Likud opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu is paying careful attention to ongoing efforts towards a union between the ruling Kadima Party and Labor, the major coalition partner.

As the polls signal Labor leader Defense Minister Ehud Barak is falling in popularity and the party will not emerge the victor in a national election, there is a growing interest among Laborites to move to Kadima and form a bloc against the common enemy, Likud. In addition, the Labor Party is in crisis, as internal party strife is at a new high and Barak is barely holding on to the leadership mantle. Barak and his predecessor, Amir Peretz, seem unable/unwilling to put differences aside for the party good, and their constant bickering is widening the already sizable chasm that exists in the pary.

Polls of late show if elections were held today, Likud would emerge the largest party and therefore, be given the mandate to form a new coalition.

A merger between Kadima and Labor Barak hopes would provide him with a secure second slot and for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert; he would maintain the leadership of a major center-left-of-center party that would present a formidable election force.

A strong Labor Party could spell the end of Kadima, so for now, Olmert is more than pleased to see the party breaking up from the inside out, realizing Kadima may provide a solution, a move that would strengthen his party and leave him in the first place position – head of the centrist/left-wing bloc.

A merger may increase pressure on Netanyahu to look to his right and take a major step towards a merger with Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beitenu Party, a move he would prefer to avoid. Lieberman and Netanyahu by the way maintain good relations and are in constant contact. When Netanyahu was serving as prime minister, Lieberman, prior to launching his party, served as the director-general of his office.

When Lieberman resigned from the current government in January of this year, he called on PM Olmert to move to early elections and to set a date to bring an end to an administration which has lost the support of the electorate.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)