Labor reserving slot for mystery security figure

Former Shin-Bet chief Yuval Diskin has denied that he will be the candidate.

By GIL HOFFMAN, ALON EINHORN
Updated: JANUARY 28, 2019 16:59
Labor leader MK Avi Gabbay states that Israel can benefit from natural gas without destroying the environment during a rally at Dor Beach on January 25, 2019 (photo credit: MAARIV)
Labor leader MK Avi Gabbay states that Israel can benefit from natural gas without destroying the environment during a rally at Dor Beach on January 25, 2019
(photo credit: MAARIV)
Labor leader Avi Gabbay, who has reserved the second and 10th slots on the list for candidates of his choosing, intends to give the second slot on the Labor list to a senior security figure whose name cannot yet be revealed, sources in the party said Monday.
Former Shin-Bet chief Yuval Diskin has denied he will be the candidate.
The question of security figures in Labor was raised Monday after former OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amiram Levin announced he would not be supporting Gabbay. Levin ran in the July 2017 race for Labor leader but quit the race and endorsed Gabbay.
In an emotional letter, Levin said he had stopped supporting Gabbay because “instead of creating a new vision and attracting more voters, he preferred to act in a state of indecision and paralysis.”
Gabbay immediately responded that Levin had decided that rather than run in Labor’s February 11 primary, he had asked the party head for a reserved slot on the party list and did not received it. In an interview with KAN Radio, Levin called Gabbay’s response “less than a half truth.”
Seemingly in preparation for Levin’s letter, Labor took two steps on the security front on Monday. First, Gabbay gave  Labor MK Omer Bar-Lev the title of head of Labor’s political-security committee. Bar-Lev, like Levin, is a former commander of the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit.
Labor also released a new campaign ad touting former defense minister Amir Peretz as Israel’s “real security expert.”
The video uses the same colors as ads for former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz’s Israel Resilience Party. It highlights Peretz’s achievement in “saving the lives of thousands of Israelis” and prevented wars by being “the father of the Iron Dome” missile defense system, which he insisted on developing, despite great opposition.