The Israeli Labor Party and the left seal an alliance with the aim of unseating Netanyahu

1 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The social democratic Labor Party of Israel and the progressive Meretz have certified this Monday their coalition agreement under the name Democrats with which they will try to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu and his Government, which they consider “the most failed in the history of the country.”

Both groups held their first joint meeting after confirming their association agreement the day before. The president of the Labor Party, Yair Golan, has welcomed Meretz and has praised his decision to unite to strengthen a “liberal democratic” alternative in the country.

“The most urgent task is to replace the most failed government in the history of this country and restore hope in Israel (…) We are a determined and fighting opposition, only such an opposition can be an alternative leader,” Golan said, according to information collected by ‘The Times of Israel’.

Golan has asserted that the Democrats are a political alliance capable of guaranteeing a change of government through a “functional and structural” alternative to the current Netanyahu government, which he accuses of benefiting from the classic disputes between left and right, and therefore advocates leaving these nomenclatures aside.

“Ideas from the left and the right are comfortable for Netanyahu, but they have no connection with the current reality in Israel,” said Golan, who does, however, distinguish between those who advocate a country as a home “for all Jews equally,” or those who, on the contrary, “perceive the state as messianic-theocratic.”

The Labor Party lived a golden era from the late 1960s until 2000, linking up to five consecutive presidencies. Likewise, in the 90s he managed to dominate national politics with the governments of Isaac Rabin (1992-1995), Shimon Peres (1995-1996) and Ehud Barak (1999-2001).

However, since then it has not held any important positions in the Israeli government, and in the last legislative elections it obtained less than 3.7 percent of the votes (4 deputies), thus certifying a trend towards disappearance that has motivated this alliance with Meretz.

For its part, Meretz (Together, in Spanish) is a left-wing party founded in the 90s and that advocates the two-state solution and pacifism. Historically it has been a residual party in the Knesset, where it obtained its best result in 1992 with twelve of the 120 seats in Parliament, although it is true that it became part of the Labor governments of that time.