Last update - 00:00 04/04/2007
Netanyahu taps team of advisers to capture Russian vote
By Lily Galili, Haaretz Correspondent
Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu has set up a special team of Russian-speaking advisers to prepare to compete for Russian votes in the next election.
The team, which meets every few weeks, includes Benny Briskin, who served as an adviser to Netanyahu while he was prime minister. It also includes Dr. Zeev Hanin, a sociologist from Bar-Ilan University, Dr. Alex Feldman, an expert on opinion polls, and Likud spokesman Dmitry Shimelfarb.
Recently, following his return to the Knesset, MK Yuli Edelstein also joined the forum.
The members of the team are all working voluntarily and under great secrecy.
"They are all free individuals with no obligations to Likud in general and to Bibi [Benjamin Netanyahu] in particular," Briskin stresses.
Briskin, who has remained close to Netanyahu over the years, adds that "nonetheless, the idea of meeting with those in the know, relatively regularly, seems to me to be very important. Bibi himself has instructed his aides to allot time for these meetings."
According to Briskin, the forum bases its activities on the assumption that it is possible to transform Netanyahu into a leader for the new immigrants. This is so despite the fact that in the last elections Likud received only two seats in the Knesset as a result of the votes of this community.
Briskin maintains that although Netanyahu lost popularity among Russian speakers in the past, these voters do not hold the stance of "anything but Bibi," which is common in other communities. He thus believes it will be easier to bring a significant portion of this public back to the Likud chairman.
This assessment is also based on the fact that Kadima has lost most of its Russian-speaking supporters, whose votes brought it five seats in the Knesset, and some of whom used to vote for the anti-clerical party Shinui. These voters will hesitate to give their votes to the Yisrael Beiteinu party headed by Avigdor Lieberman.
Dr. Hanin told Haaretz that the forum is not a formal body, but he acknowledged that he has met twice with Netanyahu in this context and the discussion focused on the importance of the Russian votes.