Further proof of just how small a country Israel is, and how inter-connected its elites, comes in the story of Labour Party leader Amir Peretz's attempts to dislodge party colleague Isaac Herzog from his post as minister of tourism and put him in charge of the less glitzy social affairs ministry. Mr Herzog does not want to go, leading to jibes from Mr Peretz's allies that Bougie, as Mr Herzog is universally known, prefers to be photographed in exotic locations with top Israeli models such as Bar Rephaeli as opposed to pensioners from Sderot. But what makes the Peretz-Herzog feud even more personal is that the tourism minister's brother, Brigadier-General Mike Herzog, is the IDF officer in charge of Defence Minister Peretz's bureau. And to complicate matters further, Mr Peretz's chief political aide, Boaz Cabel, is the brother of another Labour minister and Peretz rival, Eitan Cabel. These two brothers admitted recently that the tension got so bad at one time that they did not speak to one another for three months.
This post was written by Jeff Barak
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