Tafnit's Uzi Dayan rejects Lapid

Indicated he was not eager to welcome Lapid or Avraham Poraz to Tafnit.

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER
dayan, uzi 298.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
dayan, uzi 298.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Uzi Dayan indicated Wednesday that he was not eager to welcome Yosef "Tommy" Lapid or Avraham Poraz into his Tafnit party. There has been much speculation that the pair and their supporters could join another party such as Tafnit following last week's Shinui elections, in which Lapid retained the title of chairman in a closer-than-expected race and Poraz lost the number two seat. "Poraz and Lapid were the problem, not the solution," Dayan told The Jerusalem Post. He acknowledged contacts with Shinui MKs but said no negotiations with them had taken place. He did say that he would accept "anyone who identifies with our agenda." Shinui "rebels," who broke with the party after Poraz's defeat, said Wednesday that they were in any case more likely to form their own party than join someone else's. They are currently examining the legal option of using a defunct party to reform themselves, with a decision expected tomorrow. Eti Livni, who left Shinui after the Thursday elections, said that there were 11 MKs in their camp, though that included Lapid, who was still the head of Shinui and would have to resign to join the new party. But it is anticipated that he will drop out of political life entirely. "I still expect him to retire in the end, though we are hoping to convince him not to do that," Livni said. There have also been complications stemming from the money controlled by Shinui. If one third, or five members, of the Shinui faction currently in Knesset broke away, the MKs could take the approximately NIS 700,000 in campaign funding due to them, Livni noted. But the fate of the NIS 12 million or so in the Shinui coffers is less clear. Poraz's group is arguing that the money should be theirs, since it was raised by Poraz during the term of this Knesset. But the new Shinui leadership elected on Thursday says the funds belong to them. A judge will likely have to resolve the dispute.