Barak rejoins Labor campaign
Ehud Barak is back, rolling up his sleeves to support Labor campaign, after maintaining a low profile for weeks since Peretz excluded the former PM from the party list
After weeks away from the media spotlight, former prime minister Ehud Barak is getting back to work in the Labor party, after close colleague MK Shalom Simhon convinced the politician to lend a hand to Labor’s election campaign.
Barak quietly disappeared from the scene a few weeks ago after Chairman Amir Peretz decided not to include him on Labor’s Knesset list. Barak spent most of his time off abroad, and refused to give interviews or comment on anything going on in his party.
Two weeks ago, Peretz gave party secretary Eitan Cabel the green light to recruit Barak back into party activities, but for some reason nothing advanced. Meanwhile, Simhon had frequent talks with Barak in an effort to convince him to join the campaign without waiting for promises from Peretz. “We don’t need favors from anyone,” Simhon explained to Ynet.
Barak eventually took Simhon’s advice and on Monday decided to pick up where he left off and join the campaign, with one month left until the elections. Barak, however, won’t be part of the party’s televised advertising campaign and won’t be photographed for promotional items.
Simhon: Still waiting to meet with Cabel
Speaking to Ynet Monday, MK Simhon criticized his associate Cabel’s conduct over the past few weeks. “I’m still waiting for him to set a meeting with me to discuss this,” Simhon said.
“We were supposed to meet, but nothing was arranged in the end. He prefers to make appearances in all sorts of places and not acknowledge that anything happened. But Barak doesn’t need favors from anyone and doesn’t have to run after anyone.”
“I think Ehud reached the conclusion that the right thing to do now is to show unity and ask the Israeli public to vote for Labor. Barak gave in to requests from many friends to help strengthen Labor so that it can be part of the next government,” Cabel said. “He didn’t make this decision as part of any deal or anything. Barak didn’t leave like (Shimon) Peres, and he wants to help. He has proved his leadership abilities here,” Cabel added.
MK Binyamin (Fouad) Ben-Eliezer said that last week he also called on Barak to return to help Labor campaign for the elections. “Barak is one of the most important members of the Labor party,” Ben-Eliezer said. “One can’t leave the party at a time like this. I am calling on him to roll up his sleeves, because the battle is for our home, our country and our party.”
