The Labor party is voting Sunday on a proposal to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government despite repeated campaign promises to never sit with a premier facing criminal indictments.
The once-mighty left-wing party dominated Israeli politics for the country's first three decades, but has since fallen to a historic low of six seats in the 120-member Knesset.
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Labor's Amir Peretz and Itzik Shmuli, meeting with Blue & White's Benny Gantz and Avi Nisenkorn
Around 3,800 members of Labor's central committee will vote electronically on party leader Amir Peretz's proposal to join the unity government headed by Netanyahu and Blue & White chairman Benny Gantz.
After three deadlocked national elections in just over a year, Gantz and Netanyahu agreed earlier this month to form a unity government to address the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic crisis.
Unemployment has shot up to over 25% since the beginning of March as Israel has forced most non-essential businesses to close to prevent the virus' spread. The Health Ministry has reported over 15,000 cases and nearly 200 deaths.
As part of their unity deal, Netanyahu and Gantz agreed to share the premiership, with Netanyahu serving as prime minister the first 18 months and Gantz serving the next 18 months.
Peretz is set to be economy minister, while fellow Labor MK Itzik Shmuli will receive the Ministry of Labor and Social Services.
Netanyahu is scheduled to face trial next month on charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes. He denies the charges.
Peretz wrote on Facebook last week that joining the Netanyahu-Gantz government would put the six-seat party “back in political center stage.”
“We are joining an equal unity government with a rotation in the role of prime minister, not a right-wing government,” he said.
But allying with Netanyahu runs against repeated campaign promises by Peretz, who shaved his decades-old signature mustache on video last year.
"Now everybody can read my lips,” he said. He then pledged never to join a Netanyahu-led government.
The Netanyahu-Gantz agreement also includes a clause to advance plans to annex parts of the West Bank, including Israeli settlements, starting on July 1.
Peretz has said he would oppose such a move from within the government. But some Labor supporters believe that by joining Netanyahu's government, the party will be accessory to dismantling the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians spearheaded by Labor prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by a right-wing extremist in 1995.
Labor lawmaker Merav Michaeli appealed to party members to reject joining the government.
"Voters will retaliate against us for this disgrace, and the glorious Labor party of Ben Gurion and Rabin will simply be erased,” she said in a video Sunday, referring to Israel's founding father and first prime minister, David Ben Gurion.
Nitzan Horowitz, leader of Israel's other left-wing Zionist party Meretz, called on Labor's members disaffected with the decision to join the new government to come over to his left-wing party.
“We won’t turn our backs on you and won’t betray your trust,” Horowitz said, referring to Amir Peretz.