Still plugging the Center
By JEFF BARAK and DAVID ZEV HARRIS
(On paper, Center Party leader Yitzhak Mordechai has the
credentials of a potential popular candidate: he's a
Mizrahi with an excellent security resume. Yet somehow he's
not getting across to the public. Jeff Barak and David Zev
Harris ask Mordechai if he is ready to throw in the towel)
Q. What will you do if the polls continue to suggest that you will not make it to the second round in the premiership race?
A. I don't operate on the basis of polls but
rather on the basis of what's happening on the ground.
There is a reason - I owe it to the people, to the party's
leaders.
I'm not going to mislead the public. I said I would
contest the premiership. What will happen on the 18th of
the month? Let's wait and see.
Q. Is this despite the advice you are
receiving from the other party heads?
A. There has been no such advice from anyone
in the group of four. We're unequivocally carrying on the
fight for the premiership and the party.
Q. Weren't you originally appointed head of the party
on the basis of polls placing you ahead of Amnon Lipkin-
Shahak, Dan Meridor and Ronni Milo?
A. My appointment was the result of an approach taken
by the heads of the then Center Movement, who made with the
unequivocal demand that I head the movement, with no
connection to any opinion poll. If there were any polls,
they decided who would be third and fourth place. It was on
the basis of who is the best and who can manage the
country.
Q. Is your main aim to remove Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu from office?
A. No, the first aim is to be elected, then to
introduce a different type of politics and leadership. In
the second round of voting I'll decide to whom I'll give my
backing.
Q. You've still not decided?
A. I'll decide on the 18th or shortly after. We'll
examine the results of the elections, check the political
map, sit for a couple of days and then decide.
Q. Does this mean you've already thrown in the towel?
A. No. There are three candidates. We'll see who's left
on the 18th and then we'll decide.
Q. Do you already have a done deal with One Israel
leader Ehud Barak?
A. No. I have had no contact with Barak. Not a word.
Q. Not via an intermediary?
A. Absolutely not. Two and a half months ago someone
got in touch to see if there was any possibility of linking
up but since then, no contact, neither direct nor indirect.
Q. When you appeared in the television debate with
Netanyahu you said there were things that you, as defense
minister, prevented from happening that would have been
dangerous for Israel, but that you were not prepared to
reveal what they were. What did you mean?
A. I had to be balanced as Israel's defense minister. On
the one hand to deal with terrorism, to build up the
country's military and strategic power and not to allow all
sorts of things that in my eyes were wrong. When I write a
book [I'll reveal what they were].
Q. What did you mean when, during the program, you said
to the prime minister "look me in the eyes?"
A. When the prime minister spoke about peace with Syria
without territorial compromise on the Golan I said to him
"look me in the eyes." I won't say more about anything that
took place in the security cabinet or in any closed
security forum.
Q. During that debate Netanyahu stated that "you have
no direction." Don't you think you should have answered by
stating what your policies are rather than failing to give
a positive response?
A. I wanted to, but he wouldn't allow me. He kept on
repeating "no direction, no direction, no direction." I
just laughed when he said that all the time. I laughed
because it was simply funny. The party has a path.
It has a manifesto, every word of which I have passed
on. We discussed this. No other party had such in-depth
discussions to produce a program so detailed and a contract
with the people.
Bibi has no direction and that is what this election
is about. What is his direction? That you give 13 percent
to the Palestinians while to the Knesset and the public you
say nothing? What's the end result? You give 13% and you
haven't progressed in the peace process.
He's split the people. Look at the country. Look at
the economy. Look at the wave of hatred. This is direction?
That's why I left.
I helped write Likud's [1996] platform and those are
precisely the things he didn't do. Thirteen extreme MKs -
[Michael] Kleiner and his partners [in the Land of Israel
Front] - they decided what would be the outcome on the
diplomatic front.
Q. So what is your message?
A. We've taken a direction, we've written a contract
which we've delivered to 80% of the Israeli public, which
tens of thousands of people have signed. Our way is not
that of the Likud or Labor, but a path of logic, of the
center, of what is important to us today. In a minute or
two on television, you can't explain a direction in which
you've invested hours. The truth is that the Likud's
direction wasn't too bad. The problem is that they don't
stick to it.
Q. Will you be able to work with Netanyahu if he is
reelected?
A. I intend to replace Bibi. I gave up the defense
portfolio, which I could have kept for many years. If Bibi
loses, I could have replaced him; if he wins I'd have
received a senior ministerial position. But I felt there
was no leadership and that public was seeking something
different.
Q. Would you invite Netanyahu to serve in a government
headed by yourself?
A. I intend to invite both Labor and the Likud and
whoever will accept my leadership, my values and my
direction.
Q. You've known Barak for a long time. Is he fit to be
prime minister?
A. Barak, too, has plusses and limitations. He has
never been prime minister. He does have the potential, but
how you apply the potential is already a different story.
Q. Over the last few days there's been much talk of a
split in the nation. Would you consider yourself to be part
of the elite?
A. I am an Israeli citizen who has done his duty for
the state, to best of his ability, throughout 33 years in
the IDF and 2.5 years as defense minister. I don't know
what is meant by "elites" and "another people." We are one
people. We have one aim - to live here as citizens of the
State of Israel. In every nation there are different
groupings and all the leader must do is unite them.
Q. When the Center Party's four leaders meet, how do
you make decisions?
A. I chair the meetings, we discuss things and then I
summarize. So far we haven't needed to vote on a single
issue. Each time we get to a position, I sum up, my opinion
is accepted, and then we move forwards.
Q What are you going to do between now and the polling
on May 17?
A. I'll do everything I can to persuade the public to
support me. We've chosen a way and now we must prove that
it can succeed. What Israel needs today is a leader with
values, with the ability to unite and navigate even in
difficult times. Let the public decide. I will accept its
verdict, whatever it will be.
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