Labor party chairman Ehud Barak, who also is Defense Minister, announced last night he is acting to sack Eitan Cabel as party secretary. The move immediately sparked another crisis in Labor, which suffered humiliating losses in the February 10 national elections.
The secretary said he would fight the attempt to dismiss him. "Barak did not appoint me; the Central Committee of the Labor party chose me,” he stated.
Cabel has been a thorn in Barak's side and bitterly opposed the party’s joining the government because of the inclusion of the Yisrael Beiteinu party in the Netanyahu coalition. Cabel called Barak a liar Thursday morning. “He lied to the country,” Cabel told Voice of Israel government radio. “He said he would quit after the Winograd Committee report [on the Second Lebanon War], he said he would go to the opposition after the election and he said he was not negotiating to join the coalition. His word is not a word.”
Barak also has angered several party Knesset Members by taking over powers that allow him to make certain decisions unilaterally. His move to join the Netanyahu government was opposed fiercely by five of the party’s 13 MKS, most of whom refused to participate in the Knesset vote on approving the current coalition that includes the Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas, Jewish Home and the United Torah Judaism parties.