlement. \" - Moshe Shamir, writer
\"The alternative that I propose is patience and the realization that there will not be peace.\" - MK Tzvi Hendel
\"We must reconquer all the Yesha areas… What\'s our alternative to Arafat? We are the alternative to Arafat. There will be full Israeli security control there.\" - former MK Chanan Porat
\"What Sharon said was 1,000 times worse than what Peres said. Why are you lashing out at Peres? If you are honest, you must lash out at Sharon.\" - Atty. Elyakim HaEtzni
MK Cabel said that it is inconceivable for every right-wing gathering to become a forum for strong criticism of Peres and others who promote the Oslo process. He demanded that the Attorney-General investigate last night\'s speakers. Some 600 people participated in last night\'s closing event of the memorial Shabbat for Ze\'evi, which was sponsored by the Arutz-7 Events Department. Some participants sported buttons with the pictures of Arafat and Peres and the caption, \"Oslo Criminals.\"
Selected quotes from last night\'s event:
Peres\' remarks in the UN were akin to \"me giving a speech in the UN saying that most of the nation is in favor of transfer [of Arabs out of Judea and Samaria] but that it is not yet official government policy.\" - Tourism Minister Benny Elon
\"We need elections now, when our opponents, the opponents of Zionism, those who would reverse our power, are in the weakest position they have been in generations. They have never consumed themselves with internal fighting as they have now... Elections would enable us to get rid of Shimon Peres, the great informer against the State of Israel, the great weaver of lies against Israel, who unceasingly undercuts against the Zionism of pioneering, of labor, of settlement. \" - Moshe Shamir, writer
\"The alternative that I propose is patience and the realization that there will not be peace.\" - MK Tzvi Hendel
\"We must reconquer all the Yesha areas… What\'s our alternative to Arafat? We are the alternative to Arafat. There will be full Israeli security control there.\" - former MK Chanan Porat
\"What Sharon said was 1,000 times worse than what Peres said. Why are you lashing out at Peres? If you are honest, you must lash out at Sharon.\" - Atty. Elyakim HaEtzni