Israel: Labor Joins Center Right Coalition

March 25th, 2009 By: Michael van der Galien | Tags: , , , , ,
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Ehud BarakThe Labor party led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak has joined the center right coalition currently being formed by Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu. Barak wanted to join the coalition, but several important Labor figures opposed such a move. After an intense debate earlier today, the party voted to join the coalition nonetheless, however.

Although a majority of Laborites voted to join, many (grassroots) opposed the decision vehemently:

Israel’s Labor Party voted Tuesday to join the incoming government of Benjamin Netanyahu, lending a moderate voice to a coalition dominated by hard liners and easing concerns of a head-on confrontation with Washington over Mideast peacemaking.Chants of “Disgrace! Disgrace!” echoed through the convention hall after Defense Minister Ehud Barak pushed through the proposal despite angry opposition from party activists who feared Labor would give only a superficial gloss to a government little interested in moving toward peace.

You can wonder why Labor would join a coalition government in which far-right parties dominate. The answer:

Labor’s move gives Netanyahu’s coalition a majority of 66 in the 120-seat parliament.

Labor’s decision, by a 680-507 vote, paves the way for a broader government than the narrow and hawkish one Netanyahu would otherwise have had to settle for, increasing his chances of gaining international acceptance.

Barak was set to remain defense minister, a key position in the new Cabinet, that could allow Labor to promote peace efforts with the Palestinians.

Power, baby.

As said earlier today, you have to wonder whether Barak won’t cause Labor’s downfall in the long term. Labor grew significantly in this year’s elections because Israelis were fed up with the situation with regards to the Palestinians and because they believe diplomacy won’t work. Labor is, however, not a hawkish party. As such, it would make sense for Barak et al. to let Netanyahu deal with the MidEast problems and to simply wait until he would fail before trying to convince Israelis that diplomacy is vital if they want to live in peace in their country and with their neighbors (assuming Netanyahu would fail, that is – that’s certainly not clear beforehand).

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