Environment Minister Dalia Itzik attacked outgoing Prime Minister Barak\'s detractors today, saying they\'re \"lynching him and jumping on him when he\'s weak.\" She was responding to an intense anti-Barak campaign within the Labor party against his acceptance of Ariel Sharon\'s offer that he become Defense Minister. Itzik said, however, that the leader of the anti-Barak camp, Interior Minister Chaim Ramon, is a worthy candidate to lead the party.
Minister Itzik plans to visit the outgoing Prime Minister in his home this evening, where he is holding discussions with members of Labor\'s Central Committee. Barak is attempting to convince them to support his appointment to the Defense Ministry. Helping him in this endeavor are Ministers Ben-Eliezer, Shochat, and Vilnai. The other Labor members who are very much against Barak taking the position plan to fight it when the Central Committee convenes early next week.
Barak adopted a tough tone today, saying that he would not join a \"Teheran-Aswan\" government - an allusion to a government in which Avigdor Lieberman and Rehavam Ze\'evi serve; Lieberman recently said that in case of war, Teheran and the Aswan Dam should be bombed. Barak also threatened that there would be no national unity government without him.
Labor\'s Central Committee is presently scheduled to vote on whether to join the government next Monday. Likud MK Ruby Rivlin said, however, that Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon will not wait more than a day or two for Barak\'s answer, and that after that he will begin working to form a narrow government. According to some reports, Sharon is not anxious to do so, because he feels that momentum towards a narrow government will be hard to stop. Rivlin said that Labor should realize that a national unity government is an \"existential need\" for Labor.
Minister Itzik plans to visit the outgoing Prime Minister in his home this evening, where he is holding discussions with members of Labor\'s Central Committee. Barak is attempting to convince them to support his appointment to the Defense Ministry. Helping him in this endeavor are Ministers Ben-Eliezer, Shochat, and Vilnai. The other Labor members who are very much against Barak taking the position plan to fight it when the Central Committee convenes early next week.
Barak adopted a tough tone today, saying that he would not join a \"Teheran-Aswan\" government - an allusion to a government in which Avigdor Lieberman and Rehavam Ze\'evi serve; Lieberman recently said that in case of war, Teheran and the Aswan Dam should be bombed. Barak also threatened that there would be no national unity government without him.
Labor\'s Central Committee is presently scheduled to vote on whether to join the government next Monday. Likud MK Ruby Rivlin said, however, that Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon will not wait more than a day or two for Barak\'s answer, and that after that he will begin working to form a narrow government. According to some reports, Sharon is not anxious to do so, because he feels that momentum towards a narrow government will be hard to stop. Rivlin said that Labor should realize that a national unity government is an \"existential need\" for Labor.