The childish ''show of force'' of Alon Hassan, the suspended chairman of the Ashdod Port workers' union who signed up hundreds of port workers as new Labor Party members to dismiss Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich, demonstrates how the party primaries method has lost its legitimacy and is on the verge of moral bankruptcy.

Hassan was forced to suspend himself on June 16, after it emerged that a private company he owns conducted business relations with the port. Yachimovich justifiably called on him to “go home” with the charge that he is harming organized labor in Israel. The response was swift. The offended Hassan hurried to declare war on the chairwoman and announced that he would take action to bring her down in the elections for Labor head. On July 11, Hassan showed up at the Tel Aviv Labor branch and submitted a package filled with several hundred forms of new Labor Party members — ammunition in his personal battle vis-a-vis Yachimovich.

It is clear that the port workers signed up by Hassan are not ideological members. Their affinity to the Labor Party and its agenda today is unknown, but we can safely assume that most have never voted for the party in their lives. The only reason they will become voting members of Labor in another half year is because of Hassan’s war against Yachimovich. This is an example of the old-style politicized, thuggish primaries that we thought had long been obsolete.

It is no secret that since the recent elections Yachimovich has been waging a harsh battle for her role as Labor chair. Ostensibly, Hassan would find allies among party higher-ups who wanted to inherit her position. However, the chances that Knesset members Isaac Herzog, Erel Margalit and Eitan Cabel would collaborate with Hassan are low. Hassan represents the shady backroom politics and hooliganism of the worker committees and not organized labor. In today’s reality, no politician would want to be identified with Hassan and his party sign-up enterprise.