in his party

power struggle
Today, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will present the composition of the new coalition government for approval by the Knesset. It is expected that, despite the fact that the distribution of ministerial portfolios led to a loud political scandal, deputies will support the new cabinet.
After a month of inter-party negotiations, the head of Likud, which won the January parliamentary elections, Ariel Sharon, brought three more parties into the government coalition - the far-right National Unity (UN), the ultra-Orthodox National Religious Party (CHP) and the centrist Shinui. Together with the right-wing Likud, the result was a government with a clear rightward bias. However, against the background of HE and the CHP, Mr. Sharon’s party will look like a prominent representative of the centrist forces. At the same time, the cabinet receives the support of 68 deputies in the 120-seat Knesset.
However, putting together a coalition was quite costly for Ariel Sharon. He had to sacrifice several key ministerial posts in order to attract representatives of other parties to the cabinet. As a result, the leadership of the Likud itself no longer had enough portfolios, and the process of forming the cabinet ended in a huge scandal - the second person in the party did not join the government.
Until yesterday, practically the only candidate for the key post of head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry was Benjamin Netanyahu, who had recently held this position. Mr. Netanyahu himself has repeatedly publicly emphasized that he will enter the government only in one capacity - as head of the Foreign Ministry. However, yesterday Mr. Sharon unexpectedly offered this position to the third person in the party - ex-Finance Minister Silvan Shalom, and asked Benjamin Netanyahu to sit in the chair of the head of the financial department, which he, of course, immediately refused. In Israel, this personnel decision by the prime minister had the effect of a bomb exploding.
According to observers, the appointment of Silvan Shalom, who has no experience in foreign policy, to the post of Foreign Minister will inevitably lead to a decline in Israel's prestige in the international arena. In addition, it is worth recalling that Mr. Shalom’s two years as Minister of Finance, according to the unanimous opinion of experts, led to complete devastation in the Israeli economy. However, this appointment seems illogical only at first glance. Even Ariel Sharon's opponents called this personnel maneuver "a brilliant step by a talented commander."
Indeed, in this way the head of Likud managed to solve at least three problems. First, he deprived his main rival for leadership of the party, Benjamin Netanyahu, of the opportunity to influence events using a high ministerial position. Secondly, he got rid of accusations of excessive “Europeanization” of the government. The fact is that Mr. Sharon was often blamed for the fact that only Jews from Europe (Ashkenazim) were included in the cabinet he formed. This has always caused dissatisfaction with another influential force in Israeli society - the Sephardim, Jews from the East. A native of Tunisia, Silvan Shalom is precisely a prominent representative of the Sephardi camp. And the retention of the post of Minister of Defense by another Sephardim, Shaul Mofaz, finally clears Ariel Sharon of all accusations of bias. Finally, thirdly, given Mr. Shalom’s incompetence in the field of foreign policy, the prime minister has the opportunity to personally engage in its formation.
Mr. Netanyahu himself refrained from commenting yesterday. From now on, he will continue his career in the Knesset, of which he is a member, and will probably begin preparing for the next assault on the political Olympus.
MARINA Kommersant-YANKOVA, ALEXANDER Kommersant-REUTOV

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 34 dated February 27, 2003, p. 10

Ariel Sharon eliminated his last rival