Inside Israel Today: United Left vs Divided Right

you're listening to inside Israel today with your Hoffman on the land of Israel Network hello and welcome to inside Israel today here on the land of Israel Network on the land of israel comm where we are only 48 days away from our third election of God knows how many coming up and this is the time where we find out who the parties running are really going to be the deadline for running for Knesset ladies and gentlemen is tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. you still have time come here join a party there I guess you actually had to take some forms before but if you make it you can still be a part of our exciting election now how as the election intensifies you will see many talking heads on the different radio networks and TV networks and among the talking heads that tend to fight each other we have Ruiz Zaki from merits / Democratic Union / now Labour / merit / guesser and we have Jeremy Sultan from the new right now they debate each other on TV and radio pretty often but they have been gradually changing hats ladies and gentlemen because this is the time when parties have to decide if they're running together or not and over the last 24 hours we've had a lot of excitement we found out that the left has decided to run together merits and labor to historic parties deciding that they should join forces for the election while the right has been dividing fighting and bickering which is the smartest strategy ahead of this election that's why I'm glad that we have both Jeremy and Marie here on the line here together on inside Israel today on the Land of Israel Network good morning gentlemen good morning Gil oh boy so let's start with the candidate the party who was probably in better mood right now with what's going on let's start with you early Mazel Tov on getting the left to unite how did it happen and why did it happen first of all thank you it happened I believe because there was although a late but not too late understanding within the Labor Party that this union is something that has to be done both for electoral reasons meaning as you explained to secure that no vote would be lost and and you know when in the polls both merits and labor where each each around four or five seats we're talking about a threshold of four seats it was a danger and second that it is a natural Union you know labor used to be the ruling party of the none left yeah the the there none right I'm sorry the alternative to the Likud Party that's its traditional position nonetheless since blue and white emerged as the alternative to Netanyahu as a ruling party the labor kind of lost its on their to it but remained a left-wing party the difference is between merits and labor although they exist are not such differences that can explain why you should need to have two parties in an era that because of the threshold and other reasons you see bigger and bigger parties you know if a few clicks ago we used to have twelve parties now we we're talking about nine parties and and I think it there might be even less parties in the next minute so it's it's a natural Union I should say that for me it's not only because of the of the electoral calculations even when I was the chair of young merits back in 2006 when labor had 19 seats and merits had five seats I like you I preached together with antimony was now the secretary-general the labor partying was then the chair of young merits we worked on merging the labor the two factions together I'm uh how would I call it a student of dr. Yossi Beilin I used to work with for many years dr. Yossi Beilin was one of the leaders of the Labour Party and then in the game that the chair of errands preached for a unification between those two parties back in the 90s when the labor was over thirty and merits was a tendency so I believe this union is a foundation for a new strong Left Party it's not only because of the threat but also and mainly for me because of the hope so the Left succeeded in uniting and the right did not the right seems to be splintering yesterday the new right of Naftali Bennett and a yellow chick head that Jeremy Sultan is affiliated with the side of the splinter off and take a very big risk to run in its own the other parties on the right want to run together but they're still fighting right now as we speak as we are taking as we are taping this show Jeremy why were you not as successful as worries friends and aren't you making a big mistake here no I I don't think it's a mistake at all I I actually think the mistake is what we see right now on the left side the last time the Dorey and I went off and faced each other it was on i-24 news and or izaki said and you know I have the tapetum he he said that there should not be a union between labor and merits he actually called it unnatural and he said that merits should be looking towards an arab-israeli partnership considering Farraj who has been thrown down to number if I said something like that I I agree with you that an Arab component since the last elections I'm preaching for a union between labor and merits strongly so I would really want to see that tape you know and make your don't think no it's possible you said other things before there that it's fine that does happen with politicians from time to time it's on my you know channel so also other people can go on again it can willing that's fine but not a serious fortune number eleven is not a serious partnership with Jews and Arabs of the top ten is all Jews I'm sure you'll agree with me at least on that concerned about the the how merits is a list is composed again I might even have arguments for going separately for you guys but don't face this on Miss in from this information I never said that I'm against joining forces with labor I've been working for this since the early 2000s personally so you know so so so so again you know I I remember that interview the two of us were standing at the same we're sitting at the sanitary you can move on explain why the why that's why right because because Yuri gave me the same advice which is you know why I mentioned that in response to your question Gil he said that a lot of times to pieces when they're together I do not actually reach the sum of their parts now I can tell you that the difference between merits and labor is obviously a lot smaller than the difference between hey Mina hi Josh and the oats ma party which is led by kahanists I think you've Inori would concede that point to me the the thought process that we could run on the same ticket is pretty far-fetched this is something that by the way both oats mod does not want as well as the fact that we do not want that to happen there's a question of exactly who should run with you in terms of the right-wing bloc in terms of the other parties that are not Likud or part of the herati parties but I do not think it's a mistake I can tell you from speaking to my constituents from all of the whatsapp groups I'm I'm in from a lot of conversations that I've had with people they've said straight up if we run on the same ticket with Ben veer they will not vote for us so I really think that similar to the situation which really led to the merits labor merger in which neither side wanted to commit political suicide I think it would actually be political suicide for the right-wing bloc which is something that all of the parties in the right care about for us to go ahead and not just repeat the failure of Yamina which we tried in the second round but then go ahead and add oats ma which would chase away even more voters towards blue and white and Lieberman I know that a lot of people want to look between the second and third election but I look between the first and third election and there's a very big difference there deal ahout is no longer running coolin who is no longer running Geshe which was once considered center or within the right-wing block is now running on the same ticket as merits a lot of the joke parties like gal Hirsch are no longer running if we miss the threshold running alone when enough Kelly Bennet was not defence minister by a thousand four hundred votes there's now a pool of three hundred and fifty thousand votes of parties that ran in the first round that do not exist I'm not worried about us okay so it's important that you bring up a vigor Lieberman because he's the one that actually caused this whole mess by raising the threshold in order to try to keep out Arab parties five years ago now and they and that ended up resulting in the Arab parties uniting and running together as one party it is now unquestionably the third largest party in Israel today and resulted with this now being 3.25 percent of the vote about a hundred fifty thousand votes the left and the right needing to form these partnerships these technical blocks in order to run and so my question to you worry there are two people who were pushing for the parties their satellite parties to run together and that is against a the center-left and Netanyahu and the center-right and the reason why they did that is because they want to feel free to eat you alive and if you were on the threshold then he couldn't do that because it would cause him to lose mandates that would be on his side after the election are you not afraid that now that merits and labor are running together that two parties would have gotten five succeeds on their own will end up getting five six seats together to be in fact want the satellite parties to unite order for them to be far enough from the threshold in order for the toward the big parties to thin a munch on them having said that I believe that it's also up to us I mean if the such a union would transmit you know power and ideological motivations and you know what would transmit and to to our vote is through statements that are not only you know yes no BP but rather some more you know we have a lot to say about the israeli-palestinian issues social issues civil issues in Israel that I think that the combination of you know a stronger party one party that unites the scattered parts of these really left together with one list and one message I think it has a potential to refrain from being eaten by blue and white by the way I should mention that Jerry definitely has a lot what he says makes a lot of sense I mean if there is you know for a fact that two smaller satellite parties would cross the threshold then together they most likely they'll get more than with one United Party a unions in politics don't necessarily bring more then running separately but the the the dangering the right is that one of those two parties would not pass the threshold I really salute and if Jeremy and more more importantly Bennett would continue seeing the colonists it's a non-starter for any Union I salute them I mean the fact that they are willing to risk the right wing block in order to refrain from having honest racist as part of this block is something I can really admire and unfortunately Netanyahu doesn't share that perspective he did a lot in order for the colonists to be part of the block that he so you know praises but this is this is a stand that if they'll maintain I really think they should be saluted for and well or you have an advantage because your party its candidate for Prime Minister has been against who's acknowledged across the political spectrum as being a nice person Benny Ganz is a nicer than Netanyahu Netanyahu he is a shrewd politician he knows how to get the maximum number of votes possible and the two people who he apparently hates the most in this world are enough Tully Bennett in a yellow jacket and now he has them in his sights they are running alone without any other party Weatherby they cut kahanists or more normative religious Zionists this after they didn't cross the threshold in April if they lose twice they're gone their political careers could be over Netanyahu could get the result of his dreams and even if he doesn't form the next government at least he could have the something to smile about if he ends the political career of naath DeLeon and I yell it Jeremy very very scary no I'm not I'm not scared at all again I'll remind you that if Kelly Bennett is the defense minister that was chosen by Benjamin Netanyahu but beyond that point you know were the only party on the right wing that is running in this election that is not karate affiliated with the kahanists or part of the Likud Party that's not something that could be said in the previous rounds this is a very very different ballgame what you see right now is really a consolidation of the parties running for Knesset a lot of the parties as I mentioned in my previous answer that we're round in the first round are no longer there we just don't really have competitors but more importantly we are the only ones that can go ahead and get voters from Lieberman and blue and whites the only chance that Netanyahu has to remain Prime Minister is for us to be able to bring more voters to the right-wing block and get to 61 if the Prime Minister decides that he does want for whatever reason to go back on whatever it is that he has said in the past that he understands the block and he's not going to try to cannibalize it anymore and decides to do it anyways it will be a situation where he is committing his own political suicide and you know as we see with the merger on the Left people understand that making you know that the move of political suicide is something that that is not wanted and people do every effort to avoid it to suggest that what we're doing is a dangerous thing or something that could possibly end either Bennett or shook heads careers to me again is just crazy we are doing fine we are getting a lot a lot of support so many people are talking to me they're so happy for our courageous step that we're running alone and again this is nintendos best shot to get to 61 now when we talk about suicide it's one thing to kill yourself on your own it's another thing to kill yourself and bring down your enemies with you this is suicide bombers did that and if anything that's what--that's and Yahoo would be doing now yesterday at the Knesset I was there for the meetings of the Knesset arrangements committee deciding to advance the immunity process for nets now for rejecting Netanyahu's attempt to get immunity from prosecution in his criminal cases and it was interesting for me to see the politicians there from labor and from merits who were happy about their steps that could eventually lead to the end of Netanyahu's political career but they seem to be even I love the voice of the baby in the background I don't think we should change that in any way and I know that where he has a baby coming up on the way to and I'm about a month to use okay so keep keep Ben give the editor we're not taking out the baby for me it was interesting to see the joy of perhaps eventually getting rid of Netanyahu did not compare to the joy I saw from talking to politicians on the left about getting rid of Stav Shaffir they talked with such relish in the joy about starves political career possibly being over and how many enemies that she made along the way how she got so many people upset at her and this is someone who was seen not too long ago as the future leader of the left so worried will you admit on a radio broadcast that you're happy to see her go here is one of the most known members of Knesset in the Israeli left you know see she she's known for fighting for the left I believe you know but there are also other many important leaders and members of Senate on the list the the Democratic Union with with which we ran together as merits in the last round didn't prove to be a union that made the merits bigger merits in April had forces then in then in September lost two seats to stop Shaffir and a : staffer and therefore merits wanted you have a bigger component of merit in joining together with with such a fear she was proposed to be number five on the list which by the way by by MIT Senora which by the way would have pushed itself way further away and I'm glad that she in a sense didn't accept this but they thought it was a very generous offer we have five seats right now on the list there's no reason why you know why Stav Shaffir is more important than members of Knesset of merits who each one of them is very prominent doing a lot of important work both of it is very public and in the parliament uh you know yeah some some very key members of Knesset and sometimes don't end up being in the Knesset when you have new elections I believe that Sasha fear in a sense has to take responsibility for how she got to this place I definitely don't see it as you know don't see any tensions there or anything like that I think she in politics it's important to know how to make your your moves and very important to create alliances and I think again maybe as a political analyst I think in that front she throughout her career she wasn't very good in creating alliances and alliances are part of politics are our basic part of politics and you just can't it being a maverick I've been working politics that has definitely been proven by what's going on with her and her political adventure I guess my last question and then I'll let you go worry is you have a very big day today you've got the merits convention which will be deciding first of all whether to approve the deal with labor which is expected to pass by a wide margin but then we'll also have another vote on approving the deal with yet year ago lon there's a former deputy chief of staff of the IDF and has been given the third slot on the labour list see the third slot on the merits list which in the combined list with labor would end up being the seventh slot on the list Ilan Gill own is number eight on the list right now number eleven is he Sami fridge the representative of the Arab community if Merritt's decides at its convention tonight to get rid of Yair Galan then Issa we Frej wouldn't be number eight which would be in the top ten make a statement about the commitment of merits in this greater union to the Jewish Arab partnership how are you going to vote it's a huge dilemma I wasn't that enthusiastic about the original Democratic Union unlike this Union I think the union with labor is of huge importance and it's a but having said that you know the chair of the party signed that the agreement with the I : and we're very very happy that the I : joy is joining merit CI : a former deputy chief of staff it's a great advantage for a party like marriage and the this new union to have someone in his capacity joining the list and you know giving a degree of legitimacy to our positions you know you know when you have a general saying the portraying the ideology of merit it gives it to a more or gives a an advantage of credibility for someone who there recently was released from a very long service having said that arab-jewish partnership is one of the cornerstones of merits definitely in the past year where in April when we're in alone with no big stars from the outside under the leadership of Tomas Hamburg with Selfridge leading the campaign in in the Arab Society we received the some 40,000 seat but not only electoral even if we'll like in the last round we received some 15,000 we lost about 25,000 Arab votes it is a very important component in our ideology I must admit I'm torn I'm torn because it's uh I wish we could have had a situation where in any case is how we would have been at least part of the first and as you mentioned uh it's a big dilemma and and I think it's going to be a huge dilemma to all the members of the merits convention today on how to how to elect it you know a very very big political dilemma well good luck with that we thank you for coming here and inside Israel today on the Land of Israel network on the Land of Israel calm today thank you and now back to Jeremy Sultan from the last question of the show so as we're speaking here right now there has been a clash between Batala Smotrich and Rabbi Rafi parrots overnight in the effort to unite the parties I guess to the right of the new right how do you think this is going to be resolved or will there end up being four parties running a separate from the Likud on the right the question really is what's going to happen with slow bridge I feel bad first of all Rachel I'm looking at the fact that he made a deal and from what it seems that we based on what he said and by it's not refuted is that they do not live up to their side to do what bothers me the most is a person that you know I was for several years I was central committee member of the bike you think I'm watching my friends from both sides both people so that supported the merger and those who opposed the merger that they were voting on with and without SMAW and they were getting into a physical altercation and I'm watching people who I know wife on a Shabbos dinners with I've had you know nice long walks in the park with and watching that on the TV screen happening in my old party you know the thing that comes to my head is that's just really not my home anymore and that goes back to the first question that you asked me which was that I do not think they did not run on a single list I think the difference is between us and by UDR tremendous and and just watching what my old friends were doing to each other last night is just another illustration of that Jeremy thank you for coming here on inside Israel today on the Land of Israel Network on the land of mr. Malcolm and listeners we've had an exciting show here today where you've gotten the right and the left you've gotten the unites and the splitters different political strategies you can decide for yourself that's the way it is here on inside Israel today and have a wonderful day from here in Jerusalem bye-bye hi this is Josh hastin coast of Israel uncensored here on the land of Israel network tune in every Monday to hear the latest news coming from Israel plus interviews with top Israeli politicians media personalities and activists all doing their part to counter anti-israel propaganda and be biessed don't miss a minute be sure to stream or download all of the amazing programming from a wide range of hosts here at the Land of Israel network on the land of Israel back