Emunah Elon - children's author, political columnist, and wife of MK Benny Elon (Moledet, National Union) wrote in B'Sheva this week that though the left-wing clearly lost, the right-wing did not win: "People think the right-wing won because they think the Likud is right-wing," she explained to Arutz-7 today. "But more and more of late, the Likud has been presenting itself as a centrist party, and not right-wing. Basically, the majority of the public voted for the Likud - which effectively stands for the establishment of a Palestinian state even though its own party platform is against it - and for Shinui, which is clearly a center-based party." If Sharon builds a right-wing government, she concluded, it would be by default.
The Likud's Tzippy Livni, who appears headed for a ministerial position in Sharon's government, essentially agreed with this point this morning. Asked on Israel Radio why the Likud does not want to form a right-wing government, she said, "Basically, we are just a soft-right party..."
Ms. Elon continued, "I think that the public simply has no strength for ideology - not for the left that brought us Oslo, and also, unfortunately, not for the right-wing ideology which is perceived as bringing more terrorism and suffering. In short, we have not succeeded in explaining well enough to the general public what we want and what we can lead to. The right-wing's victory is therefore just a technical victory, simply because the left-wing cannot build a government."
"Sharon certainly would rather not have Lieberman in his coalition," Ms. Elon said, "because he doesn't want anyone to remind him that we must never establish a Palestinian state west of the Jordan, and that we must not allow terrorism to continue to strike at us, and that it must be soundly defeated. Sharon knows that Lieberman and the National Union [can] argue with him on these issues. Sharon has said outright that he only wants 'yes-men' in his government. Even within the Likud, he won't take ministers who insist on remaining loyal to the Likud platform, such as Tzachi HaNegbi and Uzi Landau, and Limor Livnat seems to have given up for the meanwhile on her diplomatic stances so that she can remain Education Minister… The Likud's election motto was, 'The Nation Wants Sharon,' and it was true - they got Sharon, but he didn't tell them what he actually stood for. Now, whatever policy Sharon decides, that's what will be."
Elon tried to explain why the National Union did not gain in Knesset strength:
"It was quite disappointing. There were a few factors. For one thing, Herut took away a lot of votes, which ended up being wasted. But our main failure was in trying to convince Likud voters to vote for the National Union. The reason for this is that even among people who were convinced that the National Union stands for the genuine Likud platform, once they got behind the voting curtain, their hand instinctively went for the Likud slip - it's something in their blood, apparently, just like with NRP-niks… The National Union thought mistakenly that they could take 5-6 seats from the Likud, and there were even some recent polls that seemed to indicate that scenario - but in the end [it turned out that] Sharon gives off a feeling of stability, which is something that people prefer during this time of uncertainty over something new and untried."
Ms. Elon said that the right-wing parties must insist on a right-wing government,
"and it would not be a 'narrow right-wing' government, like the press is calling it, because it would contain 67 MKs, and another 4 of the Am Echad party, which gives a very respectable coalition of 71… They have to force Sharon and dictate these terms to him, because even though he won, he is still dependent on the right-wing. For the next elections, we have to persuade and explain to the public that there already is a Palestinian state, namely Jordan, and that we must solve the problem of the refugees by removing them from the camps - not having them sit there for another 54 years - and sending them to the Palestinian state of Jordan… It is very possible that even during the upcoming Knesset session, we can form a true right-wing bloc, with the inclusion of some Likud MKs who refuse to blindly follow Sharon. There could be some very interesting developments in this Knesset…"
The Likud's Tzippy Livni, who appears headed for a ministerial position in Sharon's government, essentially agreed with this point this morning. Asked on Israel Radio why the Likud does not want to form a right-wing government, she said, "Basically, we are just a soft-right party..."
Ms. Elon continued, "I think that the public simply has no strength for ideology - not for the left that brought us Oslo, and also, unfortunately, not for the right-wing ideology which is perceived as bringing more terrorism and suffering. In short, we have not succeeded in explaining well enough to the general public what we want and what we can lead to. The right-wing's victory is therefore just a technical victory, simply because the left-wing cannot build a government."
"Sharon certainly would rather not have Lieberman in his coalition," Ms. Elon said, "because he doesn't want anyone to remind him that we must never establish a Palestinian state west of the Jordan, and that we must not allow terrorism to continue to strike at us, and that it must be soundly defeated. Sharon knows that Lieberman and the National Union [can] argue with him on these issues. Sharon has said outright that he only wants 'yes-men' in his government. Even within the Likud, he won't take ministers who insist on remaining loyal to the Likud platform, such as Tzachi HaNegbi and Uzi Landau, and Limor Livnat seems to have given up for the meanwhile on her diplomatic stances so that she can remain Education Minister… The Likud's election motto was, 'The Nation Wants Sharon,' and it was true - they got Sharon, but he didn't tell them what he actually stood for. Now, whatever policy Sharon decides, that's what will be."
Elon tried to explain why the National Union did not gain in Knesset strength:
"It was quite disappointing. There were a few factors. For one thing, Herut took away a lot of votes, which ended up being wasted. But our main failure was in trying to convince Likud voters to vote for the National Union. The reason for this is that even among people who were convinced that the National Union stands for the genuine Likud platform, once they got behind the voting curtain, their hand instinctively went for the Likud slip - it's something in their blood, apparently, just like with NRP-niks… The National Union thought mistakenly that they could take 5-6 seats from the Likud, and there were even some recent polls that seemed to indicate that scenario - but in the end [it turned out that] Sharon gives off a feeling of stability, which is something that people prefer during this time of uncertainty over something new and untried."
Ms. Elon said that the right-wing parties must insist on a right-wing government,
"and it would not be a 'narrow right-wing' government, like the press is calling it, because it would contain 67 MKs, and another 4 of the Am Echad party, which gives a very respectable coalition of 71… They have to force Sharon and dictate these terms to him, because even though he won, he is still dependent on the right-wing. For the next elections, we have to persuade and explain to the public that there already is a Palestinian state, namely Jordan, and that we must solve the problem of the refugees by removing them from the camps - not having them sit there for another 54 years - and sending them to the Palestinian state of Jordan… It is very possible that even during the upcoming Knesset session, we can form a true right-wing bloc, with the inclusion of some Likud MKs who refuse to blindly follow Sharon. There could be some very interesting developments in this Knesset…"