Labor hard pressed to find replacement for faction chief

Not a single Labor Knesset member has thus far been willing to become the faction's new whip, a post that has remained vacant since MK Daniel Ben Simon resigned last week to protest policies including a failure to halt West Bank settlement construction.

The faction is due to hold its weekly meeting today, and it seems that party chairman Ehud Barak will once again have to lead it himself, as he did last week - or he could end up canceling it.

The post of faction whip is considered crucial to a party's ability to function effectively in the Knesset, as the whip is responsible for tasks that range from coordinating with other factions to ensuring that party members show up for votes. As a result, it is normally a coveted job even among veteran MKs, since it grants prominence in the media and access to the party chairman, and is considered a springboard to more senior posts. Indeed, not long ago, Labor MKs used to fight over the appointment.

But in the party's current state - with its MKs at odds with both each other and their leader - no one wants what is seen as an impossible job. Ben Simon, a former Haaretz journalist who held it for five months, said last week that every minute was torture.

Barak has few options to replace Ben Simon. Five of Labor's 13 MKs are considered party rebels who are ineligible for the job because they would never agree to run the faction in line with Barak's wishes. And the other seven (not counting Ben Simon) are all either ministers or deputy ministers - who are not technically barred from serving as faction whip as well, but have expressed no interest in taking on an additional job.

Last week, Barak tried to convince Minority Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman to chair the faction meeting, as the main item on the agenda was foreign workers, for which Braverman is Labor's point man. However, he refused, fearing it would set a precedent and lead to his being stuck with the job permanently.

Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, one of Barak's closet allies in the faction, also turned down the job, as have the party's two deputy ministers, Orit Noked and Matan Vilnai.