MK Ofir Pines, who is the chief spokesman for the Labor Party election campaign, on Tuesday, stated if Likud leads the next government, and takes Yisrael Beitenu as a coalition partner, Labor will not join such a government.
 
Party leader Ehud Barak was quick to respond, stating at this stage, he is not ruling out any coalition possibilities, pushing Pines’ statement aside. One “senior party official” quoted anonymously in the daily Yisrael HaYom stated, “It was Pines who left the government, not the Labor Party”.
 
The statement refers to the fact that when Yisrael Beitenu joined the Kadima coalition government, Pines resigned his cabinet post, stating he cannot remain in a government with Lieberman who Pines feels is a “threat to Israel’s future as a democratic government”.
 
Further complicating the Labor leader’s position are other party MKs like Shelly Yacimovitz and Eitan Cabel, who do not see a possibility of entering a government coalition headed by Binyamin Netanyahu.
 
What is certain however is that Barak is not about to rule out any options at present, feeling a bit more confident with less than two weeks to the election. Operation Cast Lead boosted his standing in the polls and he now has a chance of landing a cabinet post in a future government, something that was highly unlikely before Israel launched the counter-terrorism military offensive.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)