Mofaz loyalists blast Ramon as “father of political tricks” and a “convicted sex offender”; dozens of Kadima members quit party in protest of the coalition deal.
Kadima council chairman Haim Ramon marred the celebrations in the party over Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz’s joining the cabinet Wednesday when he sent Mofaz a fiercely-worded letter announcing that he was quitting his post and leaving the party altogether.
Ramon was one of the founders of Kadima in 2005, leaving Labor along with current president Shimon Peres and MK Dalia Itzik. The three of them moderated the image of Kadima, which at the time was seen as a second Likud. He warned Wednesday that the party had returned to be part of the Likud again.
“I cannot remain in the party after it betrayed the vision it was built upon,” Ramon said. “There is no more Kadima ideologically. It was founded as a centrist party. Joining this coalition does not mesh with our values.”
MK Yoel Hasson released a statement lamenting Ramon’s departure and insisting that the party remained loyal to its original vision. But loyalists of Mofaz in the party accused Ramon of seeking revenge against Mofaz, who fired him from his post two weeks ago.
“It is unfathomable that a convicted sex offender, who is the father of dirty political maneuvering in Israel allows himself to criticize and talk about betrayal,” a Mofaz loyalist in the party said.
The Mofaz loyalist referred to Ramon’s January 2007 conviction on charges of committing an indecent act for forcibly kissing a 20-year-old female soldier without her consent. The political maneuvers Ramon initiated included Kadima’s split from Likud and Peres’s failed attempt to topple the national-unity government he formed with Yitzhak Shamir in 1990.
Ramon’s departure added fuel to a mini-rebellion developing in the party. At the grassroots level, dozens of Kadima members have sent letters quitting the party to protest the coalition deal with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Among the party’s 28 MKs, only Robert Tibaiev voted against joining the coalition in their faction meeting. In the Knesset plenum, MKs Tibaiev and Shlomo Molla absented themselves from the vote. MK Nino Absadeze, who has been very critical of the deal, voted for it.
According to a bill that passed two years ago, seven MKs would be enough to break off from the party. There are MKs who supported former Kadima leader Tzipi Livni who would want to break off if they could, but they still do not have the required seven.
“I don’t like that we had to go from criticizing Netanyahu to being part of his coalition in twenty minutes,” Tibaiev said. “I am worried that the party lost its conscience.”
A battle is expected in the party next week over the three Knesset committees Kadima will chair according to the coalition agreement. MK Avi Dichter is expected to be named chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and MK Meir Sheetrit will likely head the Economics Committee.
The third committee Kadima will receive remains unknown, though there have been rumors about the Law Committee and the Education Committee. A source close to Independence Party leader Ehud Barak said he checked with Netanyahu, and he is sure that the Education Committee will still be given to Independence faction head Einat Wilf and not a member of Kadima.