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Last update - 05:18 29/08/2008
Labor official: Reports on attempts to oust Barak are groundless
By Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Ehud Barak, Labor, politics 

Labor's Knesset faction on Thursday stood squarely behind the party leader, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, to quash rumors that there is a plot to replace him.

Barak has slumped in the polls amid reports about his wife's public relations firm and the NIS 40 million sale of his luxury apartment, but no one in Labor wants to oust him before elections.

"I won't lend a hand to replacing Barak under any circumstances," National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told a Labor gathering Thursday, amid reports of a rebellion against Barak in the party.
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Ben-Eliezer hinted that certain people in the party were spreading false rumors about a mutiny. "They're doing to Barak what they did to me when I was chairman, but they'll fail," he said.

"The reports on attempts to oust Barak are groundless; they're intended to harm the party and its leader."

Ben-Eliezer denied allegations that he was trying to form a front against Barak and said all his meetings with Labor faction members were intended to close ranks.

Veteran party figures - former ministers Raanan Cohen and Uzi Baram - also denied taking part in a move to oust Barak from the party's leadership.

Baram said on Thursday that Barak was not likely to be replaced. Commenting on the party's situation, he said that "it doesn't appear likely that Barak will rise significantly beyond today's polls. The Labor Party is undergoing a process that is not related to Barak. Labor will not disappear or fade away. It's reached a low point but will be able to recover."

Barak himself told associates that he would be able to get through this crisis and that there would be a recovery after the Kadima primary in September.

Barak said he had decided to step up his political activity and start taking part in Labor candidates' campaign gatherings for the local elections in November, in the hope of halting the party's downward momentum.

A senior Labor source said that Barak's slump in the polls was undoubtedly dramatic. But it is clear even to Barak's opponents that nobody else can lead the party in the elections. Cabinet minister Ami Ayalon said he was not a candidate to lead the party, and former Labor chief Amir Peretz is still busy rehabilitating his image, party members said.

None of the ministers would want to head a party in such dire straits shortly before elections. They would prefer that Barak be blamed for the party's failure, the sources said
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  1.   Barak should leave Labor for Labor`s sake 08:03  |  Nora 29/08/08
  2.   #1 - labor has no future and no potential leaders 11:38  |  redmike 29/08/08
  3.   nora labor hasnt got afuture ! period 12:00  |  vhardman 29/08/08
  4.   Not much point, is there? 14:22  |  Johnboy 29/08/08
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