A public split appeared today in the leadership of Prof. Yigael Yadin’s Democratic Movement for Change (DMC) only days after its Central Committee voted 61-8 not to join the Likud-led coalition government. Yadin, who held a press conference last Thursday to explain the decision, had no sooner finished blaming the breakdown of negotiations on Likud and its religious coalition partners when he was challenged by DMC MK Meir Zorea.
Zorea alleged that the DMC leaders who conducted the coalition talks — Meir Amit and Amnon Rubinstein — were opposed to joining and deliberately maneuvered the negotiations into a deadlock. He charged that to blame the failure on Likud was “hypocrisy”.
Zorea, a general in the reserves, was promptly admonished by Yadin who reminded him that such accusations should be brought before the appropriate party bodies, not the press. Yadin said he disagreed totally with Zorea’s charges and was convinced that the party will remain united around its program and objectives.
The DMC Secretariat on Friday condemned Zorea for his behavior and called upon him to consider giving up his membership on the Secretariat. Earlier Yadin and others objected to the demands of some that Zorea be ousted from the Secretariat and that he give up his Knesset seat.
Zorea, while saying he will consider resigning from the Secretariat, was furious that the DMC body did not take up the substance of his charges. Meanwhile, some DMC members are circulating petitions to oust Zorea while others have been phoning him with words of encouragement.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
