Let's face it: Aharayut Leumit (National Responsibility) was a mouthful. Kadima is probably better for a party name.
One prominent MK from Labour, Haim Ramon, has also joined Kadima, as has former Shas MK David Tal. Kadima is talking to two more Labour MKs, two Shinui MKs, and at least one more Likud MK. There will certainly be a lot of prominent Israeli politicians in the new party.
It is going to be an interesting election.
He should open a party office in Chelm..
I think the name is significant. UPI calls the new party "centrist," which I am sure is the mantra Kadima itself puts forward.
But what does "Forward" really suggest? To me, I'm afraid, it sounds like just another variation on "Progressive," which is the ancient term for leftists, Communists, and various other believers in utopian "progress."
One would have hoped that the twentieth century would have revealed that "progress" is a pipe dream, and a very bloody one. But evidently not.
I'm sure there's no direct connection, but it reminds me of the leftist response to the "Take Back Vermont" movement. "Take Back Vermont" meant to take the state back from the hippies who supported Civil Contracts. And the leftist response was "Take Vermont Forward," which you still see all over the place on bumper stickers.
"Forward" is a loaded word. And it is distinctly loaded toward the left.
Shouldn't it be the "Make Israel Disappear" Party ? Keep giving away the farm and you're not going to have bubkas left.
How dare he steal my FR screen name without asking!
Ariel Sharon
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Kadima Party
(University President) Braverman joins Labor, not Kadima (blow to Sharon's party)
Posted by anotherview
On News/Activism 11/24/2005 8:54:17 AM PST · 1 reply · 111+ views
The Jerusalem Post | 24 November 2005 | Gil Hoffman and Sheera Claire Frenkel
Nov. 24, 2005 0:49 | Updated Nov. 24, 2005 14:33 Braverman joins Labor, not Kadima By GIL HOFFMAN AND SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL Ben Gurion University President, Professor Avishay Braverman Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski Ben Gurion University President Avishay Braverman announced Thursday his enlistment in the Labor Party, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who sought to enlist him to his new party. The move was announced at a joint press conference conducted together with Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz. While Prof. Braverman officially joined the party, no prospective position was mentioned. Braverman and Peretz publicly exchanged kind words. The...
[Israeli Vice Premier] Peres to decide party affiliation soon (Kadima or Labour?)
Posted by anotherview
On News/Activism 11/27/2005 10:51:03 AM PST · 6 replies · 143+ views
The Jerusalem Post | 27 November 2005 | GIL HOFFMAN AND JPOST STAFF
Nov. 27, 2005 0:18 | Updated Nov. 27, 2005 20:15 Peres to decide party affiliation soon By GIL HOFFMAN AND JPOST STAFFVice Prime Minister Shimon Peres. Photo: Ariel JerozolimskiLabor Chairman Amir Peretz talking to the press Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski Sources in the Labor Party told the Jerusalem Post that they believed Vice Premier Shimon Peres plans to join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima party in the coming days. "My impression was that Peres will decide to leave Labor," a senior Labor official who spoke to Peres on Sunday said. "It was clear from what he told me that he's...
[Israeli Prime Minister] Sharon waits to appoint ministers (National Union MK joins Kadima)
Posted by anotherview
On News/Activism 11/27/2005 10:59:54 AM PST · 5 replies · 125+ views
The Jerusalem Post | 26 November 2005 (updated 27 November) | GIL HOFFMAN AND JPOST STAFF
ov. 26, 2005 23:20 | Updated Nov. 27, 2005 19:22 Sharon waits to appoint ministers By GIL HOFFMAN AND JPOST STAFF Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepares to leave the Knesset. Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was expected to appoint the six ministers who joined his new Kadima party to temporarily fill the vacancies left by the seven Labor ministers who quit the government last week, will continue to hold the portfolios of the Labor ministers who resigned for at least another 10 days. Attorney General Meni Mazuz recommended that the government be designated a government in transition...
Peres leaning toward leaving Labor, aiding Sharon
Posted by SJackson
On News/Activism 11/27/2005 5:53:23 PM PST · 5 replies · 201+ views
Jerusalem Post | 11-27-05 | GIL HOFFMAN
Former Labor chairman Shimon Peres is close to making a decision to leave Labor for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima party, sources close to Peres and Sharon said on Sunday night. Sharon spoke to Peres more than once on Sunday and he offered him to return to his cabinet post of vice premier with additional responsibility over negotiations with the Palestinians and the peace process. If Peres accepts the deal, he would not run for the next Knesset, ending a record-long tenure in the parliament that goes back to 1959. "The decision is a tough one for me," Peres...
Ariel Sharon, Escapist--Israel's PM is up against the odds.
Posted by SJackson
On News/Activism 11/28/2005 7:10:13 AM PST · 13 replies · 194+ views
FrontPageMagazine.com | November 28, 2005 | Daniel Pipes
Ariel Sharon, Escapist By Daniel PipesFrontPageMagazine.com | November 28, 2005Ariel Sharon overturned Israel politics on Nov. 21 when he announced his departure from the very Likud Party he had helped establish 32 years earlier. The next week saw an avalanche of polling, with the results pointing consistently to a resounding success for Sharon’s new party, called Kadima (“Forward”). For example, three surveys collected by IMRA find Kadima winning between 32 and 34 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, followed by Labor with about 26 and Likud with a miserable 13. No other party scores even 10. But how long will...
Israel's Peres expected to join Sharon party
Posted by jmc1969
On News/Activism 11/28/2005 5:50:52 PM PST · 10 replies · 145+ views
Reuters | Nov 28 2005
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's veteran statesman Shimon Peres is likely to leave his longtime political home of the Labour Party and join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new centrist list, Israeli radios reported on Monday. He is expected to make an announcement once he returns later this week from a conference on Mediterranean nations in Barcelona, the radio said. Sharon, who has redrawn Israel's political map by quitting his rightist Likud party to leave him freer to make peace moves with the Palestinians, has offered Peres the job of peace envoy if he wins a March 28 national poll, reports said....
Kadima Platform: Palestinian State Alongside Israel
Posted by SJackson
On News/Activism 11/29/2005 5:20:19 PM PST · 12 replies · 171+ views
Arutz Sheva | 11-29-05
IsraelNN.com) The newly formed Kadima party held a faction meeting today, at which Minister Tzippy Livni presented the party's platform. The central plank is "two states for two peoples", a position heretofore associated with Israel's left-wing. Other planks include: protecting Jerusalem and the large clusters of post-1967 Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria; the creation of a demilitarized and terror-free Palestinian State; and Israel as a Jewish state, in which a Jewish majority must be preserved. Ironically, in 2002, when Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Yehuda Lancry, publicly stated that Israel supported "two states living side by side in...
Always the General, Sharon Leaves Trojan Horse in Likud
Posted by SmithL
On News/Activism 11/29/2005 9:12:57 PM PST · 135+ views
Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews | 11/30/5 | Scott Shiloh
Ariel Sharon, former general and master tactician, who broke away from the Likud to form his own party, Kadima, may have left behind hundreds of supporters who remain loyal to his cause. These supporters, making up an army of potential Trojan horses, may severely affect the Likud’s ability to maintain political independence from the party’s former leader and founder. Sharon’s supporters, for example, still comprise a substantial proportion of the Likud’s governing body, the Central Committee. That committee can influence the format of the party’s Knesset list, including the position of each individual candidate, and ultimately whether that candidate...
Peres: Sharon is best man to lead country
Posted by SmithL
On News/Activism 11/30/2005 10:29:32 AM PST · 3 replies · 205+ views
Jerusalem Post | 11/30/5 | JPost.com staff
"The best man to lead Israel to security and peace is Ariel Sharon," said a stoic Shimon Peres, speaking from his Tel Aviv office Wednesday night in an expected announcement that he was leaving party politics. "This is a very difficult day for me…I've decided to choose the country over the party."
Peres to back Sharon (and Quit the labor party)
Posted by voletti
On News/Activism 11/30/2005 2:40:19 PM PST · 4 replies · 85+ views
Indian Express | 11/30 | Jefery Heller
Veteran statesman Shimon Peres was set on Wednesday to announce that he is leaving Israel’s Labour Party to back Ariel Sharon in the March election, without formally joining the prime minister’s new party, Channel 10 TV said. There was no immediate confirmation from Peres’s aides. Channel 10 said Peres, attending an Israeli-Palestinian soccer match in Barcelona, conveyed his decision to one of its reporters accompanying him on the trip. Advertisement The departure of the 82-year-old Peres from his long-time political home would represent a vote of confidence by the Nobel peace laureate in Sharon’s oft-repeated pledge to make “painful concessions”...
Israeli DM Mofaz quits Likud to join Sharon
Posted by jmc1969
On News/Activism 12/11/2005 12:53:01 AM PST · 6 replies · 58+ views
Reuters | Dec 11 2005
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz quit the right-wing Likud party on Sunday to join Ariel Sharon in the prime minister's new Kadima faction ahead of a March general election, Israel Radio said. The surprise move was the latest high-level defection from the Likud, which Sharon left last month citing frustration with far-right rebels who opposed Israel's Gaza pullout. The radio said Sharon proposed that Mofaz stay on as defense minister and he agreed.
War and Peace
Sharon Ally: Border Will Follow Barrier
Posted by SmithL
On News/Activism 12/01/2005 9:59:43 AM PST · 5 replies · 144+ views
AP | 12/1/5 | LAURIE COPANS
JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israel's border with a future Palestinian state will roughly follow the route of the contentious barrier Israel is building along and inside the West Bank, a top ally of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was quoted Thursday as saying. The comments by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni buttressed Palestinian claims that the fortification of electrified fences, 25-foot-high concrete walls and razor wire is meant to take land they want for a future state and is not motivated by security. "One does not have to be a genius to see that the fence will have implications for the future border,"...
Will Bush stand by Sharon?
Posted by SJackson
On News/Activism 12/04/2005 5:32:41 PM PST · 4 replies · 104+ views
Jerusalem Post | 12-4-05
Recommendations for the future expansion of Jerusalem westward rather than to the north or east, or by somehow "thickening" the population, were proposed last week. The so-called Safdie Plan has been a contentious issue for several years between the Jerusalem municipality and developers on the one hand, and Greens and suburban communities to the west of the capital on the other. The issue was turned over to Gideon Witkon, former head of the Israel Lands Authority, for further study. His recommendations approving zoning for and building an additional 18,000 housing units to the west of the present city limits will...
Saudi prince gives Sharon 'benefit of doubt'
Posted by ncountylee
On News/Activism 12/05/2005 8:05:23 PM PST · 10 replies · 190+ views
Agence France Presse | December 06, 2005
DUBAI: Billionaire Saudi Prince Al-Walid bin Talal said Monday he was willing to give the "benefit of the doubt" to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon if he could broker peace between the Jewish state and the Arabs. "We should leave him the benefit of the doubt," bin Talal said during a panel discussion at the Arab and World Media Conference organized by the Arab Thought Foundation in Dubai. "There are many doubts about Sharon. He was a criminal ... (but) if he changes, I welcome that. Any person who can create peace between Israel and Arabs is welcome," he said....
Sharon Moves Closer to Geneva Proposal on Territorial Exchange (Peace and Safety for Israel?)
Posted by emiller
On News/Activism 12/06/2005 4:59:01 PM PST · 4 replies · 104+ views
Arutz Sheva | 12-04-05 | Scott Shiloh
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told a Moroccan newspaper that if security and quiet are attained, he is definitely ready to recognize a Palestinian state and to “go a long way” in negotiations. In an interview in Le Economist, Sharon said that while Israel would not return to the borders that existed prior to the 1967 Six Day War, it was ready to exchange territories with a Palestinian state. The idea of retaining settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria, in exchange for other territories liberated by Israel in the 1948 War of Independence, is similar to proposals set forth in the...
Saudi prince gives Sharon 'benefit of the doubt' for peace
Posted by Hunden
On News/Activism 12/07/2005 11:22:35 PM PST · 54+ views
Middle East Online | 5 December 2005 | Middle East Online
Sharon and Peres can duplicate and repeat in the West Bank what happened in Gaza: al-Walid. DUBAI — Billionaire Saudi Prince al-Walid bin Talal on Monday gave Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the "benefit of the doubt" that he could broker a peace deal between the Jewish state and the Arabs. "We should leave him the benefit of the doubt," Al-Walid said during a panel discussion at the Arab and World Media Conference organised by the Arab Thought Foundation in Dubai. "There are many doubts about Sharon. He was a criminal ... (but) if he changes, I welcome that. Any...
Nuclear Iran
Israel will not accept Iran nuclear weapons: Sharon
Posted by West Coast Conservative
On News/Activism 12/01/2005 8:31:00 AM PST · 54 replies · 841+ views
AFP | December 1, 2005
Israeli leaders warned they would never allow Iran to come into possession of nuclear weapons but insisted that diplomacy was the best way to confront their arch enemies in Tehran. "Israel, and not only Israel, cannot accept a situation in which Iran would be in possession of nuclear weapons," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told journalists in Tel Aviv. "We must do everything possible to prepare for such a situation. But Israel is not spearheading any campaign" against Iran's suspected nuclear weapons ambitions, he added. "It is not only a danger for Israel but for the Middle East as a whole...
Sharon: Military option against Iran
Posted by Flavius
On News/Activism 12/01/2005 2:55:38 PM PST · 1 reply · 210+ views
upi | 12.1.05 | JOSHUA BRILLIANT
TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday Israel and other countries couldn't accept an Iran with a nuclear bomb, adding Tehran's program could be stopped by military means. Iran has been Israel's main foe since 1979, when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini deposed the Shah. Iran has vowed to eradicate the Jewish state. The nuclear issue came up Thursday at an annual meeting with the Israel Editors' Committee in Tel Aviv. Sharon stressed Israel and other countries "cannot accept a situation in which Iran will have a nuclear weapon. That is clear to us, known to...
Sharon: Israel Will Never Accept Iran With Nuclear Arms
Posted by anonymoussierra
On News/Activism 12/01/2005 5:34:40 PM PST · 28 replies · 400+ views
Global Security Information News
1 December 2005 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today said Israel will never accept a situation where Iran has nuclear weapons. Sharon said Israel needs to do everything possible to prevent such a situation, which he said would threaten stability in the Mideast. Sharon said he's sure all diplomatic efforts to solve the problem would be exhaused before any other action against Iran would be made. Sharon's comments come after a senior U.S. diplomat urged the international community to put diplomatic pressure on Iran in reaction to what he described as Tehran's increasingly "radical" behavior. Undersecretary of State Nicholas...
Israel Preparing for Nuclear-Armed Iran, Sharon Says
Posted by Iam1ru1-2
On News/Activism 12/02/2005 7:27:28 PM PST · 41 replies · 733+ views
CNSNews.com | December 2, 2005 | Julie Stahl
By Julie Stahl CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief December 2, 2005 Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) -- Israel will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons but is not leading the international efforts to prevent that from happening, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday. "Israel and other countries cannot accept a situation where Iran has nuclear arms. The issue is clear to us, and we are making all the necessary preparations to handle a situation of this kind," Sharon told journalists in Tel Aviv. Nevertheless, Sharon said that Israel is not leading the international campaign against such a development but is "in close...
Mideast Arabs: Sharon worse than Bush
Posted by West Coast Conservative
On News/Activism 12/05/2005 12:24:36 AM PST · 9 replies · 181+ views
Jerusalem Post | December 4, 2005 | ORLY HALPERN
Middle East Arabs fear Israel more than they fear a nuclear-armed Iran, according to a poll released this month. Forty-three percent of those polled in five Arab countries said they believed Iran was trying to develop nuclear weapons. Yet, when asked to choose which two countries posed the biggest threat to them, only 6% selected Iran. Israel was considered the most threatening with 70% and the US came in second with 60%. Sixty percent of those polled said they believed Iran had a right to develop nuclear weapons. Asked which world leader they disliked the most, 45% said Prime Minister...
Blast off! We can hit Iran, warns Sharon
Posted by billorites
On News/Activism 12/09/2005 10:54:32 AM PST · 36 replies · 1,018+ views
Jewish Telegraph. | December 9, 2005
IN the week when Israel successfully test-fired its latest Arrow rocket, Ariel Sharon hinted that military action could halt Iran's nuclear programme. "Such a capability exists," the Israeli prime minister said. Sharon added that Israel would not sit idly by if diplomacy fails. "Israel, and not just Israel, cannot accept a situation in which Iran has nuclear weapons," he said. "Israel is not helpless and is taking all the steps it needs to be taking." Foreign experts speculate that Israel, which bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak in 1981, could take similar action against Iran if it believes the Islamic...
Detritus
Sharon looks to sell Israel's birthright
Posted by Esther Ruth
On News/Activism 11/28/2005 5:02:26 PM PST · 89+ views
jnewswire.com | November 28th, 2005 | Ryan Jones
Sharon looks to sell Israel's birthright By Ryan Jones November 28th, 2005 Emulating the blunder of their patriarch's elder brother Esau, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima Party Monday said Israel has no choice but to sell its birthright for the “bowl of pottage” it believes will ease the nation's current ills. “The people of Israel have a national and historical right to all of Israel, and together with that the need for a Jewish majority, and so we must concede part of the land of Israel in order that a Jewish and democratic state may exist,” Justice Minister Tzipi...
Sharon violating Israel’s covenant with God
Posted by Esther Ruth
On News/Activism 12/09/2005 1:40:15 PM PST · 33 replies · 333+ views
www.jnewswire.com | April 28th, 2005
Saturday, December 10, 2005 00:34 IST JNW HEADLINE NEWS Sharon violating Israel’s covenant with God By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff April 28th, 2005 JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is, with his plan to uproot the Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria, violating a divine covenant whereby the Almighty deeded the entire land of Israel to the Jewish people as an eternal possession. So said Knesset member Benny Elon (National Union) Wednesday in a speech to more than 50,000 anti-disengagement activists during a rally in southern Gaza. Sharon’s treachery goes beyond violating God’s Word, however, and is directly endangering the...
end
Kadima Continues to Dominate Israeli Campaign
Angus Reid Consultants
February 4, 2006(Angus Reid Global Scan) -- The Kadima party founded by prime minister Ariel Sharon remains the favourite for next month's legislative election in Israel, according to four recent voting intention polls. The results of a survey by Dialog published in Haaretz suggest that Kadima -- under the leadership of Ehud Olmert -- would secure 43 seats in the Israeli Parliament, followed by the Labour party with 21 seats, and the Likud party with 13.
In a study by Geocartographia released by Israel Radio, Sharon's party is first with 37 seats. Surveys by Teleseker for Maariv, and by the Dahaf Institute for Yediot Ahronot each place Kadima ahead, with 42 seats. The Israeli Parliament's 120 seats are allocated by proportional representation.
Sharon was expected to lead the newly created Kadima into the next election, scheduled for Mar. 28. On Jan. 4, Sharon was rushed to hospital after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage. The prime minister has remained in a coma since then. Deputy prime minister Olmert has become Israel's acting head of government.
Amir Peretz became the new leader of the Labour party in November, and former finance minister and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- who resigned from the current cabinet after opposing the "Disengagement Plan" -- won the Likud primary election last month.
On Jan. 25, Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council election, securing 74 of the 112 seats at stake. The Israeli government believes Hamas is directly responsible for the deaths of 377 citizens in a variety of attacks, which include dozens of suicide bombings. Likud leader Natanyahu -- known for his hard-line stance against militant groups -- declared, "We can’t reach understandings with Hamas because their goal is to destroy Israel."
Polling Data
Prospective results of a Knesset election with Kadima led by Ehud Olmert
(Results presented in seats)
DI
GE
TE
DA
Kadima (Forward)
43
37
42
42
Labour
21
16
19
15
Likud (Consolidation)
13
16
16
15
International Organization of
Torah-observant Sephardic Jews (Shas)9
9
10
10
National Union (Ikhud)
6
5
6
5
Yahadut Hatorah (United Torah Judaism)
6
6
6
5
Together (Yachad)
4
5
5
5
Israel Our Home (Yisrael Beiteinu)
5
8
6
6
Mafdal (National Religious Party)
3
4
2
3
Arab parties
10
9
8
8
Source: Dialog / Haaretz
Methodology: Interviews with 600 Israeli adults, conducted on Jan. 31, 2006. Margin of error is 4.3 per cent.Source: Geocartographia / Israel Radio
Methodology: Interviews with 505 Israeli adults, conducted on Feb. 1, 2006. Margin of error is 4.3 per cent.Source: Teleseker / Maariv
Methodology: Interviews with 500 Israeli adults, conducted on Feb. 1, 2006. Margin of error is 4.3 per cent.Source: Dahaf Institute / Yediot Ahronot
Methodology: Interviews with 500 Israeli adults, conducted on Feb. 1, 2006. Margin of error is 4.3 per cent.
"oh yeah, and the weather. I'm going to do something to improve the weather."Netanyahu: I will put an end to poverty within three years"I vow to put an end to poverty within three years," Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday at a press conference in which he presented the Likud's economic platform.
by Haaretz Service
Last update - 02/07/2006 17:04
The former finance minister proposed a further reduction of valued added tax from 16.5 percent to 14 percent and lowering income tax for salaried workers in the top two deciles from 49 percent to 40 percent.
"We are dealing with actions, not talk. Until now we have gone through a difficult process, but I know that we saved the economy and we will pull people out of poverty by a policy that increases the pie and then we will distribute it in a more rational way. If we only deal with distributing the pie, all we will be left with is crumbs," Netanyahu said.
According to Netanyahu, "without a growing economy there is no way to solve social problems. The only solution is a combination between growth and a rational treatment of social problems."
"I am convinced that we would be one of the ten leading countries in the world in income per capita within 12 years and this would solve our social problems," Netanyahu said.
Hamas victory to have *what* impact on Israel's election (2006)?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1565483/posts?page=31#31