After Yisrael Beitenu leader Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman ousted a number of party members, he announced the biggest surprise, adding to that list of people who would not join him in the 19th Knesset. The biggest surprise came when he announced Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon was on the list of those no longer be a part of the party. Ayalon, a former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations and Lieberman’s deputy minister was viewed as a major player in the party, but it appears that the party leader opted to use the election to clean his slate, ousting anyone he prefers to no longer have on board.
Ayalon, in his professional fashion opted not to air his dirty laundry in the media, simply stating, “Politics has a rule book of its own”.
It is believed that Ayalon was ousted as a result of his incident in which he embarrassed Turkish Ambassador to Israel Oguz Celikkol who was visiting Israel by placing him in a low chair, placing him in an embarrassing media spotlight. The event drew international media attention.
Also ousted were Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov, a move that was no surprise after he was captured on video more than once conducting himself in a lewd fashion. Security guards assigned to the minister reported he is often drunk and there were concerns that when he was in an altered mental state, he was possibly revealing information that should not be for the general public.
Regarding Misezhnikov, who has been quoted making derogatory remarks against chareidim and yiddishkheit in general, chareidi politicians applauded the decision to remove him from the cabinet and Knesset, adding he would not be missed.
Also on Lieberman’s hit list was Anastasia Michaeli, who was involved in several embarrassing events that brought unwanted media attention to the party.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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Anastasia Michaeli was not especially anti-religious, though pouring water (during a meeting)on a member of the kenesset she disagreed with did get her suspended.
The moves suggest that Lieberman is planning to move from being a “fringe” special interest politician to a major national leader – and while he is less anti-Jewish that some of the hilonim, he is hardly a friend (and he is positioning himself to take over Likud in the not immediate future).