T. Belman. Herzog was right. Bennett was wrong. If the Zionist Union wants to be seen as a Zionist party, it must fight for Zionism, not the Arabs and not for Israel as a state of all its citizens. Yachimovitch pointed out what our Declaration of Independence said regarding equal rights. It is time that that part of the declaration be excised. There are distinctions to be made. Bennett should have left well enough alone. His Zionist credentials are clear enough and he fights for more equality for the Arabs. But why fight Herzog on this point unless you don’t want the Zionist Union to be a Zionist party.
Opposition leader takes flak, including from some in his own party, after saying Labor should shed left-wing image
BY RAOUL WOOTLIFF, TOI
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog doubled down Wednesday on a controversial statement the day before saying that to win over more of the Israeli public his Labor Party had to stop giving the impression that “we are always “Arab-lovers.”
Responding to a barrage of criticism from both within Labor and across the political spectrum, Herzog suggested on Twitter Wednesday morning that anyone unhappy with his statements should consider leaving the party.
“I have heard that there are some who are unhappy with my Zionist approach. If they want the chair of the Zionist Union to prefer the interests of the Palestinians, I have a message for them: Go and find a new path,” he wrote.
The Labor Party is the larger of the two parties — the second is Hatnua — that make up the Zionist Union faction in the Knesset.
Is Herzog’s comment “an appropriate response for the head of the opposition to a demonstration by the radical right?” tweeted Labor MK Shelly Yachimovich. She was referring to a Tel Aviv rally Tuesday night in support of IDF soldier Elor Azaria, who has been charged with manslaughter for shooting dead a disarmed and incapacitated Palestinian attacker in Hebron last month.
On Wednesday she tweeted a photo of the Declaration of Independence, highlighting the section calling for equal rights for all citizens, regardless of religion, race or gender.
Zionist Union MK Zouheir Bahloul, who himself stirred controversy earlier this month for declaring that Palestinian attackers who target soldiers and army positions were not terrorists, demanded an apology from Herzog for his remarks in the name of the Israeli Arab community.
“To dismiss 20 percent of the citizenry in such a callous way, to disguise oneself as ‘right-wing,’ flirting with those who fill up the city squares, to get stressed about every poll — that’s not how you present an alternative to the ruling government,” Bahloul said Wednesday, adding: “I condemn Herzog’s statement and demand an apology on behalf of the Israeli Arab community.”
Responding to Herzog’s tweet suggesting that critics should consider leaving the party, Bahloul told Army Radio that he had no such plans and would continue to represent the Arab Israeli public from within the party.
MK Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint (Arab) List, said the comments prove that Herzog cannot lead a center-left opposition against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
“Herzog is neither relevant nor a leader, and should have resigned as the head of the opposition a long time ago,” he said in a statement Wednesday. “Herzog has turned himself into a a cheap and pale impersonation of Netanyahu. Specifically during these hard days, we need to present a real and bold alternative to Netanyahu and the right’s rule of hate.”
The comments also received criticism from the right, with Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) tweeting that the Arab-Israeli population make up 20 percent of the country’s citizens and that “we do not hate them.”
Herzog has been leader of Labor since 2013. He led the party to defeat at the hands of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud in Israel’s last general elections in March 2015. On election day, Netanyahu galvanized his supporters by claiming that Israel’s Arab minority were “streaming to the polls.”
In an apparent bid to replace Herzog as party leader, Knesset member Erel Margalit released a video on Tuesday calling for the right wing to “give us back our country” and saying that the Labor party needed to reassess its own direction.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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