Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who has been approached in recent days by senior members of the Labor Party, announced tonight that he will not run for party leadership.
"I thank you from the bottom of my heart, you, members of the Labor Party and activists from all over the country, for the moving trust expressed in your hundreds of requests to return to head the party, a party that founded the country and has been my political home for most of my life. Special thanks to hundreds of protesters. These are members of the stubborn struggle for the image of Israel. The protest was, especially this year, the beating heart of the struggle for our future. The hundreds of thousands in Balfour, Caesarea, Rabin Square, and the bridges and intersections are the spark that will lead us to victory," Barak wrote in a public letter.
He noted that "the main consideration before my eyes is the prospect of uniting a large bloc that will lead to the formation of a government that will deal with the depth of the human-economic crisis, the illusions of the coronavirus, and the restoration of citizens' trust in government and democratic institutions. I'm talking about forming a government that a key component of which would be our bloc, which believes in security first and foremost, in the wholeness of the people that precedes the wholeness of the land, in declaring independence as the basis of our values and citizens' ownership of Israel's achievements and their fruits."
Barak says that he examined the data in depth and discovered that there was no possibility of a move. "In the check I did with almost everyone involved, I found a lot of good will and intentions but still not the maturity needed to decide on the formation of such a bloc. I could not bring us to know, already now, that we can lead to unification in a trifecta party with Yesh Atid, the Israelis Party, Labor, and some of the new parties that have recently formed in the bloc, a union which in my opinion is a necessary condition for a change of government.
"I wish all the candidates and the party and its members a fair campaign and a quick and correct election of the next chairman. I express my hope that before the submission of the lists, the clarity of vision and mental strength will indeed be found among those concerned to establish this required union for the benefit of all Israeli citizens," Barak concluded.