Zionist Union Chairman Avi Gabbay again expressed right-leaning sentiments on Monday, instructing the Zionist Union faction to support the bill that seeks to crack down on illegal infiltrators in Israel.
The bill, which passed its first reading yesterday in the Knesset with 53 votes in favor and 10 against, proposes to limit the choices available to infiltrators to either leaving the country or going to jail. In accordance with the decision, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) and Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) have called to close the “Holot” infiltrator holding center in the Negev over the course the next three months.
According to Israel Hayom, Gabbay called during a faction meeting on Monday for the Zionist Union to support the measure, as opposition to it “would not be received kindly by the public.” Eleven Zionist Union MKs expressed support for Gabbay’s position - including Opposition Chairman and former Zionist Union chief Isaac Herzog and MK Tzipi Livni - while 8 MKs voted against.
Gabbay’s position stands in contrast to the position of the Zionist Union thus far regarding infiltrators. In the past, the faction has supported granting at least some of the infiltrators visas, work permits, and health insurance.
Members of the political establishment have speculated that Gabbay has been trending towards the right politically in order to present himself as a viable alternative to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Earlier this month, he outraged leftist politicians when he claimed that “the Left has forgotten what it means to be Jewish.”
A month before, he claimed that he “would not evacuate settlements as part of an agreement with the Palestinians," causing some Zionist Union MKs to distance themselves from his statements.
He also emphasized last month that the Zionist Union would not sit with the Arab Joint List in a coalition.
"We will not sit with them, unequivocally. I do not see anything that connects us to them," he had said.