 | | Sharon Attempts to Destroy Another of His Works: The Likud
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced he is quitting the party he is credited with founding 32 years ago, and will start a new one. Approximately a dozen Likud MKs will apparently join him.
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More Details |  | | Editor: Hillel Fendel
Monday, November 21, 2005
19 Cheshvan 5766
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| | | 1. Sharon Attempts to Destroy Another of His Works: The Likud
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced he is quitting the party he is credited with founding 32 years ago, and will start a new one. Approximately a dozen Likud MKs will apparently join him.
| Prime Minister Sharon ended the suspense that gripped the country for a number of weeks, and made known his decision around midnight Sunday night: He will not run for the Likud Party leadership, but will rather quit and form his own new party. The reason, apparently, is as Binyamin Netanyahu - his main challenger for the party leadership - said on Friday: "Sharon knows that the Likud as a party will never accept his dictates for additional withdrawals, in the framework of the Roadmap or in a unilateral and arbitrary manner, as happened in Gush Katif. Every territorial compromise in the future will be contingent upon a referendum. Therefore, he has been left with no choice but to [try to] carry out his policies via a different party."
Commentators noted that Sharon would never have taken such a risky and controversial step if he was not planning to continue his policy of withdrawals from Judea, Samaria and even Jerusalem.
Sharon submitted his resignation to President Moshe Katzav on Monday morning, and elections must be held within 111 days afterwards - 21 days to see if an alternative government can be formed (which most observers feel it cannot), and then 90 days of campaigning. The election will apparently be held on Wednesday, March 8, 2006, the 8th of Adar 5756 - unless the Knesset dissolves itself, causing another three-week delay in the election.
The Knesset Sharon's decision to quit puts the political framework into a dizzying spin. The Likud will have to regroup and see who is left after its leader leaves and takes with him approximately a third of its Knesset Members. In addition, six people have already announced or intimated their intentions to run for party leader once Sharon leaves. They are Netanyahu, Uzi Landau, Moshe Feiglin, Sha'ul Mofaz, Yisrael Katz, Silvan Shalom, and possibly Limor Livnat (who later said she would not run).
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) said, shortly after Sharon's decision was made public, that the right-wing - including the pared-down Likud, the National Religious Party, the National Union, and Yisrael Beiteinu - will have to merge into one bloc. "What logic didn't do, fear will do," he said, explaining that the right-wing bloc should have been formed long ago.
"The political map has been redrawn," Eldad said. "It's right, center, left, hareidim and Arabs - that's it." It was not immediately clear why Eldad considers Sharon's new party to be a centrist one.
Ariel Sharon founded the Likud in 1973, when he said to have twisted Herut Party leader Menachem Begin's arm to accept a union with two other right-wing nationalist groups. Beginning in 1977, the Likud won six of the next nine national elections - in 1977, 1981, 1988, 1996, 2001, and 2003. The Likud lost only in 1992 and 1999, and reached the equivalent of a tie with Labor in 1984.
Sharon is now searing apart the party, with several of the current party ministers planning to bolt the party and join him. These include Ehud Olmert, Tzippy Livny, Avraham Hirschson, Gideon Ezra, and possibly Meir Sheetrit, as well as MKs Ruhama Avraham (Netanyahu's former top assistant), Eli Aflalo, Majli Wahabe, Roni Bar-On, Ze'ev Boim, and several more.
It was noted that just as Sharon had confounded former supporters by destroying the settlement enterprise in Gush Katif that he himself had so much to do with, he was now doing the same thing with his political home, the Likud. Likud MK Ehud Yatom said, "The man who built the Likud is now acting to dismantle it, just like he, the father of the settlements, is planning to continue to uproot them in Judea and Samaria."
MK Omri Sharon, the Prime Minister's son who pleaded guilty last week to violating campaign funding laws on behalf of his father's primaries victory in a previous election, has not resigned from the Knesset as a result - and MK Aryeh Eldad thinks he knows why: "This way, he can be possibly the 14th MK to join his father's new party - and if in fact the new party gets that many MKs, that is more than a third of the Likud. According to election laws, if one-third of a party breaks away, it receives one-third of the parent party's campaign funding and broadcast time - and in the case of the Likud, of course, this adds up to a lot. That's apparently why Omri Sharon didn't resign - to keep the millions for his father's new party."
Other reactions:
Likud MK Ayoub Kara: "We have thankfully been ridden of Sharon."
Shinui leader Tommy Lapid: "Sharon's decision was made out of personal considerations. He won't help the middle class, won't fight against religious coercion, and won't fight corruption."
Meretz leader Yossi Beilin: "The split in the Likud is a welcome blessing for those who support dividing the land. It provides a true opportunity for a coalition headed by the peace camp and with former Likud members, who now understand that for the last 38 years they fooled the nation and themselves, and that the dream of a Greater Land of Israel was a dangerous and false dream."
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| | 2. Multi-Pronged Hizbullah Attack on Northern Israel
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
In a massive offensive, Hizbullah terrorists fired Katyusha rockets and mortar shells at Israeli targets and infiltrated an IDF position in the Har Dov region Monday, wounding nine, three seriously.
| Dozens of Katyusha rockets were fired at the cities of Kiryat Shemona, Metulah and other targets in the Galilee throughout Monday afternoon and evening. In addition, two Hizbullah terrorists infiltrated the IDF's Gladiola position, wounding four soldiers, including one seriously.
The injured soldiers were evacuated to Haifa's Rambam Hospital. Reports from the scene say the rocket attacks were particularly intense.
The attacks then continued later in the evening, with rockets launched at the Galilee city of Metulah, followed by an IDF Northern Command announcement for all residents of the northern Galilee to enter their bomb shelters. The Metulah attack directly struck a home.
Residents of nearby Kibbutz Snir, in the Galilee panhandle below Har Dov, took cover in their bomb shelters during the afternoon attack, as one rocket struck the kibbutz itself. As a precaution, children in three other Galilee kibbutzim were also rushed into bomb shelters due to the bombardment.
During the barrage, Israeli security forces exchanged fire with several terrorists near the Arab village of Rajar, which straddles the Israeli-Lebanese border. Four Hizbullah terrorists were killed in the exchange.
The IDF launched an air strike against a Hizbullah command post and surrounding roads used by the terrorists. Political commentators predict that Israel will not offer a stronger response than that already taken for fear that a more intense reaction would play into the hands of Hizbullah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, who would benefit politically from an escalated conflagration.
There has been a heightened alert along the northern border in recent days, with the reception of intelligence information pointing to planned Hizbullah attacks and kidnappings.
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Click Here! | | 3. Knesset Abuzz Following Sharon Earthquake
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
As President Katzav considers PM Sharon's request to dissolve the Knesset and declare new elections, the Knesset is trying to pass its own law on the matter. Elections will likely be held in March.
| Sharon caused a political earthquake late Sunday night when he decided to quit his position as Likud Party Chairman, and run for Prime Minister as head of a new party.
He arrived at Katzav's Jerusalem residence this morning, and informed the President that the Knesset "currently does not enable the government to function normally." Sharon therefore asked that the Knesset be dissolved and new elections be held in 90 days, in accordance with the law.
The 90 days, however, do not begin immediately, but rather three weeks from now. During this interim period, Katzav can seek another MK, one whom he thinks has a chance of succeeding in forming another government. The new government would serve until the officially scheduled election date, one year from now. The first name mentioned in this connection is Binyamin Netanyahu, but the chances that he will receive the support of 61 MKs are considered slim.
If such an MK is not found within the three weeks, elections will be held 90 days from then, or March 6.
A third possibility is that the Knesset will circumvent the President, and will itself pass a law to dissolve the Knesset - possibly even today. The ramifications of such, in addition to the clash of authorities between the Knesset and the President, are that the Knesset would be able to determine the date of the elections. In such a case, the elections would probably be held on March 28 - as the Likud and many other MKs would hope to melt down Sharon's momentum.
In the meanwhile, Sharon convened his new party faction, or most of it, for the first time today at noon. The name of the new party: The National Responsibility. Between 10 and 14 Likud MKs are expected to join Sharon, but many of them are still wavering. Among those who will surely join Sharon are back-benchers Ruchama Avraham, Majali Wahbe, and Eli Aflalo, as well as Ministers Ehud Olmert, Gideon Ezra, Tzippy Livny and others. MK Inbal Gavrieli was assumed to be a sure catch for Sharon, but she announced today that she was remaining in the Likud.
Though Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz - currently not a Knesset Member - said as recently as yesterday that he would not quit the Likud, sources close to Sharon say that Mofaz is close to changing his mind.
Among other names rumored to be considering joining Sharon's party are former GSS head Avi Dichter, Negev University President Avishai Braverman, and Shinui party founder Prof. Uriel Reichman.
Within the Labor Party, three names were mentioned: Chaim Ramon, who has long awaited the formation of a new party such as Sharon's, is certain to join him, while Dalia Itzik quashed rumors that she might also join by appearing at today's Labor Party faction meeting. Shimon Peres is another name that has been mentioned; he did not show up at the Labor meeting today. Though he has been a member of Labor for decades, he considered running for Prime Minister in 2001 on the Meretz party ticket.
Within the Likud, Minister Tzachi HaNegbi, chairman of the party's Central Committee, has become the Temporary Party Chairman. This is in accordance with party procedure in the event that the chairman quits. HaNegbi will convene the party institutions within the coming days to decide a date for party primaries. Vying for the top slot are Netanyahu, Uzi Landau, Moshe Feiglin, Silvan Shalom, Yisrael Katz, Limor Livnat, and Mofaz - if he remains in the party. The last three or four are assumed to be merely positioning themselves for a future run for party leader.
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| | 4. Eitam: Likud Preferred Party Unity Over Land of Israel
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
MK Effie Eitam (National Union), responding to Sharon's dramatic decision, said that the Likud was being punished for its failure to spew out Sharon earlier. Quotes from Likud members bear this out.
| Eitam said, "The Likud, which was afraid to depose Sharon before he lifted his hand against Gush Katif, is today paying the price of the treachery against the values of the nationalist camp, and for the turning of their back against the settlers. The Likud now sees how its leader abandons the sinking ship after he made holes in its ideological bottom, and now goes to bring new wind into the left-wing sails."
"Those who sacrificed the wholeness of the Land of Israel on the altar of the wholeness of the Likud Party," Eitam said, "now see that dividing the Land of Israel leads to the division of the Likud Party."
Eitam was referring to anti-disengagement Likudniks such as Ministers Tzachi HaNegbi and Yisrael Katz, and MK Gila Gamliel. On Oct. 13, 2004, Minister HaNegbi said that he objects to the disengagement plan, but is not willing to dismantle the Likud over it. "This plan is opposed to the ideals of the Likud," he said, "an initiative that involves the uprooting of Jewish communities and thousands of people from their homes - and all this in exchange for, essentially, nothing. I will attempt to fight and counter this - but only within the rules of the game; I don't want to destroy the Likud over it."
MK Gamliel said in July 2004, "We have no desire, Heaven forbid, to topple the Prime Minister. We want him to internalize one clear point: We love, support and back the Prime Minister on every issue - except for the disengagement. On this issue, we are against him. This is the message we want to give him. We don't want to topple him, and we don't want to have Labor join the government..."
Even Binyamin Netanyahu showed that maintaining the Likud was more important to him than retaining Gush Katif. After he and Minister Yisrael Katz and several other anti-disengagement ministers voted for the disengagement in a critical Knesset vote on Oct. 26, 2004, Netanyahu said, "We do not want to topple or replace anyone, but we want to give unity a chance, uniting the Likud and the nation."
Eitam did not go as far as his party colleague MK Aryeh Eldad, who said that the Likud and the other right-wing parties must unite to form a right-wing bloc. Eitam feels that it depends on whom the Likud chooses as its leader: "If the Likud chooses someone who will continue disengagement policies, then who needs the Likud? Arik does it much better."
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Click Here! | | 5. Nefesh B’Nefesh Launches ‘Express Aliyah’ Drive
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
Jewish students, tourists and temporary residents in Israel are being offered a one-time opportunity to make ‘Express Aliyah’ and receive Israeli citizenship in time to vote in the coming elections.
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The program is the initiative of Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that seeks to facilitate mass Aliyah [immigration to Israel] from North America by expediting bureaucratic processing, offering financial aid and providing social services and employment assistance.
“Until now, many people have flown from Israel back to America or Canada to make Aliyah with the assistance of Nefesh B’Nefesh,” Bridgitte Raven of NBN told Arutz-7. “But now, if you have already arrived home to the Jewish state, there is really no reason not to declare Aliyah and let NBN help you through all the bureaucracy.”
Raven, who is spearheading the effort to turn North American tourists into olim [new immigrants], is traveling around Israel for the cause. She is speaking to students studying in seminaries and universities, as well as tracking down potential olim via English-language email lists in Israel. She also speaks regularly with rabbis and community leaders about individual cases of Jews who have decided to stay in Israel for good.
One of the most obvious benefits of ‘Express Aliyah,’ in light of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s resignation and the dissolution of the Knesset, is that the process will take as little as three weeks to complete. A new oleh can therefore receive his or her new ID card in time to vote in the coming elections. The Aliyah process usually takes around four months.
Not everybody is eligible for ‘Express Aliyah’ - but even they may still begin their Aliyah process without leaving Israel. Returning minors, those who served in the Machal volunteer IDF program, and those who converted to Judaism while in Israel are all unable to take advantage of ‘Express Aliyah.’
Whether express or not, Nefesh B’Nefesh has changed the process of Aliyah irreversibly, cutting out line-waiting and countless visits to government offices. NBN has "facilitated hassle-free Aliyah,” said Raven, who herself made Aliyah three years ago and lives in the Gush Etzion town of N'vei Daniel.
Click here to sign up for 'Express Aliyah' or to download an application - containing all the necessary Ministry of Interior immigration documents - or just to find out more. Questions can be emailed to: bridgitte@nbn.org.il
Organizers urge those interested to hurry, as the initiative will only be available until the end of the year and will not be repeated in the near future.
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| | 6. Gush Katif: Gadid Wins Award for Most Uprootings - Five
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Gadid, a Gush Katif farming community adjacent to N'vei Dekalim, boasted 60 families until the Sharon government destroyed it this past summer. It has been shifted to 5 different places since then.
| photo: Synagogue in the Gush Katif community of Gadid
After the expulsion, about half of Gadid's families moved directly to the temporary pre-fab community of Nitzan, where many dozens of families from other Gush Katif communities were also to be relocated.
The other Gadid families, however, insisted on remaining together as an independent community - and this marked the beginning of torturous months involving one uprooting after another. This torture has not yet ended, as they still do not know where their permanent home will be.
Yaffa Levran, a resident of Gadid for 17 years, recounts their adventures: "We were first thrown out of Gadid and taken to the Reich Hotel in Jerusalem. From there we were sent to N'vei Ilan [just west of Jerusalem], but then we had to evacuate our rooms for about ten days and go to Tiberias, then back to N'vei Ilan, then evacuate again for a weekend and to Jerusalem, and now to Kibbutz Chafetz Chaim. We will stay here for an indefinite amount of time, until it is decided where our temporary quarters will be; after that, of course, we will have to decide where to build our permanent community."
Levran said that as far as she knows, Gadid has thus been the most-uprooted town of any of those that were thrown out of Gush Katif and northern Shomron. Despite this, the 24 families remained together for close to three months.
Seventeen of those families moved a week ago to the Chafetz Chaim guest house, which had until then been occupied by expellees from Ganei Tal (who recently moved to their temporary homes in Yad Binyamin). However, the other seven felt themselves unable to continue living with the perpetual uncertainty - and decided to move to Yad Binyamin. "They also couldn't take the hotel conditions," Levran said. "The option of Yad Binyamin and the special education afforded by Rav Tal's yeshiva community [from N'vei Dekalim] there presented itself, and they felt that they couldn't pass it up."
But for the remaining 17, their leaving was a critical blow, Mrs. Levran explains:
"This is related to the evil perpetrated upon us by the Disengagement Authority. There is a ruling that in order to be eligible to start a new community, you need 20 families - which technically, we don't have. When we first started out, when we were still 27 families, we applied to start a new neighborhood in Masuot Yitzchak. This was our preferred option, and the people in Masuot Yitzchak, as well, were very anxious to have us. But the Authority kept on putting us off and asking for more forms and delaying in various ways, until finally only 17 of us are left. This was the Authority's goal all along: to wear us down and thus divide us up."
But the people of Gadid are not giving up:
"The fact is that we have more than 17 families, but not all of them are recognized as eligible under the terms of the Disengagement Authority. For instance, we have several young couples who were born in Gush Katif but who got married after the cut-off date. We are now appealing to the various authorities, and we hope that they will realize that their guidelines are totally arbitrary and must be changed to enable their recognition as eligible families, and allow us to rebuild our community."
Mrs. Levran said that though the conditions in Chafetz Chaim are much better than any they have had since their expulsion from Gadid - "we can live as families, all together in the same unit; we can even cook for ourselves sometimes if we want" - many of the families still don't have employment, and the situation is difficult. The Levrans themselves built greenhouses in Kfar Maimon, "a 30-40 minute drive away, but unfortunately most of my neighbors are still uncertain of their future."
The Levrans can be contacted at levran@walla.com.
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| 7. The Likud Candidates Speak
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Several Likud members have already announced their intention to run for party leader in place of Ariel Sharon. The names of Sha'ul Mofaz and Yisrael Katz have now been added to the list.
| Uzi Landau, who was fired from the Cabinet by Ariel Sharon over a year ago because of his anti-expulsion stance, also plans to run for Likud Party leader. "Today there is new hope in the party," he said. "The Likud is returning to values of the Land of Israel, of clean politics, of social sensitivity - and all the values that the Likud always had except when Ariel Sharon was in power."
"Sharon quit the Likud not for what he did, but for what he plans to do," Landau said. "Sharon is planning grave and extensive diplomatic moves on an even greater scale than he did in the disengagement framework." Landau said that Sharon's plans this time include the Jordan Valley, Judea and Samaria, the Golan and even Jerusalem.
"You'll notice that Sharon has not attacked [new Labor Party leader] Amir Peretz for his diplomatic stance," Landau said, "even though Peretz is very left-wing." This is because Sharon plans to form a government coalition with Peretz to divide Jerusalem, Landau feels.
"Sharon has abused us, including many people who helped him for a long time," Landau said. "As my friend MK Michael Eitan said, he is treating us like the British in 1947, when the left abruptly and suddenly, leaving us vulnerable, and hoping that we would crawl back to them and beg them to return - which we didn't."
Moshe Feiglin, head of the Manhigut Yehudit faction of the Likud and one of the candidates for Likud leader, welcomes Sharon's decision to quit the party. "This is a rare chance to truly effect a revolution," he told Arutz-7 today. "In addition, it will now be easier to bring out more people to vote for the Likud, because no one will be able to claim that our votes will bring someone like Sharon to power." Feiglin is optimistic that he has a chance to reach a second-round runoff in the upcoming primaries: "Surveys show that I have 8-9%, while people like Katz and Livnat get 1%. People have to just come out and vote, get others to come and vote for me."
Asked who he prefers among his main competitors, Feiglin said, "Landau is of course better than Netanyahu, but both belong to the old secular Zionist camp of survival, whereas I represent the idea of Jewish destiny and a true solution for the present malaise that the country is facing, the malaise that brings us disengagements and the like."
Education Minister Limor Livnat put to rest rumors that she is a candidate for party leader. Asked who she supports in the race, she said, "I support the candidate who has the best chance to lead the Likud to victory, and the one who will win the party primaries and will be our agreed-upon candidate."
Front-running candidate Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz are maintaining radio silence in their relations with the media since Sharon's announcement.
It might be noted that Netanyahu's refusal to run for Prime Minister in the 2001 election - feeling that he could not govern effectively with a Knesset split down the middle between right and left - was that which allowed Ariel Sharon to run on behalf of the Likud and become Prime Minister.
Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz - a former campaign manager for Netanyahu, and the head of the Likud secretariat - says he is the best suited to lead the party, as he "represents the central stream of the party."
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| | 8. Welcoming Back Majorca’s Crypto-Jews
|  | | By Israel National News Staff
Majorca’s Jews are gearing up for a seminar aimed at strengthening the Jewish community on the small island off the coast of Spain, and reaching out to the area's large crypto-Jewish population.
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The event is being organized by Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based group that assists “lost Jews” seeking to return to the Jewish people. It will include traditional festive Sabbath services and meals, lectures and study groups on Jewish historical and religious subjects, and a walking tour of Palma de Majorca’s ancient Jewish quarter.
"Majorca’s Jews suffered terrible persecution over the centuries. As far back as the 1300s, the island was the scene of horrific massacres and forced conversions,” said Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund, noting that the Inquisition was formally abolished in Majorca only after the French conquered it in 1808.
Nonetheless, Freund said, many of those forced to convert continued to practice Judaism in secret, at great peril to their lives and well-being.
Though outwardly Catholic, Majorca’s crypto-Jews were never fully accepted by their Christian neighbors, who referred to them by the derogatory Catalan term “Chueta”, or “pig”, and refused to marry them. Historians believe there may be as many as 10-15,000 identifiable “Chuetas” now living on the island.
In recent years, a growing number of Majorca’s crypto-Jews have begun seeking to reclaim their Jewish roots. Several have moved to Israel, where they have formally returned to Judaism or are in the process of doing so.
“In the two years that I have been here, I feel that a definite change has taken place in terms of people’s attitudes towards their Jewish heritage”, said Rabbi Shaul Friberg, who serves as Chief Rabbi of Majorca and Shavei Israel’s emissary to the area. “What was previously something that was denied and kept in secret, is now more and more coming out into the open. People are showing more and more interest in their Jewish heritage,” he said.
Rabbi Friberg appears regularly at local and official functions, and is often quoted in the Majorcan press, which he says adds a new measure of acceptance and legitimacy to Jews and Judaism in the eyes of the island’s populace.
As part of its outreach efforts, Shavei Israel runs a Spanish-language conversion and return institute in Jerusalem, Machon Miriam, where some 85 students, many of them descendants of Spanish and Portuguese crypto-Jews, study annually. The institute is under the ongoing supervision of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate.
Shavei Israel also maintains a website in the Catalan language, where articles and material on Jewish topics and the Torah portion of the week can be found.
“Hundreds of years after their ancestors were compelled to convert, a Jewish awakening is taking place among the ‘Chuetas’ of Majorca”, said Freund. “It is now our responsibility to help them to come home again.”
For more information, contact: spanish@shavei.org.
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| | | 9. Dead Sea Scroll to be Exhibited for U.S. Audience
|  | | By Debbie Berman
The longest scroll of the Dead Sea Scroll collection is slated for exhibition in the United States. It will go on display at a Jewish museum in Cleveland at the start of 2006.
| The exhibition will include many ancient artifacts from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and will highlight the 28-foot Temple Scroll, the longest of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were publicly unveiled in 1949 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and are permanently housed at the Shrine of the Book wing [pictured above] of Jerusalem’s Israel Museum. While selected documents from the Dead Sea Scrolls have been previously displayed outside of Israel, this tour will grant North Americans the opportunity to view the popular documents. The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, Cleveland will be the first stop of a tour that will include two additional North American museums yet to be announced.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient manuscripts that were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves near Khirbet Qumran, located on the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea. Some 800 documents were found, written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. The scrolls are dated from the third century BCE to the first century CE and contain biblical, apocryphal, and sectarian texts. Scholars attribute the writing of the scrolls to the Essenes, a breakaway Jewish sect.
Israel Museum staff describe the historical significance of the scrolls as follows; “The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls represents a turning point in the study of the history of the Jewish people in ancient times, for never before has a literary treasure of such magnitude come to light. Thanks to these remarkable finds, our knowledge of Jewish society in the Land of Israel during the Hellenistic and Roman periods as well as the origins of rabbinical Judaism and early Christianity has been greatly enriched.”
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