Tag: Zionist Union

Leaders of the political left and center, speaking at the annual rally marking 23 years since the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, decried what they said was the government’s systematic use of “incitement” and “fearmongering” rhetoric and its persecution of political rivals to score political points, at the cost of dividing the country. We’ve had it with pinning blame and marking traitors,” he said. Peace was destroyed.” Netanyahu, she said, “has turned incitement into his chief tool to leave the peace camp defeated, controlled, crushed…. Not all of the right murdered Rabin. I feel an obligation to warn that when the government says any who think differently are traitors and accomplices of the enemy, it is leading us down a dangerous path. The minister said assassin Yigal Amir “wanted to kill the man to kill a policy, even at the price of killing democracy and civil war.” Hanegbi said, “Many in the public, and I among them, believe the [Oslo accords] were a terrible mistake. The right didn’t murder Rabin, Yigal Amir did.” He added: “I’ve had it with the false accusations of the left. Right-wingers should not attend a rally whose purpose is to defame the right.” Netanyahu tweeted: “It is regrettable that the memorial rally for prime minister Yitzhak Rabin has been turned into a political gathering. Those who champion freedom of speech try to silence any who don’t agree with them.” For the second year in a row the rally was organized by the Darkenu movement, which describes itself as a group seeking to “empower the moderate majority of Israelis to exert influence on government policy and on the public discourse.” The organization said ahead of the rally that it would “focus this year on warning against an atmosphere of divisiveness, incitement and inflamed spirits ahead of the upcoming general elections.” Noting the “violent and incendiary public discourse” that was prevalent ahead of Rabin’s killing 23 years ago, the group said elected officials from across the political spectrum would be called upon to “maintain a civilized rhetoric.” Ahead of the rally, roads around the square were closed off beginning at 5:30 p.m. Right-wing extremist Yigal Amir shot Rabin to death on November 4, 1995, at the end of an event the prime minister had held in Tel Aviv to demonstrate public support for his efforts to make peace with the Palestinians.

Former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz is planning to set up his own political party rather than joining the opposition Zionist Union or Yesh Atid movements, according to a television news report on Wednesday. Reports in June in the Hebrew-language press said Gantz was exploring the option of joining the Zionist Union party as its candidate for prime minister. But according to the Hadashot report, Gantz was expected to form his own party. Both Netanyahu’s office and sources close to Gantz denied that report. Gantz’s entry into politics could have dramatic repercussions, according to multiple polls over the past few months. Speculation has swirled about Gantz’s political ambitions as he reaches the end of the mandatory three-year “cooling-off” period for senior IDF officers to enter politics. Conversely, a July poll in Yedioth found that if he decided instead to launch his own party, he would divide support on the left and all but shatter those chances. According to the July poll, Gantz would draw some 24 Knesset seats if he ran at the top of the Zionist Union list, second only to the ruling Likud party at 30. If he founded a new party, it would crush the Zionist Union, taking 14 seats, in third place after Likud’s 29 and Yesh Atid’s 15, while a Gabbay-led Zionist Union would collapse to fourth with 10. Gantz, 58, who served as the military’s chief of staff from February 2011 until February 2015, commanded the 2014 war in Gaza.

Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni said Saturday that former prime minister Ehud Olmert was “unfit” to return to political life due to his past criminal actions. Livni, speaking to Hadashot TV news, said that even if Presiden Reuven Rivlin were to erase the “moral turpitude” clause from Olmert’s conviction — a designation that prevents a convict from holding positions of public office — Olmert must not return to public life. Free Sign Up “He was a prime minister who did good things as well as problematic things, including criminal things,” Livni, who served as foreign minister under Olmert, said. “The debate on the future of the State of Israel must be waged between untarnished people.” Olmert has been giving interviews to coincide with the publication of his autobiography, “In Person,” in which he insists there was a conspiracy to oust him as prime minister that also involved the state prosecution from the moment he took office. He also returned to the public eye in the past week after Israel officially confirmed that it had carried out a 2007 airstrike on a Syrian nuclear reactor — when he served as prime minster. But the reveal led to intense bickering between Israeli intelligence and political leaders over credit for the strike, which led Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman to say he regretted authorizing its publication. Livni shared the sentiment, saying she “initially thought it was fine to announce details of the operation as it would increase deterrence and give a sense of security to Israeli citizens, but the ‘chatter’ and ‘quibbling’ that have developed after the publication have hurt our deterrence and created a feeling of unease in the public — the exact opposite of what should have been achieved.” She said credit was due both to Olmert and to then-defense minister Ehud Barak for their decision to launch the operation. On Wednesday Barak attacked Olmert, saying he “was never really the prime minister” but merely “played” the role. In an interview on the Reshet TV station, hours after Israel formally acknowledged responsibility for the strike, Barak derided Olmert with particular viciousness, asserting that “Olmert was never really prime minister” but had, rather, lucked into the role after Ariel Sharon was incapacitated by a stroke. That didn’t make him president.” Olmert “made that good decision,” Barak allowed, “and he ultimately deserves credit for that.” But Olmert’s about-to-be-published autobiography, written in jail, underlined his utter unfitness for the job, claimed Barak, himself also a former prime minister.