During the 2013 primaries, MK Amir Peretz landed the fifth slot but surprised everyone when he announced he is breaking away to join Tzipi Livni and her The Movement party. In the 2015 elections Livni’s list combined with the Labor party (Zionist Camp) and he is once again in Knesset.

Now Peretz has informed Livni he is leaving her party, which brings an end to that entity, for he is heading back to Labor. Peretz headed Labor in 2006 and was appointed as Defense Minister under the Olmert Government and served in the senior cabinet post during the Second Lebanon War. However, he lost his slot as head of the party ahead of the 2009 elections, unseated by Ehud Barak. Nevertheless he maintained a high ranking in the party lineup.

Peretz’s resignation from The Movement party joins Meir Sheetrit, Amram Mitzne, and MK Elazar Stern, who served under Livni in the 19th Knesset. While Mitzne and Sheetrit retired from politics, Stern is back in Knesset after moving to Yesh Atid and he is now replacing Shai Piron.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)