It's kosher, but it stinks

The "Mofaz Law," which has allowed seven Kadima MKs to leave their party ahead of the coming election ito join Tzipi Livni's Hatnuah party, enabling it to receive 9 million shekels in state funding, is kosher. But boy, does it stink.

Every schoolchild can figure out that ideological considerations were not what motivated Meir Sheetrit to join the group of rebellious Kadima MKs, enabling them to seek recognition from the Knesset House Committee as a new party. Rather, Sheetrit was motivated by the generous funding that the new party will receive, in accordance with law. The party is also assured 14 minutes of television time and 28 minutes of radio time for campaign advertising.

This deterioration of moral values must be stopped, by legislation. MKs who still value fairness should, immediately after the 19th Knesset is inaugurated, initiate a process to amend the "Mofaz Law." The amendment should stipulate that parties cannot split less than 90 days before an election.

This amendment is essential to reducing the motivation of MKs to leave their parties to receive a piece of the election funding pie.

The Kadima MKs who left their party to join Hatnuah (Kadima Chairman Shaul Mofaz called the group "Tzipi Livni and the seven thieves") have given Israeli politics a bad name. They proved, once again, that there are no limits to cynicism. There is no doubt that their move also hurt Livni’s image, after she marketed herself as a politician with clean hands. It is clear that she was not courting Sheetrit, Robert Tiviaev, Orit Zuaretz, Majalli Wahabi, Yoel Hasson, Rachel Adato and Shlomo Molla to decorate her party list. Livni has enough political experience to know that these individuals will not bring her even half a Knesset seat. However, she needs their dowry, the money they bring with them to fund her election campaign.

It is interesting that the MKs who initiated this split in Kadima were the same ones who opposed the law when it passed in 2009. When the proposed bill was being discussed in the Knesset, Livni came out strongly against it, because the bill's initiators were Likud MKs, who were trying to split Kadima.

"This is the spiritual weakening of the Likud," Livni said at the time. "This is an immoral law with no values."

Hasson, who submitted the split request earlier this week, was among the MKs (including Tiviaev, Molla and Nachman Shai, who recently joined Labor) who wore masks during a Knesset meeting to protest the "Mofaz Law."

Now, just over three years later, the same MKs who criticized the "Mofaz Law" and worked to prevent its passage have used the law to leave Kadima and receive state funds that legally belong to Kadima. There is only one word for this – shameful.

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו