MK Dan Meridor announced this morning that he had decided to stand for election as the next prime minister, with the aim of replacing Benjamin Netanyahu. His announcement, at a press conference, consisted entirely of a fierce attack on Netanyahu’s personality, policy, and leadership, which, according to him, have led to a political, economic, social, and moral nadir, while he himself takes no responsibility for the crisis, but pretends its nothing to do with him.
"This is leadership without an ounce of credibility left," said Meridor. "Ministers and members of Knesset don’t believe the Prime Minister, neither his rivals nor his friends, if any remain. We need a different sort of leadership, in order to save the country from Netanyahu’s dangerous conjuring tricks, which steadily degrade us. Each week we think we have reached bottom, and are proved wrong. There are even lower depths."
Meridor emphasized that "Netanyahu’s mistakes, including the dispute which led me to leave the government a year-and-a-half ago, have led us to a recession which will be hard to extricate ourselves from quickly." Nevertheless, he said that "it’s possible to get back to growth, not tomorrow morning, but with determined policy, with a broad parliamentary base, and through a continuation of the reforms that have been halted, a change in priorities, and investment in infrastructure."
Meridor, one of the "princes" of the Herut movement, government secretary, and minister of justice and of finance in the Begin and Shamir governments, said he was leaving the Likud, because without taking that step he would be unable to save the country from Netanyahu. "What have we come to?" Meridor asked, and answered: "Cynicism and manipulation have taken over our public life, together with incomprehensible smugness. Lying has become a way of life. Truth has disappeared. Breaking promises has become a norm. The rule of law is a target for contempt and smears. A society cannot carry on this way, disregarding basic rules of morality. Everyone is apathetic. You sense the oppressive feeling among the public, in different walks of life. Everyone feels the elected leadership has no credibility, that here is no sense of responsibility and no unity. People see no hope, and despair is growing.
"Everyone feels society is falling apart. It’s everyone for themselves. We fight each other as though it were a war between nations. The job of the leadership when there is such a split is not to whisper in Rabbi Kadouri’s ear that the left aren’t Jews. The task of the leadership is to unite, and we have seen the opposite for a long time, as a method, with the leadership engendering disintegration, and the situation going from bad to worse."
Meridor said that "only with leadership that tells the truth, keeps its word, and views things with a sense of responsibility, can we emerge from the straits we are in, and whoever aspires to lead must see the reality and not just his vision. It is possible, and necessary, to reach a settlement with the Arabs, but it’s utterly wrong to sow illusions as those on the left do. It will be some time before we arrive at the Messianic age. Israel is diplomatically and economically strong, and this is the time to make progress with the Arabs, when you are strong, and your neighbors perceive you as such. It isn’t simple, but we have to take a definite direction and not zigzag, so that the negotiations don’t finish with high-flown rhetoric but total capitulation."
Asked why he did not fight Netanyahu within the Likud, Meridor answered: "For a eighteen months, since I resigned from the Ministry of Finance, I have wanted to struggle within the Likud. Unfortunately, none of my friends would agree to join the struggle. A situation has come about whereby someone who came to Israel ten years ago has taken over the Likud, and prevents any possibility of replacing him. I have come to a difficult but determined conclusion that there is no chance of replacing Netanyahu in the Likud, but the country must replace Netanyahu, and therefore I have set out my position outside the Likud."
Meridor did not answer when asked whether he would agree to play second fiddle to Amnon Shahak, if it turned out that Shahak’s chances in the election were better than his, but only said no-one would be happier than him if Shahak "joins the great effort to bring about a change that will stop the travesty we saw in the Knesset yesterday, and restore us to the straight path."
The Likud spokesperson said in response that only personal resentment and an urge to subvert the Likud and its elected leader guided Dan Meridor’s steps. She said Meridor, who talked about propriety in public life, was using for this purpose the mandate given him by the Likud’s voters. "Meridor could have stood for leader within the Likud, but he realized he had no chance because of his left-wing views" the spokesperson said.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on December 22, 1998