Netanyahu Wins Likud Leadership Race
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has won his race to be the Likud party’s leader, thereby giving him another chance to run for Prime Minister of Israel.
While Netanyahu’s victory had been all but assured, a strong showing by challenger Moshe Feiglin could have shored up Israel’s extreme right and hurt Netanyahu’s efforts to rehabilitate Likud after it was trounced in national elections last year. Recent polls have crowned Netanyahu, Likud’s leader since late 2005, as the front-runner for Israel’s top job.
With more than 80 percent of the primary votes tallied, Netanyahu was out way ahead with 73 percent to Feiglin’s 22 percent, party executive director Gad Arieli said. World Likud Party Chairman Danny Danon trailed with 4 percent. Final results were expected early Wednesday.
In his victory speech, Netanyahu made it clear that the race was a dress rehearsal for a much bigger contest.
“Tonight the internal contest ended, and as of tomorrow, we will focus our efforts on bringing a new leadership to Israel,” Netanyahu told dozens of cheering supporters in Tel Aviv.
If memory serves me, Netanyahu had been involved in some sort of political scandal right before or right after he left office.
I have been disappointed in the government of Ohlmert because he seems to be giving away everything the enemies of Israel want and getting nothing in return.
I had high hopes for him when he was elected and I saw a photo of him standing at the old Temple, praying.
He allowed his military to take a big hit last year from Hezbollah and the Palestinians at the same time. Cities in Israel were ravaged and frightened by missiles hitting them. Some of the citizens were forced to live underground in shelters for weeks at a time.
There was even an effort to collect money to send these families to the southern part of Israel for a week to get away from the stress. I know, because we contributed and got a very nice thank you note from the organization.
Young people in Israel are now trying to dodge their version of the draft, and that has been unheard of since Israel’s modern incarnation.
It’s time for a tougher Prime Minister, in my opinion, but I’m not Jewish or Israeli so I have no say in the matter.
Written by ~J~
