MK Odeh: “Netanyahu’s Strongest Card — Opposition Head Herzog”

“If he thinks that the two-state solution is not relevant, then he’s not relevant and must resign immediately,” said Hadash MK Ayman Odeh, the head of the Joint List, about opposition leader Yitzhak “Bougie” Herzog (Zionist Union – Labor). Following Odeh’s attack on Zionist Union and its leader earlier this week for his comments to the French president that “now is not the time for a Palestinian state,” Odeh said that it was his duty to resign.

MK Odeh during the cultural event in Holon on Saturday, January 30

MK Odeh during the cultural event in Holon on Saturday, January 30 (Photo: Al-Ittihad)

“Bougie [Herzog] is not fit to be the head of the opposition because the essence of this position is to propose alternatives to the government,” Odeh told the audience at a cultural event in Holon on Saturday, January 30. “Instead of proposing alternatives, he only increases and exacerbates people’s desperation – and desperation is Netanyahu’s strongest card. Bougie is a pale shadow of Netanyahu and people usually prefer the original. In effect, he has become the person who most strengthens Netanyahu’s government… There is no opposition leader in Israel,” Odeh said. “He needs to resign immediately from this important position, because there is no solution besides the two-state solution, a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel and not instead of Israel.”

Opposition chairman MK Herzog was heckled by angry members of the Labor Central Committee on Sunday evening during a party gathering in Holon. The goal of the gathering was to launch the “Widening Circles” project for expanding support for the party. As part of the program, MKs from Labor/Zionist Union turn to outside audiences in an effort to bring them closer to the Labor party’s positions. But as Herzog began to introduce the project, a handful of activists interrupted his speech. The activists held signs and booed Herzog, not allowing him to deliver his speech.