The Labor Party is a major political party in [[Israel]]. It was formed through the merger of [[Mapai Party]] and Achdut Avodah in 1968, and later joined by [[Rafi]]. [[Pinhas Sapir]] was renowned as the economic boss of the newly formed Labor Party.[^1] In 1968, [[Pinhas Sapir]], renowned as the economic boss of the newly formed Labor Party, was a strong believer in government loans and investments to promote economic development. Dollars for [[Dimona]] never made much sense to him, as he believed an Israeli bomb would only lead to conflicts with the [[United States]] and a lessened flow of American contributions.[^1] In 1984, neither Labor nor [[Likud Party|Likud]] achieved a majority in the national elections. A national unity coalition was negotiated, with [[Shimon Peres]] and [[Yitzhak Shamir]] sharing power: Peres would serve as prime minister and Shamir as foreign minister until September 1986, when they would trade jobs. The Labor Party's political advisers understood that [[Yitzhak Shamir]]'s action of forwarding [[Jonathan Pollard]]'s material to the Soviets, if exposed, would mean the end of the increasingly shaky Likud coalition and put the overall Israeli–United States relationship at risk.[^2] ### Footnotes [^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 13. [^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 21.