Deputy Economy Minister Yair Golan on Wednesday announced that he is running for leadership of the Meretz party against party chairman Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz.
Golan said he running because he believes that “the values of the left should lead the State of Israel” and to “fight against the ‘corrupt right-wing and messianic sectors” – with messianic a reference to Religious Zionists.
On Thursday morning, Golan, who often accuses Binyamin Netanyahu of inciting against his rivals, incited against the Chareidi sector.
Speaking in an interview with Army Radio, Golan said: “Is there hope for the State of Israel if it’s led by a coalition of Chareidim who aren’t exactly the future of the State of Israel?”
The interviewer responded: “What do you mean they’re not the future? Whoever lives here is the future of Israel. You’re talking about a public of over 1,200,000 people.”
Golan: “In my opinion, it’s a public that is absorbed in the past instead of the future. We need a productive and constructive society, not a poor society.”
Interviewer: “You’re painting an entire public…you’re speaking in inciteful terms and I don’t hear unifying messages. These are statements that are boycotting central sectors of the State of Israel.”
Golan then qualified his words by using a tactic often used by Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, saying that he has no problem with Charedim, it’s their leadership that is corrupt.
Golan, a former IDF major-general, is known for his controversial statements. Most recently, he called settlers “subhuman,” but his most notorious statement was in 2016, on Yom HaShoah, when he compared Israel to Nazi Germany, saying: “If there is one thing that is scary in remembering the Holocaust, it is noticing horrific processes which developed in Europe – particularly in Germany – 70, 80, and 90 years ago, and finding remnants of that here (in Israel) among us in the year 2016.”
In other Meretz news, Regional Cooperation Minister Esawi Frej retired from the party on Tuesday and criticized Horowitz for his leadership. However, in an interview on Wednesday, he said that he doesn’t support Golan as leader of the party either, saying that he “lacks the DNA of Meretz.”
Horowitz’s leadership has come under fire for his failure to control Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie-Zoabi, who refused to adhere to party discipline. She is also leaving the party.
Polls show Meretz barely crossing the electoral threshold.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
“If there is one thing that is scary in remembering the Holocaust, it is noticing horrific processes which developed in Europe – particularly in Germany – 70, 80, and 90 years ago, and finding remnants of that here (in Israel) among us in the year 2016.”
I agree! How can we still allow the Palestinian terrorists who want to wipe every Jew off the face of the earth to live among us in peace?
As a FRUM and religious Jew…my statement to you is as follows___you lose every time and take please all the filth that thinks like you and go to America where you are better needed
“…but his most notorious statement was in 2016, on Yom HaShoah, when he compared Israel to Nazi Germany…”
The wicked Zionists hate the Torah-observant Jews in their “country” even more than did the Nazis. The Zionist police has certainly adopted some tactics of Nazi Germany’s Gestapo.
So the comparison between the two regimes is quite valid, in many ways.
In America (with a “first past the post”, though sometimes with runoffs), no politician would run on a campaign based on bigotry since he/she needs to appeal for all votes. With proportional representation, a politician is only appeal for their own base, so blatantly bigoted policies work find in the campaign, though they do make it harder to form a coalition .
@HaKatan:
If the Nazis YM”S would allow huge yeshivos to open up in Germany and give Jews the right to open businesses and make money, and at the same time send the Gestapo to push protesting Jews from the street onto the sidewalk and close shuls during a pandemic and make a paper goods tax…
then the Holocaust wouldn’t be such a big issue.
Unfortunately, things played out a little differently.
we should follow the advice of the late HaRav Avigdor Miller ztl and organize brigades to invade the state of Israel
every government that has existed from the creation of the state until the present day has been wholly illegitimate
@Baby Squirrel:
Great idea! I got six bochurim who are ready to join us. I also got a hold of two BB guns and a paintball gun. I guess the rest of us could just use knives from my kitchen. The IDF won’t stand a chance against us!
Where can we meet up?