In Israel, battle for Labor leadership gets dirty
As the Israeli Labor Party prepares to chose its next leader, centrist leader Yair Lapid has already positioned himself as the front-runner against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the next elections.
![AFP_HT42I Israeli co-leader of the Zionist Union party and Labour Party's leader, Isaac Herzog, gives a speech during a rally to mark the 21th anniversary of the assassination of former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin at the Tel Aviv plaza where he was shot in the Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on November 5, 2016.
Thousands of people attended a memorial rally for Rabin, despite earlier fears it would be cancelled, an AFP journalist at the event said.
/ AFP / JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2017/06/GettyImages-621282796.jpg/GettyImages-621282796.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=mU6z9jWt)
The Israeli Labor Party has the reputation of eating its own. Nevertheless, last week will go down in the party's annals as one of the strangest in its history. It is not just because of the unusually high number of candidates (nine) for the party's leadership, who can't seem to stop squabbling among themselves. It is mainly because of the pitiable quality of their disputes.
The first round in these primaries are scheduled to take place July 4. It is almost certain to be followed by a second round. Given the number of candidates alone, it seems unlikely that any one of them can pass the threshold needed to win (40% of all votes cast) in the first round.