A rotten party

Yesterday I asked 'Can Israel's elected officials get any more pathetic?' and as Kibi correctly predicted in the comments section, the answer was 'of course -- just wait until after the Likud Central Committee meets.'
Ok, the Likud central committee isn't elected (although who knows who's giving the orders), but it is (and it's scary even to write this) an important part of Israel's democratic mechanism. And last night, during an absolutely crucial meeting for Israel's largest political party, someone in that Committee deliberately sabotaged the microphone before Ariel Sharon stood up to speak -- in effect, silencing the Prime Minister, who ended up walking out without delivering his speech.
As Ha'aretz nicely summed things up: "The Likud Central Committee, the most widely detested body in the nation, managed Sunday night to plummet deeper into the depths of vile, repugnant behavior than ever before. "
And then some.
Our ruling party is itself ruled by a bunch of thugs, hooligans and petty criminals, to whom democracy and decency mean nothing -- and power and personal gain mean everything. What was the fight really about?

Sharon's opponents accused his supporters of being motivated solely by personal interests - a desire to retain status or jobs. But Oved Hugi, a central committee member from Yad Eliyahu, charged that jobs were at the root of the opposition to Sharon as well. "It's a battle between those who have jobs and those who don't have jobs," he said.

A rotten party like this has simply lost the right to govern and should be booted out of office as soon as possible before the country becomes run on baksheesh. Sadly, there's no alternative party suitable for power and the Israeli electorate is unlikely to treat them as they deserve. I would urge the Prime Minister to act as quickly as possible to set up an alternative party where people can vote for his policies without getting the Likud politics and corruption -- but the fish stinks from the head down.

UPDATE: Dutchblog Israel writes:

If I lived in a normal country I would probably be happy to see a party that in many respects represents the opposite of what I believe in heading for self-destruction. Still, as a leftwing Zionist watching what goes on in and around the Likud Central Committee not only fills me with revulsion, it also makes me sad and worried. Aware that the Labor party is hardly in a better shape than Likud, I know that this is the way in which our state is run and how the future of me and my family is being taken care of.