Labor and Meretz have no time to waste. There is one simple but necessary step that must be carried out right now, and that is for the two parties to come together and establish one joint faction that, with 14 seats, will be the third largest in the Knesset.
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This is necessary because Labor and Meretz are sister parties. The principle difference between them is the people in charge, and there is no doubt Labor leader Meirav Michaeli would make such an alliance even easier to forge.
As someone who spent 31 years in Labor and then, feeling I could no longer remain, left for Meretz, where I served as party leader for four years, I can go on and on about the ideological differences between the two parties. In short, Meretz places a special emphasis on human rights, while Labor tends to adopt more hawkish views on the diplomatic front. Yet if the establishment of a new faction in which each party can maintain its independence and institutions is on the table, there's no reason not to. Both parties could always revert to running independently in the next election should they choose to do so.
The establishment of a joint faction would allow for an alliance in other political systems, like the Histadrut labor union and the Jewish Agency, and would afford them significant power and allow for more significant representation in important Knesset committees. Should a government of "change" be established, this alliance would also ensure members more senior positions in such a coalition. Talk of establishing a government of change without Meretz is nonsense that should be rejected not just by Meretz but all parties, chief among them Labor.
The establishment of a Labor-Meretz alliance would allow both parties to stand up for themselves and prevent anyone from boycotting their members and allow them to decide together what kind of government they should join.
If a proposal to establish a government for change without Meretz and with the reliance of its support from outside is raised, Meretz must make clear such an option is not on the table. No one can take Meretz for granted. It cannot remain silent while supporting a complex government headed temporarily by a leader from the Right from the outside.
Anyone counting on this left-wing Zionist party, so dedicated to its values, to support a government whose leaders promote a policy line so vastly different from its own and forgo the right to take an active role in it, has another thing coming.
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