MK and former Deputy Minister Michael (Mickey) Ratzon will be running in the Likud primaries for the 20th Knesset Likud list, he told Arutz Sheva on Friday.
Ratzon was dismissed from the government in 2006 after he objected to the 2005 Disengagement Plan, and was booted from the government by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Ratzon ran again in the 2009 elections and was elected to #20 on the Knesset list, but was ultimately pushed down to #37, missing the chance to re-enter the ground zero of politics.
“The Likud is not a movement of one person but a movement of values and roots,” Ratzon explained regarding his decision. “Today I would be accepted warmly [back into the party] and I believe that the results will be good.”
“It’s true that I paid a high price but it is also one of the reasons I have come back to the system,” he continued. “Not only was this right on a personal level, which is less important, but I am not convinced that people were fully aware of the impact of the Disengagement from Gush Katif.”
Ratzon added that he intends to be active in preventing another Disengagement.
He also explained the significant decrease of mandates allocated to Likud in the last decade.
“The Likud should and must repeat its original stance as a movement of the people,” he said. “It once had a slogan ‘It’s Likud for the people.’ Likud has always been social, but was unable to connect to the people and unfortunately there is a disconnect between the leadership and the people.”
“The Likud should connect its activists and the public to the people, so it can feel that it identifies with the leadership,” he opined. ”There are objective circumstances such as cost of living, cost of housing and banks which still have monopolies that need to be taken care of.”
Despite this, Ratzon criticized Moshe Kahlon, who abandoned the Likud to form Kulanu over these very issues.
“Kahlon had acted badly,” he said. “He went and set up an independent list after he built up Likud and called it his movement. Those who prefer revenge should not be in politics.”
Ratzon added that the Likud today is “Center-Right” and that “there is nothing to talk about” in terms of the security situation, as there is “no one on the other side to talk to.”
“There are a variety of opinions but one important message for our right to the land, a free economy,” and social justice, he said. “The state should serve the individual and not the opposite.”
Ratzon also revealed an affinity for Jewish Home.
“I see the Jewish Home party as a sister party to Likud, but one which unfortunately currently is top-heavy and relies on one person and who is more engaged in the political field,” he said, in reference to Naftali Bennett. “I am all for connecting and merging the two parties to build governmental stability over time.”
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