Is the end in sight?
It seems Amir Peretz has not learned a thing from the 'slings and arrows' of Israeli politics
"You're turning this party into Hiroshima. Who are you to tell us to leave the government? Who are you to tell us to create a crisis over minimum wage? You're here for the first time and you're telling us what to do, you're done with! You're committing suicide and dragging the party down with you! Go do some soul searching. If you're a doormat, say so."
And Ben-Eliezer has quite a chest, but also strong nerves and patience. This time however, Ben-Eliezer felt the party chairman had crossed the limits, that he was in a state of vertigo and that he was losing control over everyone and everything, while dragging with him everything in his path.
These were just some of the accusations leveled at Amir Peretz Tuesday evening prior to the vote on the 2006 State Budget.
Binyamin (Fouad) Ben-Eliezer was fuming. The minister of national infrastructure got everything off his chest as he slammed the party chairman and defense minister Amir Peretz.
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So Ben-Eliezer opened his mouth and turned Peretz into his own personal punching bag, letting him hear everything he had to say – but nonetheless keeping some things unsaid. The other ministers in the room urged him to continue, let Peretz really have it.
However, neither Ben-Elizer's nerves of steel nor the yelling helped; Peretez abstained when coming to vote for the State Budget, and by so doing he lost the last of his supporters.
Running out of time
The blame can be placed on the Labor ministers who are clinging to their seats, but that, however, would be missing the point. Amir Peretz's hour glass is running out. He is the man who recently leaped to the top of the league, took the party ranks by storm and infused a burst of energy into the entire political system.
Now it is he who requires political infusion just to get by each new day. He also needs a good pair of binoculars to find his associates. How quickly he managed to lose them, one by one, all those who were willing to go out on a limb for him. Ehud Barak, meanwhile, was visited by several senior Labor party members this week.
Determining that Peretz's political life is over may be an exaggeration, if not too soon, and in Israeli politics "you're not done until you're done."
Less than six months ago, Benjamin Netanyahu's political life seemed to be over, and now he's walking around with a prime minister's cap in his pocket. Arik Sharon's political life was "over" for years but then he became an admired prime minister. And still, Peretz's case is somewhat different.
It appears that the man who personally experienced "the slings and arrows" of Israeli politics, has not in fact learned a thing. Neither from his own mistakes nor from the mistakes of others.
He is spinning on a downward flight from the height of his political career. We shall not be far wrong by assuming he will not likely become the next prime minister.
Let him end it alone
"I have no idea what he's going through," said one of his closest associates. "I don't understand what's happening to him, I simply don't understand." Others working with Peretz on a daily basis sounded completely hopeless this week. "Everything is falling apart," said one of them, "the party is falling apart, and Peretz's office is falling apart. The entire political system is falling apart."
People who had worked under Ehud Barak during his premiership were reminded this week of his final days in office. One of Barak's associates noted this fact to one of Peretz's advisors. "You haven't yet reached rock bottom," said Barak's associate, "but you're on the right path."
The defense minister's advisor nodded his head in agreement and lack of choice. He too knows that the boss is in trouble and that no one can see a way out.
Considering the situation, it is somewhat strange that no one has the ability or the desire to carry out a putsch in the Labor party ranks.
True, the labor party's vote in favor of the 2006 State Budget was a mini putsch of sorts, and it is true than behind closed doors very senior party members are making plans for the future. In practice, however, Amir Peretz is the party chairman and defense minister, and apparently this is how it will remain within the next few months.
So if the situation is so bad, how is it that no one has done anything about it? Firstly, because the ministers don't want to let go of their seats. Secondly, in the Labor party as in the Labor party, no one is prepared to stand behind another.
Almost all its members are candidates for party leadership, but as long as there is no consensus, Peretz's seat will remain stable. Both these arguments lead to a statement made this week by a party minister, one of the most powerful, in fact. "Do something?" he shrugged his shoulders, "There's no need to do anything at the moment, let him finish himself off."
What is Silvan Shalom going through?
The latest surveys giving the Likud party 20 mandates don't particularly excite Silvan Shalom. The analysis he is conducting is not showing any strength, but rather a weakness in the Likud ranks. And who's to blame? Bibi, of course.
If he, Silvan, had been the party leader, there would have been 30 perhaps 40 mandates in the latest survey. Benjamin Netanyahu is to blame for the foot dragging - he is neither recruiting disillusioned party members, nor is he soaring.
Shalom will not discuss this publicly at this stage. But those who have heard him recently are hearing a man who is preparing for the political battle of his life.
He believes that when it comes to leading the Likud, he will be backed by the most serious camp. Those who were with him in the past will stay with him, and those who backed Israel Katz, Dan Naveh and others – will join as well. If Moshe Feiglin, a right-wing political activist contends, then Netanyahu's chances will be damaged, according to Shalom.
Shortly following the elections, Shalom and his men started signing up central committee party members in a bid to oust Netanyahu. The signatures didn't get far, however Shalom says they were deliberately halted.
He says he didn't want to drag the party to instability; he didn't want to give Netnyahu an opportunity to say later that Shalom had failed because he (Bibi) was undermined. When will the fight begin? It's not quite clear, but not now. Now it is the holiday season, later, we'll see. Meanwhile, Shalom is silently waiting on the sidelines.
It is worthwhile noting…
The next President? Several people closely affiliated to Israeli politics, are willing to swear that they heard Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik talking loudly and clearly this week about the possibility of a woman contending for the next presidential elections. Similar to her patron Shimon Peres, could her temporary appointment for the swearing in ceremony of the head of the Supreme Court, remain permanent?
Personal apology - A few weeks ago I wrote here about the dramatic change Effie Eitam underwent during the recent war in Lebanon. I wrote of his measured judgment, his stately manner, his desire to become an Israeli consensus and to address broad audiences. I wrote of the placated and placating Eitam.
It appears, however, that I was wrong. I was too quick to cast judgment. Eitam's statements referring to the transfer of Arabs from the West Bank and the Knesset drove home the fact that his stately façade had peeled away, replaced by the old Eitam with the same old traits of dissent and incitement, and with an extremist, racial world view. I apologize to readers.
