Stav Shaffir leading rebellion against Peretz
Meretz: Peretz spat in face of Labor voters
Less than three weeks after his election as leader of the Labor Party, Amir Peretz faced a rebellion on Sunday by his runner-up, MK Stav Shaffir.
Shaffir protested Peretz’s decision to sign a deal with Orly Levy-Abecassis’s Gesher Party instead of with Meretz and former prime minister Ehud Barak’s Israel Democratic Party. She vowed to prevent the Labor-Gesher deal from passing at next week’s Labor convention, and to instead pass a resolution for Peretz to seek unity on the Left.
“To the left of the large Blue and White there are three parties, and without mergers, one or two simply won’t cross the electoral threshold,” Shaffir wrote on Facebook. “Precious mandates of the public we represent will go to the trash, and Bibi [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] will win the election on a silver platter.”
Shaffir accused Peretz of breaking his campaign promise – of seeking bonds with parties on the Left – by instead making the deal with Gesher, which was approved by Labor’s executive committee on Sunday. “I respect Peretz and under normal circumstances would accept his decision,” Shaffir said. “But these are not normal days. We are in times of emergency.”
Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz stepped up his attack on Peretz on Sunday, saying that he “spit in the face of his voters” by signing a deal with Levy-Abecassis – a former Yisrael Beytenu MK – instead of with Meretz. Horowitz told KAN radio that since Labor’s deal with Gesher was announced on Thursday, angry Labor activists will look to Meretz.
Meretz MKs met on Sunday to discuss whether to seek a political merger with Barak’s Israel Democratic Party, the Arab-Jewish Hadash Party, or not to run with any other party. Hadash Party leader Ayman Odeh told Army Radio that his top priority was recreating the Joint List of four Arab parties, which ran together in 2015. He did not rule out joining Meretz.
Peretz firmly ruled out seeking additional mergers with Meretz or Barak because he believes it will help woo right-wing voters and defeat Netanyahu.
“There is no chance to connect to Barak or Meretz, because connecting with them will build walls preventing sectors who want to connect to us and to be part of the upheaval,” Peretz told Army Radio.
While Peretz firmly ruled out joining a Netanyahu-led government, Levy-Abecassis appeared to leave that possibility open.
“It is very likely that we will not enter a Netanyahu-led government as long as there are indictments hovering over his head,” she told KAN radio.