For months, Ehud Barak, as chairman of the Israel Labour Party was facing demands to leave the Netanyahu Government and with an upcoming party convention his position as party leader was severely under question. His efforts to postpone the convention were frustrated and rather than wait to be pushed from the platform he chose on 17th January 2011 instead to jump ship with four other self seeking members of Knesset to form a new ‘party’ without members, lacking a platform or a vision.
Barak may just have done Labour a great favour, removing his autocratic hand from the tiller which he has exerted since he became party leader and given this once great party the opportunity of democratic participation by the members and perhaps the wider Israeli public. The polls show that with, for example Shelly Yachimovich as leader the ILP would immediately regain the 5 Knesset places which were stolen by Barak’s premptive move.
For more than 60 years – even before the foundation of the State of Israel – the ILP and its various constituent parts including the labour movement as a whole was the dominant force in society. It built the country and the nation, created a vibrant democracy, a citizen army, established the trade union movement, an educational sytem, built kibbutzim and moshavim to make the desert bloom, and developed a vast social support system including the kupat holim and the means to absorb vast numbers of Jewish refugees after the Holocaust and the displacement of Jews from Arab countries.
There were many mistakes as the Labour led Governments confronted the many problems engulfing the young State and as all the while the Labour Party conflated the party with the country’s institutions, trying to run every sphere of life. The discrimination suffered by the Sephardi part of Israeli society spoke volumes about the way in which the Ashkenazi political elite regarded their role in governing the country. A type of arrogance developed.
The achievements began to be tarnished and were neglected also from 1967 onwards as the Labour party leadership struggled to deal with issues of peace and security which became the overwhelming national concern to the exclusion of the party’s social agenda and regard for human rights and failed to adapt to economic development away from a command economy.
As a result the electorate rejected Labour as the governing party for the first time in 30 years in 1977 and voted in Menachem Begin and his right wing Likud Party. Despite that rejection however, in nine elections since then, the Labour Party won 5, effectively drew 2 with Likud and came in as the second largest party in 2 other elections. A high point was reached at the 1992 elections when Labour had 44 members of Knesset. The severest deterioration in the party’s fortunes occurred after 2000 when the Barak led government was rejected following the intifada after abortive negotiations between Arafat and Barak. This culminated in the massive defeat of the ILP in the 2009 election, again under Ehud Barak’s leadership when Labour was in a poor fourth place with 13 MKs .
Instead of drawing the appropriate conclusions, Barak took the party into government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against the wishes of many members and ignoring the principled stance of Tzipi Livni who leads the Kadima party which remained in opposition. It is questionable whether Barak did anything other than advantage his own position on the national stage instead of being able to advance the peace process or act as a break on the more hardline nationalististic members of the present government
That more principled stand is one which the ILP is now obliged to take. All the remaining Labour Ministers immediately resigned from the Government. Yizhak Herzog MK, until his resignation Minister for Social Affairs, said that “Barak’s abandonment allows for a renewal of the party and its return to social action and true vision. Shelly Yachimovich proclaimed “More than anything, it has become clear today that we must recreate a social democratic and sane Zionist party.”.
Next it will be important for the prospective candidates for leadership not to regard their desires to lead the party as paramount. Referring to Barak, former Minister for Minority Affairs, Avishay Braverman said “The Labour Party does not depend on one person or another”. The same holds true for all the potential leadership candidates. They should instead concentrate on re-establishing democratic control of the party and the involvement of the members, developing and articulating policies to appeal to the electorate. Those policies must focus on strengthening the social cohesion of the country including preventing the further erosion of public and social services. Recognition of the concerns of all sectors of society and their right to dignity and respect whatever their ethnicity or background is a sine qua non for a fairer and more equal country.
The ILP needs to rebuild itself and gain the confidence of the Israeli electorate that it has social and domestic policies which appeal to all sectors of the public. The appointment of Micha Harish a former Minister and previous party secretary, as interim chairman is clearly a step in the right direction. It was under his secretaryship that the ILP gained those 44 Knesset seats in 1992 under Yizhak Rabin.
Micha Harish’s first comments seem to show that he, at least, has some idea of the changes which need to be made in attracting members, creating debate and developing policies which appeal to those other than its core supporters. The first faltering steps have been taken.
Henry Smith
3.02.11