MK Chaim Ramon (Kadima), a former Justice Minister and former Histadrut Labor Union chief, announced his intention to resign this week from the Knesset, and appears to be enjoying his last week in the limelight to the hilt.
Ramon had a colorful, controversial 26-year career in the Knesset, and his last week promises to be a fitting ending. He leaked his resignation plans on Sunday, held a news conference on Monday, will submit his letter of resignation on Tuesday and will speak in the Knesset for the last time on Wednesday. His resignation will take effect on Thursday.
At the press conference in the Kadima party room in the Knesset, Ramon said that his role in forming Kadima was "among the most important political acts of my life... The Disengagement [from Gush Katif, which preceded and kicked off the reorganization of Israeli politics - ed.] was a disengagement not only from Gaza, but also from old Israeli politics."
Ramon, 59, who was a member of the Labor Party for most of his career, joined Kadima shortly after its founding by Ariel Sharon in late 2005. Though he is leaving active politics for the business sector, he will remain in Kadima as party secretary-general, and confidantes say that under the proper circumstances, he could become a Cabinet minister in the future.
Taking his Knesset seat will be the relatively unknown Yulia Shmualov-Berkovitz, 45, who immigrated from Russia at the age of 14. She was a founder of the Russian-language Channel 9 TV station, now serves as Kadima's Director of Strategy and Development - and is a strong supporter of Kadima leader MK Tzipi Livni.
The Whales Speech: "You Don't Listen"
Ramon first joined the Knesset in 1983, and later served as Health Minister. He became famous during this period for his dramatic "whales" speech, when he cried out to his fellow Labor members that they were acting like whales beaching themselves on a beach, constantly taking a course of self-defeat: "You are like whales, trying over and over to kill yourselves on the beach - and I, with my limited powers, try to save you - but you don't listen, you don't listen."
Histadrut and the Wall
Soon afterwards, Ramon quit Labor, formed a new "Chaim Chadashim" (New Life) faction in the Histadrut, and became the powerful labor union's chairman. He is credited with having made important reforms in the organization.
Ramon later returned to the Labor party and the Knesset, serving as Interior Minister under acting Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Barak. He was a strong proponent of the anti-terrorism partition wall, separating Judea and Samaria from the rest of Israel.
"LIfe and Death in the Hands of the Tongue"
Ramon became one of the few high-ranking Labor members to join Kadima, the formation of which he predicted and worked for together with Ariel Sharon. After Sharon fell ill and Ehud Olmert assumed the leadership of the party, Ramon was named Minister of Justice. It was during this period that he was convicted of forcibly kissing a female soldier, and was pressured to resign as minister. He was sentenced to 120 hours of community service, but was later elected to the Knesset once again. He has accused the police of being overly and illegally zealous in prosecuting him; a State Comptroller report on the issue is due out shortly.