JERUSALEM, 8 December 2005 — Israel’s beleaguered right-wing Likud suffered a new blow Tuesday when its acting chairman, cabinet minister Tzahi Hanegbi, defected to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s new Kadima party.
Hanegbi, a minister without portfolio, became the sixth minister to follow Sharon out of Likud as part of the continuing turmoil in Israeli politics in the run-up to a March general election.
“My heart was telling me to stay in Likud but my head told me otherwise and so therefore I am today announcing my resignation from Likud after representing the party for the last 17 years in the Knesset,” he told a press conference.
“Prime minister, I am with you,” Hanegbi said. “Israel can place its trust in Ariel Sharon, who has always fought mercilessly against terrorism and has never compromised on Israel’s security.” Hanegbi said he would stand down as an MP immediately but would remain in the cabinet.
The move came amid reports that police are to recommend Hanegbi’s prosecution on charges of cronyism during his time as environment minister.
While the other five Likud ministers to have joined Sharon were seen as close allies of the premier, Hanegbi was regarded as an opponent of his controversial decision to pull troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip.
As interim head of the Likud central committee, the party’s main governing body, Hanegbi was to have played a key role in organizing the leadership election to replace Sharon due on Dec. 19.
The defection will be seen as another major blow to Likud which won 38 out of the 120 seats in the Knesset at the last election but is now set to win only a dozen, according to an opinion poll in yesterday’s Haaretz newspaper.
The survey found Kadima was on course to emerge as the largest party with 39 seats after the March 28 election, comfortably ahead of the center-left Labor with 22.
