MK Eitan Broshi (Zionist Union) criticized some within his own party on Friday, suggesting center-left supporters of the party may have to abandon the traditional standard-bearer of the Israeli left, the Labor Party, in favor of a faction more in tune with the Zionist ethos.
“There are post-Zionist elements [in the party],” Broshi said during a meeting of Kibbutz members on Friday, Channel 2 reports.
“Most of us sitting here voted for the Labor [a faction within the Zionist Union] or Meretz parties,” said Broshi, himself a former Secretary General of the Kibbutz Movement. “There are no elections tomorrow, but if these Zionist parties – who wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for our support – don’t give support to the [Kibbutz] settlement [movement], we will have to reconsider our alliance with them.”
“This is not a one-sided alliance… we know that we brought 4 to 5 mandates to the Labor Party from the [Kibbutz] settlement movement, and who knows how many more from supporters [of the Kibbutzim] voted for them because of their support for the settlement movement and its representatives.”
“I don’t think it would be right to decide on a new party [to support] right now, but it’s worthwhile to use this threat also with the people in Meretz. There are elements within Labor and Meretz that are against settlement [of the Land of Israel] and post-Zionists. We cannot accept that. We were the symbol, the emblem and they were the political home and base. If we stay, they must strengthen the symbol and the emblem [of settling Israel], and we won’t be able to give up on our political home.”