'New rebels' plan to dump Netanyahu

After debacle, 'the new rebels' planning to dump Netanyahu

By Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondent

MK Benjamin Netanyahu found himself Wednesday - less then 24 hours after
Likud's crushing defeat in the elections - up against senior party members
who are already being termed "the new rebels," and are already demanding and
planning to work toward his ousting.

The new front in the Likud is being led by former ministers Silvan Shalom
and Limor Livnat, and also includes Dan Naveh and Yisrael Katz, number 12 on
the party's Knesset slate and without a seat in the upcoming parliament.

One of the options currently being considered involves a hasty convention of
the Likud Central Committee for the purpose of passing a resolution to bring
forward the party primaries and hold internal elections within 30 days.




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Sources close to the so-called new rebels said Wednesday that at this stage,
the former ministers are not working toward ousting Netanyahu, but do expect
him to draw the obvious conclusions and step down in light of the Likud's
unprecedentedly poor showing in the elections.

"It is inconceivable, following the downfall, for him to convey a message of
business as usual, as if we had lost just two seats," one source said. "We
were in shock when he announced that he was staying on. So he blames Sharon
and the media for the failure  everyone but him. The Likud and the public
have said their piece."

For his part, Netanyahu appears determined to follow through on his
announcement to remain in the Likud and rehabilitate the party, and is
working on consolidating a power base of his own among the faction's members
that would prevent his ousting.

Shalom, Livnat and Naveh met yesterday to discuss concerns that Netanyahu
may be working toward joining up with National Union in an effort to
preserve his position as chairman of the opposition. "Now, after Bibi has
crushed us, we will not allow him to turn us into an extremist right-wing
party," the three concurred Wednesday.

To pull off such a move, Netanyahu would require the support of two-thirds
of the Central Committee, and is unlikely to get it. Meanwhile, Likud
officials have initiated a move to collect signatures from 20 percent of the
Central Committee members for the purpose of convening the body for a vote
on bringing forward the party primaries.

The break-up between Netanyahu and the former ministers was inevitable, and
hovered in the background throughout the party's election campaign. On
Tuesday night, when the extent of failure emerged, the knives were soon
drawn: Shalom and Livnat were nowhere to be seen onstage at the Exhibition
Grounds; and the two, along with Naveh and Katz, also failed to show up at
the Likud faction meeting that Netanyahu convened later that night at party
headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Livnat and Shalom said Wednesday that they hadn't received an invitation to
the faction meeting, and that they had been summoned to the event at the
Exhibition Grounds just five minutes before Netanyahu delivered his address.

Speaking at the late-night faction meeting, Netanyahu again reiterated his
determination to remain at the head of the party. "Whoever wants to go over
to Kadima, now's the time to get up and go; those who don't want to should
stay and work," he said.

Sources close to Netanyahu commented that the party chairman would be able
to fend off the attempts to oust him. "Shalom is making a mistake by working
to undermine Bibi. It won't help him in the primaries. Such a thing isn't
liked in the Likud," one source said.

Meanwhile, "crime and punishment" was the phrase used by a close aide to
Ariel Sharon on seeing outgoing Likud MK and rebel leader Uzi Landau appear
on the big screen at the party's election headquarters on Tuesday night.
Landau was 14th on the Likud Knesset and will not be a member of the next
Knesset.

The sin of the rebels, according to the aide, was their failure to
comprehend the limitations of the power they believed they wielded, their
belief that they were invincible, and the fact that they made Sharon's life
miserable. They paid, the aide said, with their political careers.

From the original rebel group just two will be serving in the 17th Knesset -
Moshe Kahalon and Gilad Erdan, who the media had dubbed "lite rebels" and
who had made an effort not to cross any red lines in their opposition to the
disengagement plan.

The rebels, in fact, lost their relevance the day Sharon split the Likud. In
one fell swoop, they lost all their power and became totally insignificant,
causing the members of the Central Committee to hold them responsible for
the collapse of the party.

Refer: http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/700362.html

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