Labor Chairman MK Amir Peretz on Friday afternoon discussed his party's merger with Orly Levy-Abekasis' Gesher party.
"We're turning on the lights. We're lighting hope. We've built a house of unconditional love. Our house is a home for the elderly, the disabled, for young couples, for city dwellers and village dwellers, for residents of the peripheries and the working settlements, for residents of the Galilee Panhandle and Kiryat Shmona as well as for residents of the Gaza border area, Sderot, and the Negev," Peretz said.
"It's a home of unity, brotherly love, and mutual responsibility. We will create an opportunity to build a different government. We will not sit with [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu if he has been indicted!!! We will not lend a hand to laws of immunity and racism. We will bring back hope. Together, we are starting out on the new Israeli path, where there is room for everyone. Now is the time. Together, we are strong."
Earlier on Friday, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who recently founded the "Democratic Israel" party, said the Labor-Gesher merger may "put an end to Labor, the vision and the legacy of the party that established the state" and establish instead a "social niche party."