The Kadima Party convened today for the first time without its founder and raison d'etre, Ariel Sharon. The high point of the meeting was to choose Ehud Olmert, unanimously, as temporary party leader. Olmert replaces Sharon, who is in a coma in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.
Olmert then presented his list of ministerial appointments - all of whom come from Kadima, which is the only party remaining in the Cabinet. (The hareidi-religious Agudat Yisrael party is also a member of the government, but refuses to accept ministerial appointments. It has two Deputy Ministers, in the Welfare and Transportation ministries.)
The government, which has been re-shuffled several times since its inception three years ago, lines up like this:
Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Interior, Trade, Welfare - Ehud Olmert
Defense - Sha'ul Mofaz
Foreign Affairs, Justice, Absorption - Tzippy Livny
Education, Transportation - Meir Sheetrit
Public Security, Environment - Gideon Ezra
Infrastructures, Science - Roni Bar-on
Housing, Agriculture - Ze'ev Boim
Health, Negev and Galilee Development - Yaakov Edri
Communications, Tourism - Avraham Hirschson
Secret Services - Tzachi HaNegbi
Shinui:
Well-known for its one-issue, anti-religious stance, the Shinui Party has all but fallen apart. It entered the outgoing Knesset with 15 seats, but, according to recent polls, was expected to receive only 4-5 Knesset in the coming election. Despite this, about double that amount of incumbent MKs - eight to ten - have split off from the party and are considering starting a new party.
The inter-party tensions broke to the surface on Thursday, when party leaders Yosef Tommy Lapid and Avraham Poraz did poorly against their respective challengers in the party primaries. Lapid narrowly managed to win his race for the party's first slot, but Poraz was trounced by challenger Ron Levental. Levental is a non-MK who has long been outspoken in his criticism of Lapid and Poraz.
Some of the other MKs, not associated with Levental's camp, immediately withdrew their candidacy for the remaining spots on the Shinui list of Knesset candidates. They convened in Poraz's home to decide on their next steps - including the option of quitting the party and then "starting all over," by taking the party's name, institutions and funding.
Asked how this jibes with the concept of democracy that the party always claimed as its hallmark, MK Ettie Livny said that the present case is different because a hostile group took over the party from within. MK Ilan Shalgi, another Poraz-Lapid camp member, blamed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Shalgi told Israel Radio that Sharon had set this precedent by ignoring the outcome of the Likud's referendum against disengagement in May 2004.
The breakaway group appears to have rejected the option of assuming the party's name, because of legal obstacles.
It is now expected that party leader Tommy Lapid, who turned 74 last month, will retire from politics. The two-term Knesset Member, a close friend of Ehud Olmert, was to convene a press conference this afternoon, but later called it off. Poraz, on the other hand, has not yet announced his choice of action.
It is possible that Poraz and his party allies with join the new party of Maj.-Gen. Uzi Dayan, named Tafnit (Turning Point). Tafnit has not passed the minimum voting threshold in any surveys as of yet.
Olmert then presented his list of ministerial appointments - all of whom come from Kadima, which is the only party remaining in the Cabinet. (The hareidi-religious Agudat Yisrael party is also a member of the government, but refuses to accept ministerial appointments. It has two Deputy Ministers, in the Welfare and Transportation ministries.)
The government, which has been re-shuffled several times since its inception three years ago, lines up like this:
Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Interior, Trade, Welfare - Ehud Olmert
Defense - Sha'ul Mofaz
Foreign Affairs, Justice, Absorption - Tzippy Livny
Education, Transportation - Meir Sheetrit
Public Security, Environment - Gideon Ezra
Infrastructures, Science - Roni Bar-on
Housing, Agriculture - Ze'ev Boim
Health, Negev and Galilee Development - Yaakov Edri
Communications, Tourism - Avraham Hirschson
Secret Services - Tzachi HaNegbi
Shinui:
Well-known for its one-issue, anti-religious stance, the Shinui Party has all but fallen apart. It entered the outgoing Knesset with 15 seats, but, according to recent polls, was expected to receive only 4-5 Knesset in the coming election. Despite this, about double that amount of incumbent MKs - eight to ten - have split off from the party and are considering starting a new party.
The inter-party tensions broke to the surface on Thursday, when party leaders Yosef Tommy Lapid and Avraham Poraz did poorly against their respective challengers in the party primaries. Lapid narrowly managed to win his race for the party's first slot, but Poraz was trounced by challenger Ron Levental. Levental is a non-MK who has long been outspoken in his criticism of Lapid and Poraz.
Some of the other MKs, not associated with Levental's camp, immediately withdrew their candidacy for the remaining spots on the Shinui list of Knesset candidates. They convened in Poraz's home to decide on their next steps - including the option of quitting the party and then "starting all over," by taking the party's name, institutions and funding.
Asked how this jibes with the concept of democracy that the party always claimed as its hallmark, MK Ettie Livny said that the present case is different because a hostile group took over the party from within. MK Ilan Shalgi, another Poraz-Lapid camp member, blamed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Shalgi told Israel Radio that Sharon had set this precedent by ignoring the outcome of the Likud's referendum against disengagement in May 2004.
The breakaway group appears to have rejected the option of assuming the party's name, because of legal obstacles.
It is now expected that party leader Tommy Lapid, who turned 74 last month, will retire from politics. The two-term Knesset Member, a close friend of Ehud Olmert, was to convene a press conference this afternoon, but later called it off. Poraz, on the other hand, has not yet announced his choice of action.
It is possible that Poraz and his party allies with join the new party of Maj.-Gen. Uzi Dayan, named Tafnit (Turning Point). Tafnit has not passed the minimum voting threshold in any surveys as of yet.