NYTimes: “Israel’s Labor Party Votes to Join Netanyahu Coalition”

Aaron Keyak — March 25, 2009 – 3:52 pm | Israel Comments (0) Add a comment

From The New York Times:

A deeply divided Labor Party voted Tuesday to join the governing coalition being formed by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister-designate and the leader of the conservative Likud Party.

The decision paves the way for a broader government than the narrow and hawkish one that Mr. Netanyahu would otherwise have had to settle for, increasing his chances of gaining international acceptance and possibly avoiding friction with the Obama administration.

But the move by Ehud Barak, Labor’s leader and the current defense minister, has driven a wedge between party members, a division made clear during a stormy convention on Tuesday.

Mr. Barak said that a broad government was in the national interest given the looming security challenges and the economic crisis facing Israel, and that Labor could play a more effective role as a counterforce inside the government than as a fifth wheel in the opposition.

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