JERUSALEM — A week ago Ehud Barak was trailing so badly in Israel's election campaign that he appeared, awkwardly, on a satirical television show to tout his leadership skills.
The next day, a massive Israeli air assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip thrust him center stage in a deadly serious role. It was Barak -- defense minister, decorated war hero, military strategist par excellence -- who planned the operation.
And politically it is Barak, a former prime minister running for his old job, who has the most to gain or lose in the ongoing military offensive in the Palestinian enclave.
If Hamas is battered enough that Israeli border towns are spared its rocket fire, voters are likely to view the 66-year-old Barak as the kind of leader Israel needs. If the operation fails or ignites a regional war, his political fortunes will fade.
But Barak's task is complicated by more than just a well-armed Islamic foe. He is obliged to co-manage the conflict with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and so far the sniping among them has made nearly as many headlines in Israel as the aerial combat has.
"Three rivals, the spectrum of whose relationship ranges from deep loathing to utter contempt, now need to lead the country through a war," columnist Aluf Benn lamented in the newspaper Haaretz.
Israelis are starting to ask whether the three senior ministers, whose relations are further strained by campaigning for the Feb. 10 election, can agree on a coherent military and diplomatic strategy for prevailing over Hamas.
The question matters because the conflict is being fought in the shadow of Israel's 2006 war against Lebanon's Hezbollah militia. Lacking an exit strategy then, the army got bogged down in a 34-day stalemate that demoralized Israel and emboldened its Arab foes.
Livni, Barak and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are running to replace Olmert, who was forced by corruption scandals to call elections.
Barak, who heads the left-leaning Labor Party in the governing coalition, pushed for Olmert's ouster, as did Livni, the prime minister's rival in the centrist Kadima party. Yet they continue to serve in Olmert's caretaker government.
Netanyahu, head of the right-wing opposition Likud Party, held a narrow lead over Livni in voter surveys before the assault, with Barak a distant third.
