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Kadima Sinking, Party Members to Join Netanyahu

Kadima Sinking, Party Members to Join Netanyahu
folder_openZionist Entity access_time11 years ago
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Local Editor

Just days after the troubled "Israeli" Kadima bloc bolted the government, six of party's 28 Knesset members have agreed to join "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hawkish coalition.

The defection of the party backbenchers, confirmed by Kadima official Imri Mazor but not yet officially announced, could reduce the likelihood of the government dissolving over contentious issues including a court-ordered reform of the military draft and budgetary feuds.
Kadima Sinking, Party Members to Join NetanyahuThe KM defection would shore up Netanyahu's parliamentary majority to 72 of 120 seats while weakening Kadima's new chairman Shaul Mofaz, whose authority has already been sharply eroded by the political maneuvering that abruptly brought his party into the government and just as abruptly out.
In parallel, Haaretz reported that "Kadima officials are working to depose Shaul Mofaz from his role as party head."
The reported plan came as Kadima seemed to edge closer to a full-on split, with former "Israeli" minister Tzachi Hanegbi spearheading efforts to convince at least seven Kadima MKs - the minimum required to create a new faction - to break off and rejoin the coalition of
"Kadima is a sinking ship, it's a fait accompli. All its MKs are looking for lifeboats," said one Kadima MK.
Mofaz entered Netanyahu's coalition in a surprise hookup in May, in part to try to end decades of draft exemptions to ultra-Orthodox Jewish men. But with a court-ordered Aug. 1 draft reform deadline looming and with Netanyahu's government looking unlikely to push as thorough an overhaul to the system as Kadima would like, the sides failed to reach a compromise and Kadima quit the government last Tuesday.

With his party unraveling, Mofaz predicted on Monday that Netanyahu's political ploy would not go down well with the "Israeli" public.
In remarks to "Yediot Ahronot" news website, Mofaz said: "the political bribery marks the beginning of the end of Netanyahu's government."
Kadima is the largest party in "Israel's" parliament, winning one more seat than Netanyahu's Likud Party in the last election in February 2009. But it rejected his invitation to join the government he set up then.

Source: News agencies, Edited by moqawama.org

 

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