Aides: Someone trying to finish Barak off politically
Labor chief's aides claim recent publications suggesting Barak's wife has inappropriate business ties with contributors are part of deliberate smear campaign
"They're gunning for him. Someone is trying to finish him off politically," a source close to Labor Chairman Ehud Barak told Ynet Thursday, amid rumors that his wife's business practices were riddled with improprieties.
Nili Priell-Barak announced she would be shutting down her consulting firm, after newspaper reports linking her to Barak's campaign contributors.
The greatest concern now, said sources close to the premiership hopeful, is that whoever leaked the story to the press may have gotten hold of some personal, highly sensitive information.
The leak, they added, is probably of an organized smear campaign against Barak.
Meanwhile, Yedioth Ahronoth published a new document – an email printout of a message sent to Barak by his son-in-law – supposedly connecting the Baraks with businessmen involved with the Defense Ministry.
Barak's political rivals, mainly within Kadima, seemed content with the latest turn of events: "Those living in glass houses shouldn’t cast stones…Barak toppled the prime minister over frivolous things and now he's on the receiving end."
Barak's political standing in the public's eye is rocky as well, as recent polls indicated that a Barak-led Labor can only win 12 mandates in the next election.
