Dr. Ephraim Sneh on Sunday made his official announcement that he is leaving his native Labor Party, his political home for over 20 years.

Dr. Sneh announced that in addition to launching his new party, he will be vacating his Knesset seat, something extraordinary on today’s standards. Sneh stated “the [Knesset] seat is not my personal kinyon and it belongs to the party”.

This is quite an unusual move since when MKs break away from a party, as a rule, they take their Knesset slot with them despite the fact they were elected to the party they are leaving. Such is the case with the ‘rebels’ who recently announced their decision to leave the Pensioner’s Party.

Sneh believes elections are already on the horizon, prompting him to announce the Yisrael Chazakah (Strong Israel) Party, confirming reports that he is unwilling to continue in Labor under the leadership of Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

As was reported by YWN earlier [HERE] Sneh has been aligned with the former party leader, Amir Peretz, and is a staunch opponent of the policies of Barak, who Sneh believes is destroying the party.

It is likely that some of the party notables will be joining Sneh, who is a veteran and well-respected party elder.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)