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Infighting hurts Israel's center-left bloc

Infighting between Yesh Atid Party Chairman Yair Lapid and Labor Party Chairman Isaac Herzog divide the center-left bloc instead of moving it toward new electorates, strengthening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel's Finance Minister Yair Lapid attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem May 13, 2013. Israel's cabinet members were discussing on Monday their approval of the 2013-2014 state budget. REUTERS/Uriel Sinai/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTXZKVZ
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As part of the “We’re fed up with the corrupt!” campaign, which began Jan. 1, the chairman of the Yesh Atid Party, Yair Lapid, fired a very accurate shot directly at the soft underbelly of Labor Party Chairman Isaac Herzog and his party. “Corruption means setting up fake foundations to bring illegal money into the elections,” Lapid said. He was referring to Herzog’s decision to keep silent when he was interrogated in 2000 on suspicion of violating the Party Funding Law, while serving as the head of former Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s election team one year earlier.

This attempt to “fire inside the APC [armored personnel carrier]” — meaning hurting one's own camp — as Herzog described Lapid’s comments, turned out to be the cherry on last week's cake, as far as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was concerned. It was a successful week for him, after a period of pessimism. The corruption investigation into the Yisrael Beitenu Party, the disintegration of the Shas Party and the reasonable Knesset list that Likud voters chose in the primaries on Dec. 31 granted new momentum to the ruling party. Then Lapid got up and launched his corruption campaign. While he did place Netanyahu high on his shady list, he also hurt Herzog and the Labor Party.

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