Unlike Kadima leader Tzipi Livni who is headed for the opposition role, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak on Sunday night met again with incoming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and following the meeting, the two agreed to meet again as Barak continues seeking an entry to the new coalition, wishing to maintain his senior cabinet post.

Barak is aware that with Kadima in opposition he will not even become head of the opposition and this is compelling him to seek an agreement with Likud that he can sell to party leaders.

Barak will face stiff opposition in his Labor party, with party secretary Eitan Cabel announcing on Sunday night a deal to enter the government is unlikely and unwanted. He explained the voters have expressed their opinion, banishing the party to the opposition by the bleak election outcome, and Eitan and other leaders of Labor feel Barak must respect their wishes.

Former Labor leader Amir Peretz announced on Sunday that if Barak signs an agreement to enter the government, he will find himself alone, “without a party behind him”.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)