MK Ephraim Sneh, who once ran for head of the Labor Party, has announced that he is leaving the party and the Knesset. He announced on Sunday that he will start a new political party - a sign that he believes early elections are likely within several months.
Sneh, 63, the son of seven-time Knesset Member Moshe Sneh of the Israel Communist Party, joined Labor in 1987, and was first elected to the Knesset five years later. He served as Health Minister, Transportation Minister, and twice as Deputy Defense Minister. Sneh has long been a political rival of Labor Party leader Ehud Barak; Barak fired him as Deputy Defense Minister when he (Barak) took over the reins of the party leadership a year ago.
Sneh's new party will be named Yisrael Chazakah, Strong Israel. He said he chose the name because it refers to both social and military strength.
Sneh has often declared his dissatisfaction with the way the Labor party has been run of late. His own dwindling status in the party is apparently also a factor in his decision to quit. In 1997, he ran for party chairman and received only 6% of the vote. "Labor has lost its will to lead new moves in Israeli society and in the Middle East," Sneh said. "It has lost the energy to do this, as well as its internal cohesiveness... I have reached the conclusion that the party is not ripe for changes of this nature, and does not have the ability to extricate itself from this crisis."
Sneh will be replaced in the Knesset by the next name on the Labor party list of candidates, Shakib Shnan, the party's Druze representative.
Barak Shows Slight Regret
Barak informed his party colleagues Sunday morning that he had a "nice conversation" with Sneh over the weekend, and acknowledged that he may have made mistakes regarding Sneh. "If I made a mistake regarding Sneh, I'll consider it and will try to repair it," Barak said. It does not appear that Barak's words will leave Sneh in the party.
Labor MK Yoram Marciano, another rival of party leader Barak, said that Sneh's departure "is an earthquake. Barak had better wake up before he finds himself with just Buji and Simchon [Barak loyalist Ministers Yitzchak Herzog and Shalom Simchon], but no party."
Sneh, a medical doctor, served in the IDF for many years, retiring at the rank of Brig.-Gen. after heading the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria. He was also the Chief Medical Officer of the Paratroops & Infantry Corps, Chief Medical Officer of the Northern Command, and Commander of the Security Zone in South Lebanon (1981-1982).