| Israel's Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has dropped out of the contest to become leader of Likud and defected to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima party, army radio says. Mofaz's switch means that seven cabinet ministers have followed Sharon in jumping ship from Likud to Kadima. Mofaz said on Sunday that he quit the Likud because "extremists" have hijacked the party. "The Likud party ... is growing away from me, and to my sorrow, is moving in the direction of what we call the rightwing extremists of the political map," he told a news conference. |