If Israel's Labor Party were anything like Britain's, no one would question Chairwoman MK Shelly Yachimovich's decision to move the party's primaries up to November. In Britain, it is quite acceptable for the head of a party to blindside rivals by calling unexpected internal elections. Not in Israel. Yachimovich is tired of hearing her rivals rant about how unworthy she is to lead, how underhanded political maneuvering won her the chairmanship and how afraid she is of primaries. There is no way to lead a cohesive opposition with two to three years left until the next elections; nor is it possible to promote a move that would potentially see the Labor Party join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. Yachimovich's rivals claim she lacks the mandate to lead, so she has to seek it actively, daring them to come out of hiding and take her on. The principle calls for a party to choose or replace its leader immediately after the general elections, so no one would try to undermine the leader's position. A party leader should be able to work with no worry of being outflanked by rivals. However, Yachimovich's decision had more to do with her own potential political benefits than with principles. If not for the early elections in January 2013, Labor would have ended up being the fifth wheel to the government, regardless of whether it joined the coalition or the opposition. In reality, new Labor members, whose allegiances lie with Histadrut labor federation Chairman Ofer Eini and Alon Hassan, the head of the Ashdod Port workers' union -- two powerful party members who have been rumored to be gearing up for a hostile takeover of Labor -- pose a threat to Yachimovich's leadership. Has Yachimovich been given an actual chance to lead Labor? The results of the general elections, which gave the party 15 Knesset seats, proved that the higher the expectations, the bigger the disappointment. Yachimovich also missed several political opportunities by failing to assert the party's position on issues like the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the equal distribution of burden. Of course, the problem is that the majority of her rivals in the party have demonstrated the same weaknesses. They are just as afraid as she is of losing the potential support of the ultra-Orthodox parties in the event Labor needs to form a government. Yachimovich has been trying to curtail Hassan's influence in the party, but she has made the wise decision not to speak against her potential external rivals, former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and former Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin. Ashkenazi is still embroiled in the various probes concerning the Boaz Harpaz affair, but if Eini, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and the others think such a man is fit to lead them, so be it. Yachimovich has already said that she will not challenge his candidacy, or Yadlin's, despite the fact that neither of them is currently a Labor member. It is a clever move because once November will have come and gone, no one will be able to accuse her of usurping the party's leadership. The candidates have four months to prepare themselves and employ the party mechanisms that are working against Yachimovich. The ballots will have the final say. The Labor Party has lost its luster, its relevance and its heritage, but it is still an important part of Israeli politics and trying to stabilize its leadership is the right thing to do, regardless of the primaries' results.