We paid Arabs to Veto our Survival

If Sharon had just betrayed his election promises by adopting his opponent's disengagement agenda - dayenu. That would have been enough. That he compounded this by forming an alliance with Labour and making Peres his deputy, was even worse.

But to keep his disengagement plan alive, he needed his government to survive the budget vote. He could so easily have won a referendum on disengagement. But no, this is not his way. Instead he paid out no less than 1,600,000 shekels to various Knesset factions to buy their support for the budget vote. To keep him in power.

How many of you noticed that 55 million of this payola was paid to the two Arab MK's: Abdulmalek Dehamsha and Talab El Sana to procure their abstention from the budget vote.
I am not sure whether this money has gone to them personally or to some of their favourite charities: perhaps the International Solidarity Movement, the Hamas Veterans Fund or the Neturei Karta.

But what this really amounts to is granting Arabs a veto over our future in Israel.

Using cash raised by the hard work of Jewish fundraisers all over the world.

I don't think such an act of perfidy has ever been committed by any government of Israel since the creation of the State. That it has been committed by a Likud government is truly galling and grossly discredits the memory of Menachem Begin, Ze'ev Jabotinsky and all the heroes of our struggle for statehood.

This is a black day for Israel, and its claims to be the only democracy in the Middle East.