Posted on 11/16/2005 10:45:43 AM PST by anotherview
Nov. 16, 2005 8:24 | Updated Nov. 16, 2005 19:39
New poll finds Sharon has 30% lead over Netanyahu
By GIL HOFFMAN AND JPOST STAFF
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at Sunday's cabinet meeting.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
If Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is considering whether to split the Likud and form a new party, he may want to draw his attention to a recent poll that found that he would defeat his main challenger, MK Binyamin Netanyahu, by over 30 percent.
The poll, which was commissioned by Channel 10 and conducted among Likud voters, found that nearly 49% would vote for Sharon, while only 19.4% would support Netanyahu. Rebel leader Uzi Landau received 11.7% of the vote.
Meanwhile in Wednesday's Likud faction meeting in the Knesset, Sharon said that he was unimpressed with the fervent calls for party unity from his political opponents.
Likud MKs, who have been rebelling against Sharon for more than two years, took turns giving speeches about the need for unity in the party to defeat newly elected Labor Chairman Amir Peretz. But Sharon told his associates that he expects the show of unity to end immediately after the election.
"Let's not lie to ourselves," Sharon said. "No one in the faction has changed their mind about anything because of this meeting."
Sharon's associates shrugged off the calls for harmony within the party saying that they "hadn't seen such an atmosphere of hypocrisy in the faction in a while" and that the Likud was still "far away from reconciliation." Sharon loyalist MK Roni Bar-On left the meeting early, saying that the unity speeches by Likud rebels "made me need a barf bag."
In a typical statement from the meeting, Likud rebel MK Michael Ratzon said, "There is a time for everything - a time to argue and a time to unite. This is a time to emphasize what we have in common instead of our differences and move forward together."
Many Likud MKs left the meeting upset that Sharon did not use the occasion to announce whether he intended to remain in the Likud. Sharon's associates said that he would not make a decision until next week when his advisers receive the results of polls and market research focus groups.
Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra and Knesset Law Committee chairman Michael Eitan told Sharon in the meeting that it was unacceptable that he had not yet announced his decision. Netanyahu said without mentioning Sharon that "whoever loses the race will have to accept the democratic decision."
Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that he was against a proposal in the Likud central committee to reserve the second slot on the Likud list for Netanyahu in return for him quitting the race. "We have to stop this crybaby approach of saving Bibi," he said. "Bibi is a big boy and he can run by himself."
Landau said in the meeting that the Likud should unite around its principles and ideology instead of around the prime minister. He said that there should be primaries and that he would be a candidate, but that "no matter who wins, I will stand behind the victor."
Ezra retorted bluntly, "You know you're going to lose, right, so why are you still running?"
At the end of the meeting, the faction unanimously passed a statement saying that "the faction sees the breakup of the national-unity government as an irresponsible move by Labor and its chairman. The Likud will unite against the extremist policies of Amir Peretz that endanger Israel and the economy. We will win the election and continue to lead the country.
Assuming the Prime Minister remains in Likud (which now appears likely) and wins the primary, the anti-Sharon crowd here will need to decide if it really likes Amir Peretz better, because it really does appear that will be the choice.
>> Rebel leader Uzi Landau <<
Not so bad, but his kid is a read sonofagun.
Well, I'm afraid what this says to me is that Sharon may have succeeded in wrecking Likud.
I hope everything works out for the best. But personally I think that Sharon, who rode in on a wave of anger against the Oslo "peace" process, the resulting Intifada, and Ehud Barak, has betrayed his party and his country.
What to do about it? I don't know. Fortunately I'm not an Israeli voter.
You know I share neither your view of disengagement nor of the Prime Minister. There is good reason Prime Minister Sharon remains immensely popular in Israel. He is seen as a strong leader.
Ariel Sharon is a Zionist through and through. He does what he believes will bring security to Israel. I understand you don't like what he does but that does not mean he betrayed anyone.
I hope you are right.
I know I am right about the Prime Minister's motives. ABout his actions... only time will tell.
Also, please remember Israel is not a two party system. You could vote for National Union/Israel Beitanu, for example, or Mafdal (National Religious Party). Neither has any chance of winning an election, of course, but they are the voice of opposition to disengagement, any attempt at peace, any territoial concessions, and often the voice of "transfer" (forced deportation of Palestinian Arabs).
..................
Binyamin Netanyahu is the best man
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."
The Nature Of Bruce ~
What a disaster. Of all people, the Israelis should know appeasement = death.
Herod,-er Sharon is ahead.
Those of us who remember Netanyahu's previous performance as Prime Minister tend to disagree with you. The right has never forgiven Netanyahu for pulling out of Hebron as a result of the Wye River Accords, which he signed. He continued the Oslo peace process.
Bibi's positions change with the political winds. The whole thing over disengagement from Gaza was political opportunism. Uzi Landau, by contrast, objected based on his principles and beliefs. I'm not sure anyone knows what beliefs Bibi has.
One thing for sure: Bibi won't get my vote.
I think you are right, but in 2001 it looked like Prime Minister Sharon was willing to stand up to President Bush. Certainly Prime Minister Shamir stood up to the first President Bush at the cost of a freeze in U.S. loan guarantees to Israel. I think the Prime Minister needs to stiffen up and hold firm to Israel's best interests. I think the agreement on the Gaza-Egypt border is a huge mistake.
Oh, and if you want to make that bet here it'd be shekels to sufganiyot :)
Can you explain to me why Sharon is leading Netanyahu?
Israel needs to move on Iran now, he is the man
IRAN will start converting 50 tonnes of uranium ore from the end of next week into the feedstock gas for making enriched uranium, a key phase in the nuclear process.
A diplomat said the Iranians have told the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna that "they intend to resume full conversion work on November 26".
That would be after a crucial November 24-25 meeting of the IAEA board of governors on Tehran's nuclear program at which diplomats will consider whether to send Iran to the UN Security Council.
The announced work would be a second round of conversion. Iran has already processed 37 tonnes of ore.
Diplomats said the amount of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas the Iranians would have after processing 50 tonnes would be enough to make highly enriched uranium for up to 10 atomic bombs.
Iran had previously announced it would do more conversion but had not given a specific date, although it had been expected to begin the process earlier in November. The amount to be converted is also more than previously thought.
The diplomats also said reports that the UF6 is too contaminated to be put into the centrifuges that spin it into enriched uranium were wrong.
Iran is currently suspending enrichment work but "the current batch is good enough for a crash nuclear weapons program, if Iran doesn't mind ruining a lot of centrifuges along the way," a Western diplomat said.
Iran says its nuclear program is a peaceful effort to generate electricity but the United States charges that Tehran is using this to hide secret work on developing atomic weapons.
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