Labor leader Avi Gabbay will convene the party’s executive committee at the party’s Tel Aviv headquarters on Wednesday to summarize the election and discuss Labor’s plans for its future.
Gabbay declined to discuss his future when reporters confronted him at the President’s Residence on Tuesday. Last week he hinted that he would not remain Labor leader long-term but would remain as a member of Knesset.
Opponents of Gabbay warned on Tuesday that the Labor leader had since changed his plans and would now try to stay in power as long as possible.
“Avi Gabbay will not go until he completes the destruction of the Labor Party,” outgoing MK Eitan Cabel said.
The agenda of the executive committee does not include plans to convene any of the party’s institutions that could begin the process of unseating Gabbay.
“We have gotten the impression that he will try to stall and not go,” a source on the committee said. “He is not taking any proactive steps. He seems to be looking to ease pressure on himself instead.”
President Reuven Rivlin encouraged Gabbay’s number two Tal Rousso to remain in politics when Rivlin met with Labor representatives on Tuesday. The president came out against a law that requires a three-year waiting period for retiring generals and other top security figures to enter politics.
“The cooling-off period distances terrific people,” Rivlin said.