Merav Michaeli
Merav MichaeliMiriam Alster / Flash 90

MK Merav Michaeli (Zionist Union) discussed in a radio interview Sunday the Left's chances of returning to power in the next elections. 

Asked by Kol Hai why with all the success of the memorial for Yitzhak Rabin Saturday night in Tel Aviv, the Left hadn't regained control in elections last March, Michaeli asserted: "errors happen, but it's something that will be corrected sooner than it seems."

"There is really an error, and the error is not just that the Left is out of power, but that the person who stood on the the balcony during the period of great incitement [before Rabin's murder - ed.] and gave it backing, is prime minister today."

"This is the largest part of the error, but it's not a question of too much time," Michaeli asserted. "There are public figures in Israel, everyone understands that what Netanyahu is actually promising is only more blood and more blood and no future, no hope, no horizon, and that's going to change..." 

"I don't belong to those who come with complaints against the people, God forbid. It's a fracture, Rabin's murder is a terrible crisis, it is traumatic. It takes a long time to recover from trauma, a lot of time to get up. It's not that the nation is not okay, God forbid. I understand the loss of trust, it's very difficult. There is despair on both sides."

The MK also dismissed as ridiculous claims that the Left has given up on certain sectors of society - such as the religious public - and stressed that Herzog's Jewishness is more pronounced than Netanyahu's. 

"Netanyahu is a man who regularly eats vermin; Buji Herzog is someone who keeps kosher deeply. Buji Herzog is a man who goes to synagogue several times a year out of a deep connection, because it is his legacy, because of his worldview. Netanyahu is a man who sees synagogue only as a place to perpetuate propaganda, right-wing propaganda...remember Netanyahu's famous statement...'the Left has forgotten what it means to be a Jew?"

"When you ask, 'how are you Jews?,' let's look at the question in the context of the current government," Michaeli continued. "A government that encourages ascending to pray on the Temple Mount - something that is halakhically forbidden according to leading rabbis - that in your opinion is what it means to be a Jew? That's the right thing from the Jewish perspective?"

"So why is the voice of the haredi community, the public that has the topnotch halakhic mandate to say out loud: 'you're not just doing political damage, you're not just endangering human lives, but you're also transgressing a halakhic violation of the first order.'" 

"Why is this voice heard?" Michaeli blasted. "Your politicians can put an ultimatum to Netanyahu to not allow these people to ascend, to stop this farce. He forbade it only after allowing them to go to the Mount longer and more often.  When they do these things, you come to us and ask, 'how are you Jews?'"