Peretz kin grabs Barak's microphone at Labor event

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
The battle in Labor between current chairman Ehud Barak and his predecessor, Amir Peretz, escalated Monday when Peretz's brother-in-law, former Mitzpe Ramon mayor Sammy Shoshan, grabbed a microphone away from Barak when he was speaking at a meeting of Labor's House Committee. Earlier, Shoshan grabbed a microphone from Barak's ally, Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon. The committee met to decide on the members of the committee who will run the election in June for members of the Labor central committee and other party institutions. Peretz forced Barak to hold the race by taking him to court. Barak's proposal to appoint his own loyalists to the committee passed despite the opposition of Peretz and even Labor secretary-general Eitan Cabel, who is normally a Barak ally, but who protested the move, telling Barak from the stage that he "would no longer be his door mat."