Man of the left positions himself as Barak's right-hand man - Haaretz

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Wed., December 19, 2007 Tevet 10, 5768

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Man of the left positions himself as Barak's right-hand man

By Mazal Mualem

Tags: Histadrut, Ofer Eini

"If the finance minister doesn't rescind this decree, there will not be a majority in the Knesset for passing the budget. I am saying this in no uncertain terms: Labor will not vote in favor of the budget."

This threat, articulated by Histadrut Chairman Ofer Eini affords a glimpse of the tremendous influence the labor federation leader has accumulated in the Labor Party since Ehud Barak was elected to head it. No less, it reveals the total coordination between him and the party chairman. The comment was made on behalf of Labor Party Chair Ehud Barak, and the Labor faction in the Knesset, when Eini was a guest on the "Meet the Press" television program a few days ago.

Eini is the person who, with all the power of his connections, helped Barak obtain a victory in the second round of the party elections against Ami Ayalon, who is now a minister without portfolio. It was enough to hear the praises that were showered on him by Barak, Minister of National Infrastructure Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Shalom Simhon at the victory celebration for Barak at the Labor Party House.

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Since then, Eini, the man in whose hands former party chairman MK Amir Peretz deposited his Histadrut legacy and who, at every opportunity, declares he has no political ambitions, has within a few months succeeded in positioning himself as one of the main people at the top of the Labor Party and as one of the closest to Barak.

The romance between Barak and Eini, which began during the months of the primaries, is only growing deeper. Barak has appointed him to head the Labor Party's negotiating team in the budget discussions, alongside Simhon. Eini was Barak's man throughout the crisis of the teachers strike and he formulated the "Eini compromise" while acting as an independent factor vis-a-vis the teachers and the treasury. Finance Minister Roni Bar-On recently defined him as "one of the strongest people in the Labor Party." Barak himself said of him, on Sunday at the social policy conference held by Labor MK Shelly Yachimovich, that he admires the Histadrut chairman's ability to define a goal and achieve it.

"Barak has great esteem for Ofer's opinion," says Simhon, "not only because of his political power, but also because of his political sense. The connection between them is based on mutual esteem. Ofer is pleasant to consult with."

Eini is a regular and key participant in the weekly meetings of the Labor ministers. With Barak, Ben-Eliezer and Simhon, he has open channels of communication on a basis of friendship. The chemistry between him and Barak is obvious. Barak values his opinion very much and frequently consults with him on political matters. Barak sees Eini as a multiplier of power, as far as the Labor Party is concerned, and as someone who is serving him and will serve him publicly and politically as a social arm - Eini offers an answer to his weak point. For Barak, this is an important strategic alliance, which has already proven itself and which will also be manifested in the national election campaign.

Peretz is well acquainted with Eini's ability to harness himself to an election. Eini was the main organization man in the 2005 primaries for the chairmanship of the Labor Party, when Peretz defeated Shimon Peres. A short time later, the relations between Peretz and Eini, which had been symbiotic for many years, dissolved into a severe crisis mode until they ended up in a total-but-thunderous breakup. Eini disengaged from Peretz in a single stroke and made it clear at every opportunity that, with him, there is going to be a Histadrut without politics. Afterward, Peretz found out that political reality is even crueler and more surprising, when Eini became Barak's ally in the Histadrut.

Countering the compliments heaped upon Eini by Barak and the cabinet ministers, people from Peretz's circle say of him that, until now, not even in the historic days of Mapai (the precursor to the Labor Party from Israel's founding), there has never been a Histadrut chairman who did not maintain the organization's independence from the government. By contrast, Eini is crudely relinquishing it now and he should not have led to a compromise, but rather should have stood up to the finance minister. Furthermore, they note, as Eini is conducting the negotiations on the budget on behalf of the Labor Party, there is a clear conflict of interest. They claim that the fact the next minimum-wage adjustment has been postponed by half a year, the Labor Party's party line in the last elections, reflects the problematic nature of this.

"I see this in fact in a positive way," says Simhon, who does not cease to express admiration of Eini's negotiating skills, his political ability and his personal charm, so much so that he defines his influence on the Labor Party as equal to that of the cabinet ministers. "Ofer is a very pragmatic and balanced person," Simhon elaborates, "with his feet on the ground. He knows what is possible to ask for or to achieve. He knows how to combine the needs of the economy with the needs of the workers. His partnership in our struggle for the budget doubles our power. It enables us to achieve more. The postponement of the second adjustment to the minimum wage by half a year is an achievement, because otherwise it would have been postponed by a year and a half.

"He has very high negotiation management ability," continues Simhon. "He is helping us. It is a pleasure to work with him. It is very comfortable for me that a person of his sort is around. He does not speak in slogans. He is very pleasant. He does not get aggressive. His contributions to the Labor ministers meetings are important. He helps you arrive at a decision without being pushy. He has impressively logical thinking. He maintains good relations with everyone in the party."

The question of whether Eini will be part of the Labor leadership in the future is nearly rhetorical as far as Simhon is concerned. "Ofer is already a part of the leadership," according to Simhon. "Really, it won't be necessary to wake up a few years from now to see him as a major political factor. His political standing will only grow stronger in the coming years. It is important for me to stress that Ofer's development has not been at Amir's expense. Each of them has his place."

Is Barak good or bad for Meretz?

"Ehud Barak is good for Meretz. He has been establishing himself for the past half year to the right of [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert, and has created for Meretz a niche it hasn't had for quite a while. If he continues this way, we will bring votes back to us."

This assessment was provided by MK Avshalom Vilan, the only Knesset member from Meretz who has not announced his candidacy for the chairmanship of the party. This statement was made a few days after party chairman MK Yossi Beilin's withdrawal from the race; the remaining candidates - MKs Haim Oron, Zahava Gal-On and Ran Cohen - are now facing a new reality.

The candidates are devising their strategy for the primaries, which will be affected by the way the big sister party on the left, Labor, is positioned. The basic assumption, of course, is that it is necessary to create a clear distinction between Meretz and Labor. According to Vilan, Barak has already done most of the work for Meretz.

"Paradoxically, the number of Knesset seats that Meretz wins depends on who heads the Labor Party," explains Vilan. "That is what happened with [Amram] Mitzna and Peretz; they were close to us, so we lost votes. [Yitzhak] Rabin, like Barak in his first term, was good for Meretz, which was at the height of its strength, because he represented something different."

An historical examination of Meretz's achievements in elections since 1992 confirms the theory. When the security-minded Rabin headed the Labor Party, Meretz finished the elections with 12 Knesset seats. In 1996, when Shimon Peres headed the Labor Party, Meretz lost three seats and finished with nine and in the 1999 elections, when Barak headed Labor, Meretz won back one seat and obtained nine Knesset seats. In the 2003 elections with Mitzna, who was defined as further left than Meretz, the party shrank to six Knesset seats. In the 2006 elections, Meretz lost one seat and brought in its lowest achievement ever: five seats.

Beilin, at Sunday's press conference where he announced he was dropping out of the race, also related to the influence of the head of the Labor Party on the electoral roaming between Labor and Meretz. According to Beilin, Peretz's election created a new political situation for Meretz.

"Peretz depicted himself as someone who is more Meretz than Meretz he took his colleagues out of the unity government and said he would not join a government like that. He promised he would not sit with [Avigdor] Lieberman [now Minister of Strategic Affairs] and elevated the social issues prominence. There were those who were lured into believing it was an entirely different Labor Party."

Gal-On agrees with Vilan's thesis, but she questions the assertion that Barak is good for Meretz in any situation. "Barak will not be good for Meretz if Meretz is too similar to the Labor Party. I am making this distinction in the most clear way." Gal-On is saying, in effect, that in order to achieve maximal differentiation between Meretz and Labor, it is also necessary to have significant and clear differentiation between the chair of Meretz and the chair of Labor.

Cohen thinks Meretz' leader has the greatest influence on the number of votes the party obtains. "We do not need to see ourselves as an electoral alternative to Labor. Our interest is to reach all those who voted for the Pensioners or Kadima, and the leader of Meretz has the ability to bring in those people. My social leadership has many advantages in a situation like this. It resonates with a much larger electorate."

Oron, the front-runner, thinks the party need not preoccupy itself with the distance between it and Labor. Instead, Oron says, the party's aim in advance of the next elections is to reach a far wider public: the voters for Pensioners, Kadima and the large mass of voters who went to the beach last Election Day.

"We are not positioning ourselves in relation to Barak. We should position ourselves on the political map as an independent element, with the aim of being a significant partner in politics and, if possible, the government. As far as we are concerned, there is no preference for Barak. He has declared himself the head of the peace camp, but the head of the peace camp is not a title. He has to prove this through actions, and his actions are placing him to the right of Olmert."

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