Sunday, November 29, 2009

PM to reject Likud central committee to convene to debate freeze decision

(Jpost).Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will not allow the Likud central committee to convene to debate his decision to freeze construction in Judea and Samaria, sources in the Prime Minister's Office said Saturday night.

Speaking in Ra'anana, at an event under the banner "Real Likudniks don't surrender," Likud MK Danny Danon told a crowd of some 200 party activists and settler leaders that on Sunday morning, he would deliver the required number of signatures ofcentral committee members to force a meeting of the committee to its chairman, Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon.

"The prime minister should have told the Americans that on Judea and Samaria, he would not surrender," Danon said. "We are starting a campaign to put the brakes on what Netanyahu is trying to do. We will be attacked for this and it won't be easy, but we, the silent majority of the Likud, will struggle and succeed."

Netanyahu's associates said that despite the signatures he could still avoid convening the committee. They said that even if there will be a meeting of the committee in a couple of months, it would deal only with procedural matters.

A source close to Netanyahu admitted that he had called Likud ministers and MKs and persuaded them not to come to Danon's event, which was not attended by any other MK. Danon stressed at the event that his goal was not to topple Netanyahu but to strengthen him.

Speakers at the event outdid one another in insulting US President Barack Obama. Netanya Likud activist Ben-Zion Ben-David said, "We overcame Pharaoh, Antiochus, and Salah a-Din. We'll overcome Obama too."