Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Monday quit as leader of the Labour party to form a breakaway faction after weeks of mounting pressure over his continued support of Binyamin Netanyahu's rightwing coalition government.
Within hours, three Labour Cabinet Ministers walked out of the government, increasing its instability but leaving Mr. Netanyahu with a small majority. Without Labour support, the Prime Minister will be even more reliant on the far right. Four other Labour members of the Knesset (Parliament) joined Mr. Barak in the breakaway faction, called Atzmaut, or Independence, which is expected to stay in the coalition.
Their departure leaves eight Labour members of the Knesset. The move was quickly followed by three Labour Cabinet Ministers quitting the coalition. Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog, Minority Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman and Trade Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer have all criticised Mr. Barak's refusal to withdraw from the coalition.
His faction will be “centrist, Zionist and democratic”, said Mr. Barak at a press conference, adding he had concluded that a situation which involved “two Labour factions had to stop”.
Mr. Barak's deputy, Matan Vilnai, who also quit the party, said in a letter to members: “The Labour faction in the Knesset has become an intolerable place, in which it was impossible to conduct a parliamentary life. At every meeting you never knew who was with you and who was ready to quit and join a different party.” There has been growing criticism within Labour of the party's continued support for the rightwing coalition. A series of senior Ministers had called on Mr. Barak to instigate Labour's withdrawal in protest against the collapse of peace talks. One member, Daniel Ben-Simon, left Labour last week over the issue. At a large pro-democracy rally in Tel Aviv at the weekend, Mr. Barak was castigated for remaining in the government.
Two Labour members, including the former leader Amir Peretz, were reportedly considering joining the centre-right Kadima party which is outside the coalition.
Splits within Israeli political parties are not new: Mr. Netanyahu became leader of Likud in 2005 when the then Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, left to launch Kadima. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2011
