Yitzhak Rabin, the Labor Party’s second in command, pledged anew Thursday to support Prime Minister-designate Shimon Peres’ continuing efforts to form a coalition government.
But the popular former defense minister primed himself to take over the party’s leadership should Peres fail again.
Peres suffered a humiliating defeat in the Knesset on Wednesday, when he was deprived at the last moment of the vote he needed to win a parliamentary motion of confidence in the Laborled coalition he had painstakingly assembled.
His 11th-hour setback came at the hands of two Agudat Yisrael Knesset members who balked at the coalition deal their ultra-Orthodox party had made with Labor a week earlier.
Both men acted in defiance of Agudah’s Council of Torah Sages, the party’s supreme authority, which had given its blessings to an alliance with Labor.
One of the men, Avraham Verdiger, resigned his Knesset seat rather than cast his vote with Labor. The other, Eliezer Mizrahi, quit the party and pledged allegiance to Likud, giving it a 60-59 edge.
As a result, Peres called off the vote and petitioned President Chaim Herzog for 15 more days to pursue his coalition-making efforts. His request was granted in a move that angered Likud politicians.
Likud’s leader, caretaker Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, confidently predicted Thursday that Peres would fail. If he is correct, Herzog will have little choice but to call on Likud to form a new government.
Shamir did little to discourage Likud zealots from denouncing Herzog and demanding his resignation for alleged partisan bias.
LIKUD COURTS AGUDAH MEMBERS
Rabin, who rarely issues formal statements, reiterated his support for Peres apparently to scotch speculation that he was considering a bid for the Labor Party leadership now.
But he said the party might have to consider other actions at a future time “to prevent the formation of a narrow-based Likud-led government.”
According to political observers, Rabin’s assertion that there is a “national need” to prevent a narrow rightist regime is an indication that he is prepared to seek the Labor leadership eventually. They say he would agree to head a unity government if Peres fails, rather than allow the premiership to fall again into Shamir’s hands.
Meanwhile, Agudat Yisrael, badly shaken by its role in preventing the formation of a government Wednesday, has come under scrutiny from the major political parties.
Likud is desperately trying to persuade Verdiger to withdraw his Knesset resignation and cast his lot with the Likud bloc. But the former Knesset member told reporters he was “at peace” with himself and his decision.
His replacement on the Agudah list, David Halachmi, has said he will obey the party’s sages and support the deal with Labor. But that would only restore the 60-60 Knesset tic, since Peres needs all five Agudah votes to break it.
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