Speechless...

Heh heh. By golly, those crazy Likud pranksters are at it again! Last night during the Likud Central Committee meeting, someone (or perhaps several someones) managed to sabotage Prime Minister Sharon's microphone just as he was starting to speak. And this was done not once, but twice. After having sat through Mr Netanyahu's eminently predictable speech (and the man certainly does know how to drone on and on and on...), I had decided that if necessary, I would use my powers of persuasion (limited as they are) to convince Husband that we should examine our other viewing options, as I had no desire to hear whatever it was that Mr Sharon planned to say. Well, it would seem that I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

The Prime Minister began to speak. Nothing! No sound! Suddenly, things were beginning to look interesting. We watched as people began to scamper around, playing with wires and making anxious phone calls. We watched the faces the Prime Minister and other Likud politicos, wishing that we could read lips. Nothing doing. There was no sound to be had. Yakov sent the broadcast back to Mikki at the anchor desk, who treated us to shots of a burnt out car in Gaza - where we had apparently ended the life of an Islamic Jihad leader and his deputy, and a few time-filling commercials. Suddenly, it was back to Yakov, on location at the Likud meeting. The sound system had been repaired, and Mr Sharon had returned to the main podium.

We all watched as the man put on his glasses, pulled out his speech and began to speak. He managed to get a few words out before being drowned out by a noise that can only be described as a microphone that lay dying, and then, nothing. The Prime Minister again returned to his seat, and once it became clear that he wasn't going to be making his speech any time soon, he and his cronies got up and left. That was it. The meeting was over. Party members variously mingled in groups or left the room, and we watched a few heated exchanges taking place between those party members who remained, most likely trading accusations and blame for what had happened.

I'm no fan of Mr Sharon (though I'm impressed that he managed to pull off the disengagement and get us out of Gaza after 37 years of settlement activity, much of which was instigated by the man himself), though I must admit that even I felt twinges of embarrassment for him last night. This banana republic masquerading as the Likud party is a disgrace, and it would serve them right if Sharon were to leave now, to crumble in a pile of dust. The petty, egotistical, internecine squabbles serve no one but themselves, and the party is rotting from the inside. It is high time that these folks clean out their Knesset offices and turn them over to people who actually care more about this country than they care about themselves - a rare trait indeed in the insular world of Israeli politics, where true statesmanship and quality leadership are sorely lacking.

I'm speechless with anticipation to see how it all unfolds...