A new left-wing political group has caused anger by hanging posters in advance of the memorial ceremonies for slain Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin saying, “This time, the rightists are not invited.”
The group behind the posters is the National Left Movement (Tnuat Hasmol Haleumi), a group founded several months ago by attorney Eldad Yaniv and playwright Shmuel Hasafri.
Nachi Eyal, the Director-General of the Ichud Leumi (National Union) party, lamented the group's choice of slogans. “The National Leftists are calling to divide the nation, while we work to heal the rift in the nation and bring people closer together through discussion and mediated discourse,” he said.
His message to the National Leftist Movement is, “Come, let's drink a cup of tea together, and see if we can repair the schism instead of making it larger,” Eyal said.
He expressed concern that the message may be part of a larger trend. “Is the political Left becoming more extreme, to the point of portraying the Right as the enemy?” he wondered.
Members of the National Leftist Movement defended their choice of words. “The binational rightists have no reason to attend the National Left's Zionist meetings,” they stated. The word “binational” appeared to be a reference to the widely used leftist claim that if Israel does not do whatever necessary to create an Arab state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, Israel will become a binational Jewish-Arab state. The claim has been repeatedly disproved by demographers.
'Srak, Srak' Poster – Reference to Assassination?
In July, the National Left Movement hung signs with the faces of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Under their images were the Hebrew words, “Srak! Srak! Srak!”
The word “Srak” can be translated to “empty,” or “meaningless.” However, it can also refer to the blanks of a gun, and the phrase "Srak! Srak! Srak!" is a reference to the Rabin assassination. Some eyewitnesses to that event said. that someone, perhaps a Shin Bet agent, shouted “Srak!” three times after the prime minister was shot. This gave rise to theories about who really shot Rabin with real bullets..
Back to 1992
A third poster recently hung by the National Left bore the slogan, “Israel is Waiting for Rabin.” The poster was reminiscent of campaign posters for Rabin used in 1992.
It offended members of Rabin's family, who felt they should have been consulted before the nascent political group made use of his name in a way that made it seem he was still alive.
National Left has Campaign Hopes
The Hebrew-language daily Maariv reported in July that National Left cofounder Yaniv had met with senior members of Kadima to discuss the possibility of joining the party, but is more likely to establish his own party, which will run in the next national elections. The group has been particularly active recently in the weeks leading up to the anniversary of Rabin's assassination.