Netanyahu: I'm not working to advance election By Gil Hoffman Jpost 14.02.02 BAT YAM (February 14) - Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a packed house at a Bat Yam rally last night he is not working to topple Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's national unity government. "I don't know when the next election will be, and I'm not working to advance it," Netanyahu told a crowd of some 2,500 Likud activists at the Gallery Palace hall in the town's Wolfson Mall. However, the former prime minister was critical of the Sharon government's performance on security, economic, and social issues. Netanyahu implored the crowd not to blame the Likud for the government's lack of success. "Our path has not failed. It wasn't even tried," Netanyahu said. "Our path is right and it has always been right." Netanyahu said Likud support has fallen to other parties, such as Shas and Histadrut Labor Federation Chairman Amir Peretz's Am Ehad party since the Sharon government took over. Netanyahu said it is imperative to restore the IDF's deterrent capability in order to restore security. He criticized Sharon's policy of targeted killings of Hamas leaders, and said liquidating Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's enemies will not encourage him to fight terrorism. Netanyahu said he tried to do the same thing when he was prime minister and failed in the case of Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashal, the subject of a failed assassination attempt in Amman. "The only thing that deters Arafat is to make sure he knows that his rule is in danger," Netanyahu said. "In order to stop terrorism, we must show our deterrent capability not to Arafat, but to his potential successors." Netanyahu received his loudest applause when he said, "We must topple Arafat's regime." Netanyahu predicted whoever takes over for Arafat will be better because his authority will depend on the United States' support. While Netanyahu was speaking in Bat Yam, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Effy Eitam (Fein), who backs him, was speaking to Likud Youth in the party's Tel Aviv headquarters. Eitam's associates said he is seriously considering an invitation from Likud Youth Chairman Gilad Erdan to join the Likud. Eitam said Sharon will join the ranks of former prime ministers if he does not take a more offensive strategy on security . In his comments, Eitam referred to a new ad campaign in which Left-leaning activists asked former justice minister Yossi Beilin to run for prime minister. "Instead of the ad saying: 'Run, Yossi, run,' it should say: 'Run away, Yossi, run away, and take all your Oslo friends with you," he said. |
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