I met Knesset member Eitan Cabel in the makeup room of one of the television stations just a few weeks before the elections [in January 2013]. We had just participated in yet another political debate, one of many on the air back then. The polls gave the Labor Party 21 seats, and it was expected to be the second largest party, right behind Likud-Beiteinu. In the studio, Cabel was a staunch defender of Labor Party Chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich and expressed confidence in her ability to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But then, in a candid moment on our way back to our cars, he estimated that the Labor Party would end up with just 14 or 15 seats.
Cabel added that he had no idea what was going on inside the party or what its campaign strategy was. He said that Yachimovich pigeonholed all the Knesset members, that she refused to take any criticism, and that she was convinced that if she avoided mentioning the diplomatic issue, Likud party supporters would switch to her. “It won’t happen,” Cabel said. “I wish I were wrong, but this is not how you win an election.” He then begged me not to write a word about what he had just told me.
We spoke again on the afternoon of election day as he rushed from one party headquarters to the next. Once again, he told me what he thought the results would be, and he was exactly right. By now his assessment was based on what he had seen on the street. He had witnessed the huge stampede of voters running to support Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid and his party.
The Labor Party came out of the elections with just 15 seats, a result that was considered a major loss. Cabel did not wait long before he launched a full frontal attack on Yachimovich, claiming that she had imposed a dictatorship on the party. He called for an investigation into the failures of the election and has since been serving as the party chairwoman’s official “headache,'' along with Knesset members Isaac Herzog and Erel Margalit. The latter two have already announced that they will run against her for leadership of the party. Cabel is withholding his decision until the end of [August].
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