At a Shabbat cultural event held in Beersheba on Saturday, October 14, the new chairman of the Labor Party, Avi Gabbay, said his party would need 27 Knesset mandates to win the next election, adding that if he formed the next government, it would not include the Joint List.

Labor chairman Avi Gabbay (right) during the Shabbat cultural event in Beersheba, last Saturday (Photo: Beersheba Municipality)

In response, Joint List MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) said that “instead of replacing the government of the Right, Gabbay wants form a partnership with it.” MK Khenin indicated that, for Gabbay to come to power, he would have to cooperate with the Arab community and its representatives in the Knesset.

Joint List MK Yousef Jabareen (Hadash) commented that “in order to be an alternative to Netanyahu, Gabbay must reject the discourse of exclusion and hate.” Responding to the Labor leader’s disqualification of his faction from a would-be coalition, MK Jabareen said later Saturday that Gabbay was “pouring fuel on the flames of hatred directed toward the Joint List along with the hundreds of thousands of Arab and Jewish citizens who voted for it.”

In his remarks on Saturday, Gabbay also responded to US President Donald Trump’s speech on Friday in which the latter called for the congress to review the signed nuclear deal with Iran and take measures to make it tougher. According to Gabbay, “We witnessed a very good speech,” but also noted “The Americans are not in the Middle East, but Israel will remain here for the long term, and we must continue to press for sanctions, especially regarding terrorism. I hope Trump will take the next step and not just make speeches.”