Kadima MK Omri Sharon has finally announced his resignation from the Knesset, a month and a half after pleading guilty to having violated campaign finance laws and of lying under oath. Deliberations on his sentence, which is likely to include jail time, are to begin three weeks from now.
The Kadima Party has been beset with accusations of corruption since its inception, almost two months ago. Among its leading members are Tzachi HaNegbi, whom the police have recommended for indictment for allegedly illegal political appointments he made while serving as Environment Minister, and MKs Eli Aflalo and Ruchama Avraham. The two were reprimanded by the Knesset Ethics Committee, and are being investigated by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, for having traveled abroad last year at the expense of Agrexco. Agrexco is a vegetable and fruit exporting company whose activities are within the scope of the Knesset Finance Committee on which the two serve.
First and foremost, however, is Kadima leader Ariel Sharon, who is under investigation regarding a $1.5-million loan he received from a South African businessman. Police suspect it was really meant to serve as a bribe.
Though outgoing MK Omri Sharon is a member of Kadima, he was elected on the Likud party ticket, and therefore his Knesset seat will be filled by a Likud member - former MK David Mena. Three others who preceded Mena on the list - Eitan Sulami, who helped run Ariel Sharon's campaign against Binyamin Netanyahu in the Likud primaries of late 2002, former Third Way MK Avigdor Kahalani, and Tzion Pinyan - turned down the chance to become a Knesset Member.
In the Labor Party, former MK Sofa Landver will enter the Knesset in place of retiring Avraham (Beige) Shochat. Landver and Mena will not perform any Knesset duties, as the Knesset has dispersed until the elections in late March. Army Radio reported that Landver is likely to announce that she is joining Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party.
The Meretz Party has chosen its candidates for the Knesset. The list will be topped by Yossi Beilin, followed - in an order to be determined two weeks from now - by MKs Ran Cohen, Zahava Gal'on and Chaim Oron, former Peace Now chairman Mosi Raz, hareidi woman Tzviyah Greenfield of Har Nof, Jerusalem, and others. Greenfield says there is no contradiction between her hareidi lifestyle and her belief in "Live and let thrive," which is why she favors legalizing same-sex marriages.
The Likud has decided, at the behest of Party Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu, to quit the government as of next Sunday. Health Minister Danny Naveh explained today that though he was of the opinion that the four Likud ministers - himself, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Education Minister Limor Livnat, and Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz - should remain in the government, he and they had bent to the will of the party chairman.
In other Likud news, Moshe Feiglin's withdrawal of his candidacy for a Knesset seat became final this morning. It happened when Likud Elections Committee Chairman Judge Tzvi Cohen ruled that Feiglin's conviction several years ago of "sedition" for having organized anti-Oslo protests was not a crime involving moral turpitude. The ruling paved the way for Feiglin to run for a party Knesset seat in the future, if he wishes.
The 1,000 Central Committee members of the National Religious Party will convene this afternoon in Nachalim for a preliminary meeting on the proposed party platform. The platform will be voted on next week. A rough draft of the platform allowed for the uprooting of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, in the framework of a final-status peace agreement approved in a referendum. The proposal was greeted with shock in Judea and Samaria, where there still remains some support for the NRP, and the National Union party hurried to accuse the NRP of preparing the way to join a future Sharon government. However, the NRP quickly nullified the clause, saying that party leader Zevulun Orlev was against it as well.
The Kadima Party has been beset with accusations of corruption since its inception, almost two months ago. Among its leading members are Tzachi HaNegbi, whom the police have recommended for indictment for allegedly illegal political appointments he made while serving as Environment Minister, and MKs Eli Aflalo and Ruchama Avraham. The two were reprimanded by the Knesset Ethics Committee, and are being investigated by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, for having traveled abroad last year at the expense of Agrexco. Agrexco is a vegetable and fruit exporting company whose activities are within the scope of the Knesset Finance Committee on which the two serve.
First and foremost, however, is Kadima leader Ariel Sharon, who is under investigation regarding a $1.5-million loan he received from a South African businessman. Police suspect it was really meant to serve as a bribe.
Though outgoing MK Omri Sharon is a member of Kadima, he was elected on the Likud party ticket, and therefore his Knesset seat will be filled by a Likud member - former MK David Mena. Three others who preceded Mena on the list - Eitan Sulami, who helped run Ariel Sharon's campaign against Binyamin Netanyahu in the Likud primaries of late 2002, former Third Way MK Avigdor Kahalani, and Tzion Pinyan - turned down the chance to become a Knesset Member.
In the Labor Party, former MK Sofa Landver will enter the Knesset in place of retiring Avraham (Beige) Shochat. Landver and Mena will not perform any Knesset duties, as the Knesset has dispersed until the elections in late March. Army Radio reported that Landver is likely to announce that she is joining Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party.
The Meretz Party has chosen its candidates for the Knesset. The list will be topped by Yossi Beilin, followed - in an order to be determined two weeks from now - by MKs Ran Cohen, Zahava Gal'on and Chaim Oron, former Peace Now chairman Mosi Raz, hareidi woman Tzviyah Greenfield of Har Nof, Jerusalem, and others. Greenfield says there is no contradiction between her hareidi lifestyle and her belief in "Live and let thrive," which is why she favors legalizing same-sex marriages.
The Likud has decided, at the behest of Party Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu, to quit the government as of next Sunday. Health Minister Danny Naveh explained today that though he was of the opinion that the four Likud ministers - himself, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Education Minister Limor Livnat, and Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz - should remain in the government, he and they had bent to the will of the party chairman.
In other Likud news, Moshe Feiglin's withdrawal of his candidacy for a Knesset seat became final this morning. It happened when Likud Elections Committee Chairman Judge Tzvi Cohen ruled that Feiglin's conviction several years ago of "sedition" for having organized anti-Oslo protests was not a crime involving moral turpitude. The ruling paved the way for Feiglin to run for a party Knesset seat in the future, if he wishes.
The 1,000 Central Committee members of the National Religious Party will convene this afternoon in Nachalim for a preliminary meeting on the proposed party platform. The platform will be voted on next week. A rough draft of the platform allowed for the uprooting of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, in the framework of a final-status peace agreement approved in a referendum. The proposal was greeted with shock in Judea and Samaria, where there still remains some support for the NRP, and the National Union party hurried to accuse the NRP of preparing the way to join a future Sharon government. However, the NRP quickly nullified the clause, saying that party leader Zevulun Orlev was against it as well.