Word: barak
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...Convincing Laborites to join ranks with their longtime ideological rivals on the right was a tough sell for Barak. During his speech at the party convention in Tel Aviv, Barak's voice sounded squeaky and defensive. He called for "national responsibility," but this was dismissed by booing younger cadres as rank opportunism - Barak wanting to hang on to his berth as Defense Minister at the expense of his party's ideals and character. As Labor secretary Eitan Cabel told TIME, "The ambitions of Barak are killing the Labor Party, and I told him that...
...Labor's rising stars: "A strong motive was clinging to power and the good life. Some Labor people believe their genetic code cannot survive outside the government." Labor's younger cadres squawked "like slaughtered chickens," according to Haaretz columnist Yossi Sarid. In the end, though, Barak got his mandate to join Netanyahu, with 680 delegate votes to 507. (See pictures of 60 years of Israel...
...lost the vote, Barak, the diminutive ex-general and decorated war hero, would likely have been driven out as party leader, his political career at an end. This way Barak stays in power, and Labor will get the ministries of defense, agriculture, industry, trade and welfare. But the cost has been high. One respected columnist, Ben Caspit in Maariv, wrote, "The Labor Party signed its own death certificate...
...younger cadres, the so-called rebels who opposed the marriage with Likud, say they won't split the party for now. But they may choose to vote against Netanyahu, and their own party chief, Barak, on key issues. (See pictures of Israeli soldiers in Gaza...
...upside, with Barak as his ally, Netanyahu has a strong Defense Minister to stand up to the Iranian nuclear threat and to the Hamas militants ruling Gaza. Barak also says that while Netanyahu is against a two-state solution with the Palestinians, he has persuaded the Likud leader to make two key concessions that will please Washington: ending the building of illegal Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories and promising to abide by the U.S.-sponsored peace accords that Israel signed with the Palestinians. On Wednesday, with Barak's support in mind, Netanyahu toned down his usual hawkishness, telling Israeli...