‘This is chaos’: Labor MKs plan rebellion against party leader Michaeli

Fed up with the conduct of leader Merav Michaeli, Labor party lawmakers have decided to take steps against her with the goal of eventually pushing her out of the party, according to senior Labor officials.

The three other Labor MKs — Gilad Kariv, Efrat Rayten and Naama Lazimi — have decided to force Michaeli to make all decisions only with the agreement of all four lawmakers, eroding her authority as party leader, reports Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site.

The plan was devised in extensive talks held over the past few weeks, in light of a series of opinion polls predicting Labor could be wiped off the political landscape in the next election.

The feeling is that Michaeli has lost the remaining public legitimacy she had and is dooming the party, which led Israel for its first three decades.

In almost every conversation with one of the other three lawmakers, the anger at her is evident, including over the election campaign last year and the critical decision not to join forces with the Meretz party, which failed to enter the Knesset as a result.

If Michaeli doesn’t agree to their demands, the MKs — who believe they are stronger than her in party institutions — intend to pass a series of decisions against her.

“We’re going backward. We have no preparations, renewal, nothing. This is chaos,” says a senior Labor official. “In the current situation, we have no way other than removing Michaeli.”