“We must oust Netanyahu and replace Netanyahu’s radical supporters,” said Michaeli, the new leader of the Israeli Labor Party.
Michaeli, 54, who has just revived the party, is fighting for social democracy, feminism, and environmental issues. “There must be a moderate left-wing government party to renew the country and get it back on track,” he told AFP in the run-up to the Israeli election in Tel Aviv on March 23.
The party has been in severe decline for a generation and Israeli politics has undergone a significant shift to the right, especially under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in power since 2009.
Labor won just three seats in the 120-seat Knesset in last year’s national elections, down from 44 in 1992 and a far cry from its decades in power.
Rather than a return to the party’s past glory, Michaeli’s immediate goal is to influence the tone and policies of an emerging anti-Netanyahu camp that could cobble together the 61 seats to wrest power from the incumbent.
“The most important thing is that the Labor party will have as many seats as possible within that bloc for change so that no alternative coalition can be built” without it, she said.
The party has already enjoyed something of a bounce since Michaeli trounced opponents in a party primary on January 24, replacing Amir Peretz and becoming only its third woman leader.
