MK Odeh: Herzog Not Relevant, Must Resign as Opposition Leader

Opposition leader and Zionist Union chairman Yitzhak Herzog doubled down Wednesday, April 20, on a controversial statement he made 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.

MK Herzog, still head of the loyal opposition, meets  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

MK Herzog, still head of the loyal opposition, meets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: GPO)

Herzog’s controversial comments on Tuesday were made at a reception for party activists in Ashkelon, where he discussed changes in Israeli society and the need for the party to change in order to attract voters. “Where do we enter the hearts of the public, so they’ll believe that we have not only experience but the ability to change the situation in the country without abandoning security, heaven forbid, and without giving a sense that I have encountered in endless meetings with the Israeli public that we are always Arab lovers?”

MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash), the chairman of the Joint List, expressed particularly harsh criticism of Herzog Wednesday: “Herzog is not relevant and is not a leader and has long needed to resign as leader of the opposition. Herzog has turned himself into a cheap and pale imitation of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu.” “Particularly during a difficult time like this, we have to present a real and brave alternative to the government of Netanyahu and the right, an alternative of a solution of just peace, of equality and democracy and of a common fight for the future of us all,” said Odeh, the leader of Israel’s sole Arab-Jewish fraction in the parliament.

Last week, after it had been announced the MK Herzog would possibly be investigated under caution by police, MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash – the Joint List) said that Herzog had not been “functioning as chairman of an authentic opposition, aligning himself with the policy of racial oppression and occupation of the Netanyahu government, and was preoccupied with crawling into the faltering coalition.” According to Touma-Sliman, “If a police investigation is opened against MK Herzog, I would suggest that he suspend himself from the position of leader of the opposition so that he can devote himself to his own personal matters and let us get on and lead a real, militant opposition against the dangerous policies of the government.”

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