Ehud Barak and Binyamin Netanyahu's Secret Negotiations

Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benyamin Netanyahu and Labor Party Chair Ehud Barak have been secretly negotiating a coalition agreement, against the wishes of many of the members of their own parties.

Netanyahu is now expected to ask Israeli President Shimon Peres for an additional two weeks with which to form the government. Ehud Barak hopes to convene a meeting of his own party for a secret ballot decision on the proposal.

In an interview with Israel Radio yesterday Barak said that "the real priority of the State of Israel is first of all the country, then the party, and then us. We don't have a spare government."

If it joins his government, Netanyahu has offered the Labor Party five ministerial portfolios, including the Defense Ministry for Ehud Barak.

But several Labor Party ministers disagree with the decision and are threatening to revolt.

Labor Minister Ophir Pines told Israel Radio News:

When I look at reality, I see that the public has always pushed us into governments that were not for us, after which we always paid the price and the State of Israel never benefited from it. We were partners in governments on which we had no influence, we gave them legitimacy, we were their fig leaf and usually also a human shield for the prime minister. The attacks were always directed against us while the prime minister emerged clean.

According to Israeli commentator Yuval Karni, Ehud Barak has been deceiving his own party.

He wrote in Yediot Acharonoth today:

Labor Party Secretary General Eitan Kabel called his boss.  "Ehud," Kabel asked, "what are these stories about you and Bibi?  Do you intend to join his right-wing government?"  Barak didn't blink. "This is baseless," the chairman replied. Several hours later, Barak called Kabel and requested that he convene the Labor Party convention on Tuesday to decide whether to accept Netanyahu's proposal and join his government.

 In the past few days, the Labor Party chairman deceived even his associates. Between a secret meeting with Netanyahu and a phone conversation with him, Barak was careful to deny that he was talking about a unity government.  

In the secret talks, Netanyahu offered Barak five ministers for the Labor Party: Defense to Barak, agriculture to Simhon and three other portfolios-one to Ben-Eliezer; two deputy ministers-including the post of deputy defense minister for Matan Vilnai; and chairman of a senior committee. In fact, Netanyahu agreed to give Barak more than he gave Lieberman.

Sima Kadmon agrees in Yediot:

Nothing should surprise us in the behavior of the Labor Party chairman, and if you ask him, he will provide written evidence to prove that it was all there from the start: He never said that the Labor Party was going into the opposition, but rather that it "would not be reluctant to sit in the opposition."  And if anyone does not understand the difference, Barak would be glad to explain it to him in detail.

So it is no wonder that the Labor Party is nearing the boiling point: For weeks they have been walking around with the sense that their party leader was closing deals behind their back, while he denied it.  Even yesterday, when Netanyahu himself outed this relationship, Barak, like a man whose wife catches him in bed with another woman, continued to deny it. . . .He will get the fight of his life, his opponents said last night.

Along with his proposal, two more proposals will be submitted: One by the Young Guard that will call to oust [Barak], and the other that will demand to set a date for the primary. Paradoxically, they say, if he wins, he will actually lose. If he succeeds in bringing the Labor Party into the government--we will make sure that that will be his burial place.

But Karni and Kadmon both ask what Netanyahu and the Likud expect to gain.

Yuval Karni:

If the Labor Party should indeed join the government, Netanyahu will be forced to pay a high political price: The defense portfolio would be taken from former chief of staff Moshe (Bugi) Yaalon, and additional portfolios left in the hands of the Likud would be handed over to the left wing party. Just two weeks ago, after a public meeting with Netanyahu, Barak said that he was headed for the opposition. "The voter's verdict has sent us to the opposition," he said at the time. Ministers Simhon and Ben-Eliezer were also "forced" to say that the Labor Party was on its way to the opposition. Yesterday the two heard about Netanyahu's proposal and their eyes gleamed.

Sima Kadmon:

What Barak stands to gain from this match is obvious. Netanyahu gains the only person that he really wanted next to him, which is Barak. He is gaining the opportunity to get rid of the National Union. He is gaining a coalition that is not much larger, but one with which he would not be ashamed to go around the world. He gets allies of which he is not afraid.  Along with this, he also gains a much smaller opposition: Kadima without the Labor Party goes from being an opposition of 55 MKs to 42.

Actually, not really.If Barak succeeds in his task, Netanyahu will receive a 13-MK partner only on paper. Almost half the faction will be against him on a regular basis, on the assumption that the party does not split. These people already started this week to prepare for the world war that will be waged next Tuesday at the party convention. The Central Committee members will be called upon to decide whether the Labor Party will follow the path outlined for it by Barak and join Netanyahu's government, or the opposition path that is being led by veteran party members and mainly the Young Guard.  Barak's opponents are already collecting signatures to make the voting by secret ballot. . . . If the Labor Party should indeed join the government, Netanyahu will be forced to pay a high political price: The defense portfolio would be taken from former chief of staff Moshe (Bugi) Yaalon, and additional portfolios left in the hands of the Likud would be handed over to the left wing party. Just two weeks ago, after a public meeting with Netanyahu, Barak said that he was headed for the opposition. "The voter's verdict has sent us to the opposition," he said at the time. Ministers Simhon and Ben-Eliezer were also "forced" to say that the Labor Party was on its way to the opposition. Yesterday the two heard about Netanyahu's proposal and their eyes gleamed.