After Anastassia Michaeli and Stas Misezhnikov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon also finds himself outside the Yisrael Beytenu party list of candidates for the upcoming Knesset elections. Party chief Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Liberman presented his party list last night. The list will be consolidated with the Likud list later in the week, under the agreement between the two parties to run a joint list. The Yisrael Beytenu list is in effect within Liberman's sole control.
Both Michaeli and Misezhnikov issued statements before the announcement of the list to the effect that they were retiring at least temporarily from public life. Both exhibited questionable conduct in the course of their public careers, Michaeli most notably when she emptied a glass of water over MK Ghaleb Majadele at a session of the Knesset Education Committee, and Misezhnikov in reportedly being seen drunk at a strip club when on an official visit overseas as Minister of Tourism. The omission of Danny Ayalon however is mysterious, as he and Liberman were thought to be close. Ayalon was involved in a diplomatic embarassment in 2010 when he sought to humiliate the Turkish ambassador by making him sit on a low seat to receive a reprimand and refusing to shake his hand. Ayalon was later compelled to issue an apology.
Number two on the Yisrael Beytenu list, after Liberman himself, is Yair Shamir, son of the late Yitzhak Shamir, who was prime minister of Israel from 1983 to 1984 and from 1988 to 1992. Third placed is Minister of Energy and Water Resources Uzi Landau; fourth is MK Sofa Landver; and fifth is Minister of Internal Security Yitzhak Aharonovitch.
Liberman canceled his participation in a visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Germany and the Czech Republic today. Danny Ayalon is part of the entourage.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 5, 2012
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