Knesset Deals Blow to Sharon

In a stinging rebuff to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel’s parliament on Monday voted down a trio of Cabinet appointments whose approval had been seen as a crucial political test for the embattled Israeli leader.

Rebels from within Sharon’s Likud Party engineered the defeat, which came in a 60-54 vote by the Knesset, or parliament. Sharon’s rivals within the conservative party have repeatedly sought to punish him for withdrawing Israeli troops and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip over the summer.

The parliament later approved one of the three ministers, but by then the damage to Sharon’s prestige had been done.

The outcome of the Knesset vote, which the prime minister denounced as stemming from “factionalism and personal motives,” throws the already unruly Israeli political scene into further disarray.

Political analysts had said prior to the showdown that a defeat for Sharon could set off a chain of events leading to early elections. The prime minister’s term is supposed to last another year.

Through clever political footwork and sheer force of will, the 77-year-old Israeli leader has survived a series of parliamentary challenges in recent months. But this time, efforts by aides to work out a backroom compromise failed.

At issue were the appointments of three government ministers, including the important portfolio of finance minister. Sharon nominated Ehud Olmert, a close ally and confidant, to that post to succeed Benjamin Netanyahu, who quit to protest the Gaza pullout. Netanyahu has made no secret of his ambitions to replace Sharon as the Likud leader and prime minister.

Political analysts said Sharon would have prevailed if he had initially put forth Olmert’s appointment alone for lawmakers’ approval. But he chose instead to make it a package deal with two other appointments targeted by the rebels: that of Roni Bar-On as minister of industry and trade, and Zeev Boim as minister of immigrant absorption.

Rivals contended that the appointments of Bar-On and Boim to the relatively minor Cabinet posts were to compensate the pair for standing by Sharon over the Gaza pullout, and waged a furious campaign against their confirmation.

Olmert’s appointment as finance minister was confirmed by lawmakers in a second vote held later in the evening, by a comfortable margin of 71 to 41. This time, it was paired with a noncontroversial appointment, that of Science Minister Matan Vilnai of the Labor Party, Sharon’s main coalition partner.

But their initial success was likely to embolden Likud rivals seeking to topple Sharon’s government. At some point, the prime minister might tire of fighting off constant challenges in the Knesset and call for early elections, even though aides have said he would prefer to serve his full term.

For now, Sharon might simply seek to impose party discipline on those who defy him. “There will be consequences,” he said grimly after the vote.

Israeli pollster Hanan Kristal said Sharon, who rarely shies away from a confrontation, may have hoped that his political foes would fold at the last moment. Putting forth the three appointments in a single package was intended as a show of muscle-flexing, Kristal said.

Despite his struggles with rivals within his own party, polls indicate Sharon remains extremely popular with Israeli voters. Mindful of that, many lawmakers are generally reluctant to overtly challenge him.

In the hours before the vote on the ministers, the Knesset defeated four separate motions of no confidence in Sharon’s government.