Why Ya'alon's departure from Defense Ministry should worry Bibi
The resignation of Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon from his post following the appointment of Avigdor Liberman to his job leaves the Likud party without any moderate senior figures.
When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recruited Lt. Gen. Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon to the Likud on the eve of the 2009 elections, he was chairman of the parliamentary opposition and seeking to portray his right-wing party as moderate and pragmatic.
Netanyahu, who was running for prime minister at the time, invested tremendous effort into shaking off the extremist image with which the Likud had been associated after party rebels opposed to the Israeli 2005 pullout from Gaza caused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to split and establish the Kadima Party.
Ya'alon was a former chief of staff, a kibbutz member raised on the left-leaning values of the erstwhile Mapai (the precursor of Labor) but disillusioned by the Oslo Accord. He, along with the scions of Likud leaders known as the “princes” — Dan Meridor and Benny Begin, sons of the pre-state underground Irgun leaders — was courted assiduously by Netanyahu in an effort to convey an image of the Likud leadership as responsible, value-driven and liberal.
Over the years, Ya'alon became an accepted and admired figure in the Likud. He managed to build up a political base and worked hard to maintain the support of activists. He was considered a hawk on diplomacy and the darling of the settlers and the right — until he was tapped as minister of defense and his adherents realized that he favors the rule of law over turning a blind eye to violations in the settlements. In recent months, Ya'alon became a veritable punching bag for the right, including the Likud itself, which has grown increasingly radicalized. Things came to a head when an Israeli soldier shot dead a wounded Palestinian attacker in Hebron on March 24, and the alliance between Ya'alon and the prime minister began to unravel.
