Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak held a gathering Sunday evening for supporters of his bid to retake the helm of the Labor party. Confidence, security and hope for a return of Labor to national leadership were the themes.


Under the slogan "Barak Will Return Our Security," many hundreds of supporters of the former Prime Minister gathered at Kibbutz Yakum, north of Raanana. Among the well-wishers who addressed the crowd were Cabinet Ministers Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Shalom Simchon, Yitzchak Herzog and Eitan Cabel. In his comments, Barak suggested that each of them would find their place as cabinet ministers in a government under his premiership.


"I am here today," Barak declared, "with the experience, with the ability and with all the boldness necessary, determined to fulfill the mission. Together with the best leadership team there is, we can return to lead the country and carry out the needed corrective measures."


Looking at the current situation in Israel, in terms of national security and political stability, Barak said, "Our plane is in a nose dive."

Barak implied that Labor would leave open the possibility of quitting the government.



Implicitly discounting the faltering Kadima party, Barak said that without the Labor party as an electoral alternative, "there will be a terrible vacuum that will threaten Israeli democracy. And without us, it will be Bibi [Binyamin Netanyahu] and the Likud as the political defaults."


While the Labor party primaries will not necessarily end the government coalition between Labor and Kadima, Barak, a former IDF Chief of Staff, said that he would take over the reins as Defense Minister once elected party chief. He also implied that Labor under his leadership would leave open the possibility of quitting the government in order to compete for the public's confidence.


Barak also spoke about the recent war in Lebanon against the Hizbullah, which has been widely regarded as a strategic fiasco. He commented that the deaths of the soldiers and civilians in that war "places upon us the burden of responsibility to be worthy of their sacrifice and to establish in this land - which they fell protecting and defending its right to a normal existence - a model society that is strong, moral and just." During his administration, from 1999-2001, Barak unilaterally withdrew Israeli forces from southern Lebanon.


Labor party primaries are scheduled for May. Other contestants in the race are incumbent party chairman and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, who is expected to lose, frontrunner MK Ami Ayalon, and MKs Ophir Pines and Danny Yatom.