Ideology and Portfoliology
The unity government in the making will be based on
concessions by the two leading parties. The Labor Party, it
appears, has given up its ideology, while the Likud will
give up portfolios in order to bring in the Labor Party and
establish its power.
Last week, during a meeting of One Israel, Dalia Itzik said
the Likud would very much like to have them in the
coalition, for the same reason that they needed to bring in
the Likud not long ago, but lacked the sense to realize it
at the time.
Sharon and his advisors know that without a unity
government, and without the Labor Party, they have no chance
of remaining in power for more than a few months -- or a
year at the most -- and meanwhile Binyamin Netanyahu is
waiting in the wings.
In order to complete his term in office, Sharon has made an
unusual, but not unreasonable, move. He is planning to give
up portfolios, on condition that the Labor Party gives up
its ideology. For Sharon, ideology was a more pressing
issue, based on an assumption that the Labor Party can be
bought by dangling desirable portfolios in before it.
This ploy, barring a last minute mishap, is going to work,
according to Avi Yechezkel, who resigned from the
negotiating team, and Yossi Beilin. Labor has decided to let
go of its assets and its ideology in favor of portfolios,
and to stop Burg.
Efforts to stop Avraham Burg have united almost all of
Labor's senior officials. From Ehud Barak, Burg's great
rival, to Binyamin Ben Eliezer, who has already announced
that he will run against Burg for the leadership of the
Labor Party, to Haim Ramon, Burg's close friend until a
short time ago, and now a tough rival.
All three of these figures, and perhaps other senior
officials, need time. Barak really does think he will regain
control over the Labor Party once the storm has subsided;
Binyamin Ben Eliezer sees himself as a worthy candidate to
head the Labor Party, but needs time to organize his camp
and overcome party stalwarts; Haim Ramon, who used to think
that Barak's legacy would fall into his hands like a ripe
apple, now looks upon his friend Burg in despair and
disbelief, and needs time to rehabilitate his standing
within the party if he wants to have a chance at the Labor
Party leadership.
The opposition party has no time to spare. If Labor
positions itself as an opposition party, primaries will have
to be held within a period of three to four months, or six
months at the most. This is exactly what Burg wants. The
sooner the race begins, the less time his rivals will have
to prepare, and the better his chances of winning.
On the other hand, if they join the government and take
portfolios, including two important ministries, such as the
Defense Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, there will be no
need to rush to hold primaries. With desirable portfolios in
hand, there will also be no rush to elect a chairman, since
when Labor works in cooperation with the Prime Minister,
there is no need to select a leader to take command and to
offer an alternative. Meanwhile, as ministers, and Ben
Eliezer and Ramon will serve as ministers, they will garner
strength, will continue to hand out important positions and
funds, and will amass power that will help them to run for
office in the future.
The Labor Party expects to receive seven or eight
appointments, and almost all of the current Labor ministers
will maintain their positions, except those who are
uninterested in serving under another government, such as
Yossi Beilin and Shlomo Ben Ami, and those who don't deserve
a portfolio when the political map gets too crowded, such as
Barak appointee, Yuli Tamir, and Michael Melchior, who
represents Meimad with only one mandate.
Ministers who will remain in their posts include Matan
Vilnai, Haim Ramon, Beige Shochat, Binyamin Ben Eliezer,
Dalia Itzik, Shimon Peres, Ra'anan Cohen and perhaps Ehud
Barak, as well, depending on whether he has his heart set on
the defense portfolio or whether he sticks to his word for a
change, and resigns from the Knesset and from political
life.
Having Barak in the Defense Ministry is to Sharon's
advantage in several ways. If he manages to quell terrorism
and bring back stability, Sharon will take the credit and in
so doing, demonstrate that he has kept his promise to
restore peace and order. If Barak fails, Sharon can always
lay the blame on him, and come away relatively clean,
without having to pay the full price for failure.
The Chairman and the Throne
Last Tuesday, the secretary for the Likud faction stepped
into the office of Knesset chairman, Avraham Burg. "Back
again to check my chair to see whether it wobbles?" he asked
her. "Don't worry. It's perfectly strong. You have no chance
of getting your hands on it. You might as well forget about
it," he said.
This was just minutes after a meeting with the Knesset press
corps in which he announced his plans to maintain his
position come what may, and as a seasoned politician who
knows his arithmetic, he is well aware that his future
depends on just one faction and its 17 mandates--Shas.
Did Burg promise something to Shas in exchange for its
continued support, even if the government is replaced and
Labor is not brought into a unity government? It is hard to
be sure, but in all likelihood, the answer is no. What is
certain is that Burg has already paid Shas and strengthened
his position in a way that leaves no room for ambiguity.
After election day the Likud has no chance of replacing
Burg, whether it has a narrow coalition or plenty of votes
to spare.
On that Tuesday the Knesset voted on the Early Prisoner
Release Law in a third reading. After the results of the
vote were announced, with the law passing by a single vote,
Ofir Pines (One Israel) filed an appeal, claiming that Yuli
Edelstein's vote was counted, although Burg had declared
that the Israel B'Aliya's vote not be counted after he
entered the Knesset chamber too late.
Any other Knesset chairman from the Labor Party would have
taken a few minutes to check the protocol and would have
seen that he did, in fact, issue instructions not to count
Edelstein's vote, and therefore the results should be
changed to a tie, and the law should not be ratified. He
could also have chosen to call for a new vote, in which the
law would have had no chance of passing following the
subsequent storm brewing.
Burg, however, adopted a different approach. He held several
hours of consultations, watched the videotape of the
proceedings time after time and examined the protocol over
and over again. It looked as if he was searching for a way
to confirm the results and to include Yuli Edelstein's vote,
a way that was eventually found, to the jubilant shouts of
Shas MK's, and no efforts to hide behind the Knesset's legal
advisor or any other figure would have made a difference.
Burg himself, of course, was very angry when he heard the
talk about a deal allegedly worked out between him and
Shas.
There probably was no deal and no discussion. But Burg, who
would like to remain Knesset chairman, and even more, to be
nominated chairman of the Labor Party, and eventually Prime
Minister, is perfectly aware of Shas's power, both in the
Knesset and in the street, and knows that he needs them.
Burg has presented himself as innocent, fair and clean
handed. This could be, but his decision to remain Knesset
chairman, to cling to the throne without considering the
fact that the Prime Minister has been replaced and the rule
has changed, smacks of a lack of common sense and a lack of
propriety--as if no other man has ever served as Knesset
chairman. The chairman has always been a member of the
coalition. If a unity government is set up, fine. But if a
narrow coalition government is set up, Burg's decision will
prove to be clearly undemocratic. And this is certainly not
the way to begin campaigning for the party candidacy and the
Prime Minister's Office.
It is inconceivable and entirely inappropriate for someone
who posits himself as an alternative to the Prime Minister
to sit in the chairman's seat during Knesset plenums and run
his campaign from there. If a coalition government is set
up, Burg will have to abandon the throne, and conduct his
campaign as a regular Knesset member, just like the rest of
his opponents in the race.
Meanwhile, on all issues related to chareidim and chareidi
representation, Burg is making extra efforts to show decency
and integrity. Last Wednesday, at a meeting with the Knesset
press corps, he explained his behavior during the previous
day's vote on the "Deri Law" in light of the criticism
lodged against him, saying, "The moment an issue associated
with Shas or a chareidi issue is raised in the Knesset, all
of the parameters of conduct go up a notch. More hatred,
more shouting, more outbreaks and more antagonism. This must
be stopped. There should be more dialogue and
camaraderie."
Goldschmidt and Chareidi Knesset Members
Knesset Finance Committee chairman, Elie Goldschmidt, who
resigned from the Knesset last week, was originally a
kibbutznik, and as such, his worldview on religious issues
and his attitude toward the chareidi representation in the
Knesset was predictably unsympathetic. That is, except in
his capacity as Finance Committee Chairman.
Six months ago, Goldschmidt admitted to me that since he
began heading the Finance Committee, he had become
acquainted with chareidi MK's who were entirely different
from his previous conception of them, and his view of
chareidi representation had changed from one extreme to the
other. "I always believed that all that mattered to the
chareidi representatives were their own issues, the chareidi
sector, grabbing onto their slice of the pie, and nothing
more," Goldschmidt told me. "Now must say I have had a very
big and pleasant surprise: the two most outstanding MK's on
my committee are Rabbi Gafni and Rabbi Litzman of United
Torah Jewry. They attend almost every committee meeting,
after having reviewed the issues thoroughly. There have been
many meetings at which only the three of us were present.
None of the other committee members come to every meeting so
thoroughly prepared, no matter what the issue. And of course
this applies to non-religious issues as well. They are
extremely diligent, and I only wish other representatives,
including those from my own party, had a similar attitude
toward committee meetings."
Goldschmidt has since stated that the industriousness and
commitment shown by the chareidi Knesset members on the
committee, have impelled him to devote his attention to the
chareidi Knesset members' demands and have encouraged him to
consent to their requests for assistance. Rabbi Moshe Gafni
said last week that there has never been another secular
finance committee chairman who has been so decent and fair
toward United Torah Jewry.
