A number of prominent Israeli politicians and hundreds of activists from various organizations attended a left-wing conference organized by Peace Now on Friday. The event, deemed the Israeli Left Conference, took place in central Tel Aviv. Participants discussed Israel’s new Netanyahu-Mofaz unity government, as well as a number of issues on the Israeli Left’s agenda, including the left’s response to Israel’s social protests and the possible demise of the two-state solution.
Lawmakers in attendance included Dov Khenin (Hadash) Amir Peretz and Daniel Ben-Simon of Labor, Zehava Gal-On, Ilan Gilon and Nitzan Horowitz of Meretz, Nino Abesadze, Shlomo Molla and Doron Avital of Kadima.
Speaking at a panel on how to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the October 2013 elections, former Education Minister Yuli Tamir (Labor Party) said that, with the new unity government, “For the first time, we will know the true face of the right.” “Today Netanyahu has the power to do whatever he wants to do. If he does not get things done, we will get to the elections from the clearest standpoint on what it is that the right wants to do, and what it doesn’t want to do,” she said. The real problem, Tamir added, is not how to defeat Netanyahu, but how to stay relevant. “[The Labor Party leader] Yacimovich, and also Mofaz and Lapid are all competing in a race over who will get to hug [Netanyahu] first,” she said, adding, “We have no order of priorities as the left.”
MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) said that Israel’s left should adopt tactics and strategies based on principles. He said that the Netanyahu coalition wanted to take Arab MKs and Arab-Palestinian population in Israel out of the political gam. “The left cannot make significant gains in the 2013 elections without creating a bloc with Arab population.” he said
According to the Khenin the main reason for the recent political move is the increasing fear of Netanyahu and the ministers of the right wing government of the mass social protests. “The Left must be the option for the hundreds of thousands of Jews and Arabs who have, over the last few years, become active in campaigns for democracy, peace, and social justice, and who participated in the mass struggles and protests,” said Khenin.
In the beginning of June we will mark 45 years of the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and the Syrian Golan. Khenin call for a mass demonstration with the demanding of putting an end to the occupation, with the main message: there is no social justice without a just peace; there is no just peace without an independent Palestinian state. It was decided that the demonstration will be in Tel Aviv, on Saturday, June 2nd, and that Hadash and CPI will work towards the participation of many parties, movements, organization and people in this demonstration.
Meanwhile, Labor MK Daniel Ben-Simon said that a change of government was in Israel’s future. “I believe that the right-wing administration is coming to an end.” He said that, since 1977, “There has been a global wave that is taking down regime after regime, we saw the latest change in France,” he said. Today’s Likud party has no chance of gaining meaningful public support, he said, because is it represents the right-wing settlers in Beit El and Migron. If Israel sees a voter turnout of at least 80 percent in the 2013 elections, the left will win, Ben-Simon said. Nitzan Horowitz said that, in order to beat Netanyahu, the left must not run away from the difficult issues. “Bibi does not run away from them,” he said.
