MK Yariv Levin (Likud) dismissed Friday the criticism of Likud by senior members of Kadima a day earlier. “At best this criticism is ridiculous and at worst it is hypocritical,” Levin told Arutz Sheva 's Hebrew service. “The Kadima party split off from the Likud and was born in the Likud. They are the ones splitting off from Kadima because of dissatisfaction with Tzipi Livni's leadership,” he added. Kadima is a party with no content, Levin charged. “Kadima is a party with no ideological backbone. There are people there who came only in search of government jobs. It is not impossible that we will soon witness a split from Kadima not by seven people, but by 12, and then we may even see Shaul Mofaz join the move,” he predicted. Do the just thing The split in Kadima is “historical justice,” Levin opined. “These are the same people who got up and took Knesset seats from the Likud and established a party with the aim of finishing off the Likud. Ariel Sharon held a referendum among the members [of the party], we invested a lot of time in the referendum and in the end he took action contrary to the referendum. He left Kadima and left us with debts, doing everything he could to cause Likud to crumble. That is why we say to the Kadima people – you have no right to cry or complain. As Sharon always said, whoever splits from Kadima does the just thing.” Levin dismissed the idea that the split in Kadima was ideologically motivated. “That is ridiculous,” he said. “Kadima has no ideology. Those who left it did so because they had no chance to get reelected and that is the only reason.” Levin said that he hoped that Likud would not be swept leftward when the Kadima rebels join it. “I think that the Kadima members' joining will widen the base of support for the government and reduce the dependency on the Left,” he explained. On the other hand, he added, it could also diminish the relative share of the nationalist MKs in the party and lead to moves that stray from the path of the Likud. Despite this, said Levin, “in the overall balance, Kadima's fragmentation is a positive thing.”
