Barak 'agrees to Likud coalition'

[Ken Burch]

"Israel's Labour leader Ehud Barak has reached a provisional deal with PM-designate Benjamin Netanyahu on forming a coalition, Israeli army radio says.

The centre-left Labour party is divided over whether to join a government with Mr Netanyahu's Likud and will vote on the agreement shortly. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7960599.stm

So much for Israel being "the only democracy in the Middle East". You need a parliament with an opposition for that.

There's clearly no good reason for the Labor Party to continue to exist if it does this. It can't play any positive role in a Bibi-led government.

[Violet_Crumble]

1. Well, he'd sell his soul for the defence ministry so it's predictable...

Wot a wanker...

[Pab Sungenis]

2. But he's not getting Defense Minister, is he?

Isn't Avigdor Lieberman getting it? Or did he get Foreign Minister?

[Violet_Crumble]

3. He's getting it. Lieberman's getting the foreign ministry n/t

[aranthus]

23. But why should Labor go along with him?

Just so he can be defense minister? How is that good for Labor? (I think you don't think it is, and neither do I. I'm just asking.).

[LeftishBrit]

4. Will Bibi still need Lieberman if Barak joins the coalition?

If not, then it's a good thing. If Lieberman is still going to be Foreign Secretary, then Barak should run a mile rather than be associated with that thug!

[regnaD kciN]

5. Current Israeli politics is divided...

...between a center-right party, a far-right party, and a just-short-of-Genghis-Kahn party.

Good luck on any peace deal until an actual left-wing, pro-peace party emerges, In other words, wait another generation at least.

:-(

[oberliner]

10. Would those labels fit the major Palestinian political factions?

How would you categorize Fatah, Hamas, and the PFLP?

[LeftishBrit]

12. British people with an interest in American politics...

used to say pretty much the same about the American parties: the Democrats are Conservatives, and the Republicans far-Right.

This is said less since the British parties moved further right, and the Democrats are possibly getting a bit better now that Obama is leader.

But it's certainly the sort of thing that can be said about many countries. Certainly true of both the Israelis and Palestinians right now, sadly (neither has an effective pro-peace party); but both have volatile political systems which could change at any time - let's hope for the better.

[IndianaGreen]

6. So Ariel Sharon's Kadima becomes the only alternative to Bibi/Lieberman

with the increasingly irrelevant Labour reduced to mere lapdogs, all thanks to Ehud Barak.

By the time this is over we might find ourselves praising Sharon as a great visionary.

[bemildred]

7. Key Labor minister announces support for joining coalition

Senior Labor minister Isaac Herzog on Tuesday announced his support for party leader Ehud Barak's bid to bring the center-left Labor into a coalition headed by Prime Minister-Designate Benjamin Netanyahu.

"A far-right government could push us to the brink of catastrophe," he said. "If it was possible for a government to be formed in which we could have a truly dramatic influence over all aspects, then I would want to be there and think that my party will not be damaged as a result"

Herzog, who until recently had refrained from voicing his opinion, made the comments shortly after negotiators from Labor and Netanyahu's Likud initialed a draft coalition agreement. The move has been bitterly opposed by seven of the party's 13 MKs.

He added: "I believe the agreement will have a dramatic impact on the way Israel will be governed in the coming years."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1073506.html

[bemildred]

8. ANALYSIS / Netanyahu made an offer Barak couldn't refuse

There is no debate over two of the achievements of the Labor-Likud coalition agreement that initialed on Tuesday morning: It was reached after negotiations unprecedented in their brevity ? taking less than 24 hours ? and it grants Labor a scandalous package of positions for its mere 13 Knesset seats, almost out of generosity. The deal gives the party five cabinet posts, including two of the most senior ? Defense Minister and Trade and Industry Minister - and another two deputy ministerial positions.

Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu's package of temptation for Labor was so bountiful that it is not clear whether the party will have enough people to man all the positions. Labor chairman Ehud Barak's camp, as of Tuesday morning, consisted of Ministers Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Shalom Simhon, Isaac Herzog and deputy ministers Matan Vilnai and Orit Noked. Vilnai will be upgraded to minister without portfolio and Noked will serve as a deputy minister.

The outstanding achievement of the deal itself is within the social-economic field, and was pushed for by Histadrut Labor Federation leader Ofer Eini. It is a sort of economic rescue plan ? as it will be marketed to the public and the party delegates at Tuesday evening's key central committee meeting.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1073530.html

[bemildred]

9. 'It's natural for Barak to join a rightist government'

MK Ophir Pines-Paz recalls his meeting with Ehud Barak, in the middle of last November, well. The Labor Party chairman was concerned about reports that Pines-Paz was considering joining the new leftist movement that had formed around Meretz. Pines-Paz, on the other hand, was concerned about rumors concerning Barak's love affair with Benjamin Netanyahu. However, he was unable to extract from Barak a promise that Labor would under no circumstances join a Netanyahu government.

Even though he was still tending to his wounds from Barak's previous "personal" commitment to leave the government once the final Winograd report (examining the conduct of the Second Lebanon War) was published, Pines-Paz made do with a personal assurance that "Labor will not sit in a government that will not lead a peace process." To eradicate any remaining doubt, Barak announced at the Labor Party convention a few days later that "Labor will not join a government whose basic guidelines contradict its principles."

Any remaining doubts Pines-Paz may have harbored about Barak and his principles have now been dispelled, especially after he read Monday's report in Haaretz that the defense minister decided to approve a new settlement (Sansana) and refused to uphold a court order to dismantle houses built on stolen land in the Ofra settlement.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1073503.html

[IndianaGreen]

15. I wonder what the disgruntled Labourites will do?

Forming a new party would dilude them even further. Joining Kadima would be the logical choice.

[bemildred]

16. That's what I'm wondering too.

It's already clear that Barak has the principles of a mink in heat, so what does the rest of Labor think about that?

Did you read "The Lust for Power"?
:wow:

[azurnoir]

17. Even with that the disgruntled laborists

joining Kadima it was 7 of the 13 if I remember correctly would that be enough for a real opposition?

ETA with the addition of Meretz and possibly the Arab parties also

[bemildred]

18. I don't know, it's not clear how many will bail until they do.

There is spose to be a vote on Barak's proposals, we'll see how that goes.

[azurnoir]

19. It doesn't look good

even if one the ultra-religious parties such as United Torah Judaism were to join a left center coalition to be honest I couldn't fimd much about who they have or will join it would be too small to have much impact without all of labor,

the link is for the numbers

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1063744.html

[bemildred]

11. The lust for power

The scent of power is driving Benjamin Netanyahu crazy. He is willing to do anything to become prime minister again. He does not care about any principle, any ideology or any long-term vision. The lust for power is dulling his senses and he is losing his mind. Netanyahu is now willing to sell the most important change he brought to Israeli society six years ago: the transition from handouts to work.

The Netanyahu of 2003 was a very different one. Back then, he brought along a revolutionary spirit and was willing to go against the stream. Together with Shinui and the National Religious Party, he presented a revolutionary plan: leveling out child benefits. The system of child allowance payments in place at the time had been the same since Haim Ben-Shahar's 1975 reform. Every child was eligible for a state allowance, regardless of whether his or her parents were employed or not. For years, the ultra-Orthodox parties pressed for an increase in child benefits. Since they were the kingmakers in many of the governments that were formed here, the ruling parties were forced to increase the payouts each time.

This absurdity reached new heights at the end of 2000, when Likud was looking for a way to topple Ehud Barak's government and, to that end, joined forces with Shas and United Torah Judaism, and supported their demand to increase such payments. In November 2000, the Knesset passed the Halpert Law, which raised child welfare payments to a dizzying NIS 856 per month from the fifth child onward, compared to NIS 171 for the first child. At that time, I asked MK Reuven Rivlin how he dared to vote in favor of a bill that was so anti-Zionist and so anti-social. He answered: "It's a bad law, but we can't rule without the ultra-Orthodox." When I pointed out that it was a law that encouraged Israel's non-Zionist forces, he said he knew that NIS 200 million of the NIS 500 million the law would cost "would go to the Arabs, who want to use demographics to take control of Israel - but I want to be in power."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1073487.html

[LeftishBrit]

13. If Barak doesn't watch it...

he will go down in Israeli history the way Ramsay Macdonald has in British history.

[oberliner]

14. Google is my friend!

Actually, in this case, Wikipedia.

Interesting information about a figure I was not previously too familiar with.

Thanks!

[Ken Burch]

20. The perfect analogy.

Perhaps we should start calling him "Ramsay 'Rak", to make it even clearer.

[bemildred]

21. A political farce

When Labor leader Ehud Barak finished his hoarse and angry speech at the party's convention yesterday, it was clear the results were already in; Labor would be overriding internal objections and joining the government.

"I was so disappointed," said a college student from Jerusalem attending her first party convention. "I thought everyone would sit together and have their say, not that we would stand on the side and scream." Her friends consoled her, telling her she was naive, but it is doubtful that any of them really understood the complex process that led Labor into the coalition yesterday.

Barak was determined from the beginning to remain defense minister, though those who sewed it all up for him were Histadrut labor federation chairman Ofer Eini and Manufacturers Association president Shraga Brosh, who started managing the coalition negotiations the day after the elections.

If there is one thing Eini learned from the experience of Amir Peretz, his predecessor in the job, it was that a struggle by workers against the government could leave both sides bleeding on the battlefield.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1073726.html

[bemildred]

22. Labor votes in favor of joining Netanyahu coalition

The Labor Party Central Committee voted on Tuesday in favor of joining Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, despite bitter internal opposition.

Immediately after the convention, Netanyahu, who had worked secretly with Barak to bring Labor into the coalition, called Barak to congratulate him on the "significant achievement."

"A unity government will bring stability, and that is the right thing for the country," the Likud chairman said. "The big winners are Israel's citizens." Netanyahu reached the preliminary agreement with Barak early Tuesday. Labor Party activists gathered later in the afternoon to vote on the deal, which calls on the government to pursue peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1073550.html