Mordechai
Popular Loser
Jerusalem
11111 ith the Israeli election
less than three months
away, an absurd situa-
tion has arisen: The
most popular candidate for prime
minister has little chance to win.
Polls consistently show Center
Party leader Yitzhak
Mordechai would get
48 percent of the vote
in the June 1 run-off
election, comfortably
ahead of the 41 percent
for incumbent
Binyamin Netanyahu.
But those polls also show Mordechai
running a remote third (20 percent)
behind Netanyahu (37 percent) and
Labor Party leader Ehud Barak (30 per-
cent) in the May 17 primary election.
A candidate would need a majority
May 17 to cancel the June 1 election.
Many observers predicted
Mordechai would prove a flash in the
pan. But the first Sephardic prime
minister candidate is known as an
extremely patient man, even a plodder,
and his stature has grown steadily.
Meanwhile, Barak seems terribly
disappointing. "The role just doesn't
come naturally to him," said political
scientist Dr. Avi Degani.
The former military star is known
\,2
for his intellect and ambition, but he
still cannot seem to forge himself into
a political leader — especially one in
the television age.
And Barak doesn't seem to have the
natural politician's gift for seeing
opportunities. He begged off last week's
counter-demonstration of some 50,000
people against the fervently observant
haredim (who drew about 250,000 for
a pray-in against the Supreme Court), a
decision interpreted as timidity in the
face of haredi political power, further
proof that he lacks political instincts.
And that was compounded by the
worst flaw a politician can have — bad
luck. Last week's prime-time broadcast
of the Labor Party Knesset primary
results was taken over by Ethiopian-born
Knesset Member Addisu Messele's charges
of "racism" and "electoral robbery" when
he failed to make the Knesset list.
Messele ranted on as Barak stood
next to him onstage — embarrassed,
seemingly helpless to prevent this pub-
lic relations disaster. A vote recount
the next day had identical results. fl
— Larry Derfner
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Detroit Jewish News
2/26
1999
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