Israel’s New Opposition Leader Struggles to Find Issues to Ignite Interest

Fresh from his successful toppling of Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni, Shaul Mofaz is seen as struggling to find issues that could ignite interest in his party. A former army chief-of-staff and defense minister, Mofaz abandoned the Likud party in 2005 on the same day he promised his fellow party members that he would not do so. Analysts see his victory over the uninspiring Livni as something of an anomaly since with a turnout of less than 45% of eligible voters, the bulk of his support came from Israeli Arab voters who are not seen as the mainstream of Kadima, the party formed by Ariel Sharon as an alternative to his life-long affiliation with Likud. Mofaz immediately tried to establish a link between him and last summer’s socio-economic protests that captivated the nation with tent cities and mass demonstrations, but pundits saw his efforts as a stretch since he was never associated with those issues as was the head of the Labor party. Mofaz also has not been vocal on the issue of the threat from Tehran, although he is Iranian by birth. The first post-election poll released on Thursday indicated that Mofaz will suffer a significant loss of membership from his party with the Labor party – itself struggling in recent years – the beneficiary of Kadima’s demise. According to all polls, the primary in Israel’s main opposition party is apparently having no effect on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu or his Likud party.