Ehud Barak joins Labor Party's election campaign

Labor Party officials, dismissed the suggestion that Barak could be the next defense minister.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
ehud barak face298 88 aj (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
ehud barak face298 88 aj
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
After months of seesawing, Ehud Barak has resumed active participation in the Labor Party in a last minute drive of election campaigning. MK Shalom Simhon, a long-time confidant of Barak, arranged the former prime minister's return to the party through a series of talks with current Party Chairman Amir Peretz. "Shalom [Simhon] wanted to see Barak on the party list, and he did not succeed," said a spokeswoman for Simhon, who suggested that Labor might still arrange for Barak to receive a ministerial post. "There is a chance that Labor will demand the defense portfolio, and then Barak could take it… He is the most suited." Labor Party officials, however, dismissed the suggestion that Barak could be the next defense minister. "Who knows what will happen with the ministries, no one is seriously talking about demanding this or that portfolio," said one Labor official. "Barak is here for self-motivated purposes." The official added that according to Labor regulations, the party chairman could be voted out by the party's central committee six months following a national election. The official suggested that Barak might be positioning himself to take over the Labor Party chairmanship at that time.