Can Isaac Herzog rebuild Israeli left camp?

The first impact of Knesset member Isaac “Buji” Herzog’s victory in the primaries for the chairmanship of the Israeli Labor Party could be felt on Friday morning, Nov. 22. Moments after the final results were in, and the extent of outgoing Chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich’s defeat became known, party old-timers rushed to the Journalist House, Beit Sokolov in Tel Aviv. They were heading back to center stage. They were returning from an exile imposed on them for over two years. 

These were the old familiar faces, who attended victory parties for late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, President Shimon Peres and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak. They were there for every turnover that the party experienced in the long years that it failed to rise from its ruins and re-establish itself. Also present were senior Labor Party officials of the past who had disappeared completely from party life such as former Labor and Social Welfare Minister Raanan Cohen and former Knesset member Colette Avital.