--- category: Foreign Government location: Tel Aviv, Israel start: 1968 summary: The Labor Party is an Israeli center-left political party formed in 1968 by the merger of Mapai, Achdut Avodah, and later Rafi, under the economic leadership of Pinhas Sapir. tags: - Organization - Political Party - Israel --- The Labor Party is a major political party in [Israel](/places/israel/). It was formed through the merger of [Mapai Party](/organizations/mapai-party/) and Achdut Avodah in 1968, and later joined by [Rafi](/organizations/rafi/). [Pinhas Sapir](/people/pinhas-sapir/) was renowned as the economic boss of the newly formed Labor Party.[^1] In 1968, [Pinhas Sapir](/people/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](/places/dimona/) never made much sense to him, as he believed an Israeli bomb would only lead to conflicts with the [United States](/places/united-states/) and a lessened flow of American contributions.[^1] In 1984, neither Labor nor [Likud](/organizations/likud-party/) achieved a majority in the national elections. A national unity coalition was negotiated, with [Shimon Peres](/people/shimon-peres/) and [Yitzhak Shamir](/people/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](/people/yitzhak-shamir/)'s action of forwarding [Jonathan Pollard](/people/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] [^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.