Avoiding Political Suicide, The Egos, the Shame and the Need to Overhaul the Labour Party, and its Approach

To our shame we in the Labour Party have failed to build and lead a meaningful and effective opposition to the current Netanyahu government.  Our failure is a betrayal of the Party, a betrayal of those who voted for the Party and a betrayal of the entire country.  

A democratic system is only as strong as its opposition.  It is our duty as the opposition to reign in and combat the excesses of the government.  In a period where Israeli democracy, the basic values and moral fibre of the country are under threat from the most right wing government in our history, we as the opposition must provide leadership and a truly viable alternative to the madness which prevails.

We in the Labour Party and as the leaders of the opposition;  need to come together and oppose with every fibre of our being; the attempts of this government to destroy the very foundations of our democracy. 

We must oppose a Justice Minister who shows nothing but contempt for the judiciary and he attempts to limit its power and end its independence.  We must oppose the racist and frankly supremacist rhetoric of government Ministers who prefer pandering to the mob to governing with integrity.  We must oppose Ministers and MKs who promote and advocate racist policies.  We must oppose attempts to limit freedom of speech, freedom of action and the right of dissent.  We must oppose an ongoing economic programme which favours the already rich and privileged few and penalises the vast majority of Israelis. 

We must oppose the emergence and growth of a new class of Israeli, the working poor.  We must oppose the misappropriation of government funds by the settler movement and the Yeshivot.  We must oppose the attacks by Ministers and MKs on senior officers in the IDF.   We must oppose the attempt to pervert the values and ethics of the IDF.  We must oppose the atmosphere of racism, extremism and intimidation which prevails in this government.  We must oppose this government robustly and effectively. 

In the past year we have had every opportunity to do so, yet have failed to do so.  Shame on us!!

Rather than galvanise our resources, gathering together the undoubted talent and ability which abound within the party, in an all too familiar scenario, rather than boosting and strengthening the leader of the party, the vultures are circling and looking at how they can best position themselves to oust Yitzhak “Bougi” Herzog.  One can argue that “Bougi” has not delivered.  He has failed to ignite the passion of the wider. 

He has failed to instil confidence that the opposition can indeed provide a viable alternative however, his failure is our failure, all of ours.  There are of course individual members of the Knesset who are performing well on an individual basis, fighting the good fight, even managing some important victories here and there.  More importantly however there is a perception in the wider public that there is no effective opposition, there is no one else to run this country and that Bibi is the only alternative, whatever damage he might do.

Labour has long seen as an elitist gathering of Ashkenazi egos with self-harming tendencies, where self-interest and personal advancement takes precedent over the interests and cohesion of the party, not to mention policy, a party which would sell its soul to be in power failing which.it will cast aside its beliefs for a few seats in the Cabinet. Recent events only serve to perpetuate such attitudes and yet again, the Party appears trapped in a vicious circle of infighting in an, almost Games of Thrones like; struggle for power the leadership.

The Party’s ongoing failure to come together only serves to perpetuate the negative and even dismissive attitudes on the apart of the Israeli public.  Ever since the loss in last year’s election rather than being able to focus all his attentions on building and leading an effective opposition, Bougi out of a real necessity;  has been looking over his shoulder and devoting precious time and energy to his own survival.  Meanwhile, the usual subjects have been shamefully promoting their own agendas rather than focusing on their day jobs.

Shelly is all too obvious in her agenda, seeking to undermine Bougi at every opportunity.   Indeed she is a talented and accomplished parliamentarian however, her time as leader drove the Party into a niche position in the eyes of the public.  Her leadership led the Party nowhere. Were Shelly to put her ego aside, she would understand that she can be a far greater asset to the party as senior figure, but not as a leader.  The job is simply beyond her.

So too Amir Peretz, sees himself as a potential leader once more.  Only having failed at the last attempt to gain the confidence of the majority of the Party, he decided for selfish and egotistical reasons to abandon the party.  In the end that didn’t work out too well for him and now he is back.  One more failed leader with again, undoubted abilities who could be a great asset to the Party, if only he was to put his ego to the side and work as a senior member of the party for the good of the Party, not solely for the good of Amir Peretz.

And then there is the young pretender, well maybe no so young in age but as a politician yes.  Erel Margalit is a serial high achiever with undoubted abilities.  He has proven his ability to get things done and drive through seemingly impossible projects and plans.  He is highly successful in his own right and has many good ideas as to how this country could be better run for the benefit of all. 

The chink in Erel’s armour however is his ego.  Maybe he is in the right Party after all.  Erel, who sees his opportunity, is positioning himself for a run for the leadership. In his famous video where he demands they, whoever they are, I presume he is referring to the right of the political spectrum;  should “give us back our country, Kibinimat”; shows a somewhat Trump like tendency. 

One friend even commented that the video looked like to rather dramatic audition tape for Big Brother.  Erel apparently believes that talking “street” is what is need to get the attention and support of the average Israeli.  If his aim was to gain attention then it worked. 

If however his aim was to deliver an effective message to the wider Israeli public, all he did was further enforce the perception of entitlement on the part of Labour, where “give us back our country” rather suggests that it was ours to start with and that you stole it form us. 

Surely he can understand that this only alienates the very people he presumably seeks to court.  Sorry Erel but we lost the country back in 1977 and if we want to run it once again as we think it should be run, then we need to earn that right.  We need to convince the wider public that we are deserving of power.  We need to provide a viable alternative.

We can only do this if we are perceived as a credible coherent and unified body with the policies and ability to deliver.  In order to be perceived as a credible, coherent and unified body which is relevant to the wider population we need to come together, we need to stop the infighting.  We need to reorganise and in my humble opinion totally restructure in order that the egos are extinguished and there is no advantage to be had in attacking to prevailing leadership and sabotaging the party for personal gain.

In this political age of personality politics, where policy and ability plays second fiddle to charisma, the Labour Party surely needs a credible leader.

It is my sincere belief however, that what Labour requires more than a credible security personality, more than an Ashkenazi or a Gantz, more than a masterful orator or political player, more than one potential messiah, what Labour needs is to develop a robust, cohesive and united leadership team.

Such a team, perhaps comprising, Shelly, Amir, Erel, Bougi, and others who have the ability and drive to knock the Party in to shape, where they are able to put their egos aside and work together for the interests of the party and the country, not just themselves.  Such a team would be far greater than the sum of its parts.  It could be unstoppable and indeed create a credible opposition.  Who can lead such a team is of course important however, just as the IDF continues as an effective fighting force regardless of changes at the top, the development of such a structure could create a similar reality for the Labour Party.

The best way to create such a structure in the party in my opinion is to create a shadow cabinet, similar to that in the UK.  Each member of the shadow cabinet would take responsibility for the key areas of government where they are responsible for and speak in regard to their own area of responsibility, be it defence, foreign affairs, economy, transport, culture and sport, etc.

A shadow cabinet is virtually a government in waiting.  As leaders of the opposition it is also possible to bring politicians from other opposition parties into their cabinet which projects the image of a government in waiting.

A shadow cabinet provides the individual egos the ability to take control and shine in their own area of responsibility while projecting a cohesive team approach to running the country.  The leader is then able to focus on coordinating and leading an effective opposition, not to mention rebuilding the image of and confidence in the Labour Party as the  true party of the people and the right party to lead the country, not just the opposition.

Failure to act will result in political suicide for the party to the shame of all.  Where will your egos be then?