Labor members say their heads are spinning from their leader's zigzagging, but Barak's advisers say he always does what's good for the country.
By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANBarak can see the pub 248 88(photo credit: AP )
When joking about the shape that their party is in, Labor officials lamented this week that it is, unfortunately, in exactly the same shape as its leader, Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
"Barak" is the Hebrew word for "lightning." And lightning, of course, is shaped like a zigzag.
The Labor officials complained that Barak had made their heads spin with all the zigzagging he has done about the Kadima primary and the coalition talks in its aftermath. But they said they were more concerned about the state of Barak's head than their own.
In recent weeks, Barak has gone back and forth between acquiescing to serve in a government under new Kadima Leader Tzipi Livni and initiating an election that all polls show would destroy his party and, ultimately, his political career. Before that, Barak vacillated about whether to join Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government.
In the last few days, the flip-flops have intensified to the point that many have forgotten the initial flip and the original flop.
To refresh memories, here is a timeline of Barak's zigzagging:
May 8, 2007:
Promises that if he wins the Labor leadership race, he will remove the party from Olmert's government.
June 18, 2007:
Six days after Labor race, sworn in as defense minister.
July 1, 2007:
Passes proposal in Labor central committee vowing that the party will quit the coalition if Olmert does not resign by the time the complete Winograd Report on the Second Lebanon War is published.
Feb. 3, 2008:
Four days after Winograd's publication, announces he will remain defense minister, due to the challenges facing Israel.
May 28:
Demands in Knesset press conference that Kadima replace Olmert or face elections: "We prefer governmental stability, and if we can build a government that appeals to us in this Knesset, we will consider establishing it together."
Aug. 12:
Says in Army Radio interview that Kadima's front-runner, Livni, is unworthy of being prime minister, and calls her by her full first name, Tzipora: "The foreign minister, with her background as it is, is not built to make decisions, not at three in the morning and not at three in the afternoon."
Sept. 18:
Quoted by Yediot Aharonot saying, in the aftermath of the previous day's Kadima primary, that he prefers elections to the formation of a new government. Two days later, he meets with Opposition Leader Binyamin Netanyahu, while rejecting Livni's requests to meet with her.
Sept. 21:
Meets Livni, expresses interest in forming long-term, stable government.
Sept. 22:
Labor representatives tell President Shimon Peres they want Barak, not Livni, to form the government, even though Barak cannot become prime minister by law, because he is not an MK.
Sept. 23:
Promises at Labor event to "exhaust all possibilities to form a stable coalition" in which he would be the "responsible adult."
Sept. 25:
Tells his faction that Labor is "very far from joining government."
Sept. 26: The Jerusalem Post reveals that progress toward a Kadima-Labor coalition deal has been made in a week of secret talks led by former coalition chairman Efi Oshaya (Labor) and former cabinet secretary Yisrael Maimon (Kadima).
LABOR MKS have been careful not to publicly criticize Barak's behavior, with the exception of his former leadership challenger, Ami Ayalon, who rejected Barak's pursuit of a national-unity government with Netanyahu. But privately, the MKs and top Labor activists are steaming.
"Barak is dragging Labor into the depths of the most putrid sewers," said Labor executive committee member Dani Cohen, who this week distributed to 12,000 Labor members a stinging letter he wrote Barak. "His pathetic maneuvers have made Labor into a laughingstock. Everyone knows that Barak will eventually enter the government with worse conditions than he would have gotten had he joined it from the start in a respectful way."
Cohen, who has led efforts behind the scenes to initiate another Labor leadership race before the next general election, said Barak's behavior came from his fear of an internal uprising in his party. He predicted that Labor politicians who are currently silent will eventually start slamming Barak publicly and demanding his ouster.
Another Labor activist said he had hoped that the party would take advantage of the run-up to the formation of a new government to make clear to the public what its policies were on the key issues of the day, but that instead Barak has only confused his potential voters.
"Barak has been zigzagging for so long that no one understands where he is going and what he is doing anymore," the activist said. "No one knows what Labor's ideology is or what its red lines are. He is constantly hurting his own credibility and the party's, to the point that it seems he has forgotten that there is a party behind him. If Labor doesn't have a spine, why should anyone vote for the party?"
In response, Barak's close advisers accuse the press of not presenting his views properly, and of distorting his statements to make him look like a zigzagger. They said that Barak had consistently called for a national-emergency government, with the current coalition as his second choice and a general election as his third.
"Barak is the most consistent man in the world," a Barak adviser said. "The media cannot accept that the situation is more complicated than they make it out to be. They are just frustrated because they don't understand what Barak wants, so they say that he is zigzagging. What's so hard to get? If he gets what he wants, there won't be elections, and if he doesn't, there will be."
The advisers also defend Barak by stressing that he has done what was beneficial for the country, even when it could have harmed him politically. They expressed hope that the public would eventually realize that.
"Anyone with a brain would say that by initiating a Kadima race to replace the corrupt Olmert, he was resuscitating Kadima," a Barak adviser admitted. "Short-term, it hurt him politically, but long-term, the public will understand that he did what was right for the country and reward him for it."
The adviser denied that Barak told Yediot he wanted elections. He accused Livni of picking a fight with Barak by meeting with the heads of Meretz and the National Religious Party before meeting with him.
Barak's associates accused the press of being biased in favor of Livni and ready to remove any obstacle in her path to the Prime Minister's Office and a victory in the next general election. They cited several examples where they believe the press let Livni off easily on issues that could have tarnished her reputation. For instance, Livni was justice minister when former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was being investigated, but she never criticized him because it didn't suit her politically. She has tried to keep Vice Premier Haim Ramon in the cabinet, despite his sexual harassment conviction. And she tolerated Olmert until Barak took action to ensure his ouster.
"The problem is the shallow press that is trying to protect its latest jewel," a Barak confidant said. "He is the most honest man I know. The press is delegitimizing a man who has never been caught lying or in corruption. Everyone agrees he is a good defense minister, and that the world is safer because of him. I have no doubt that he is much better for the country than the press's latest jewel."
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