Amir Peretz without a mustache.
Amir Peretz without a mustache.Credit: Channel 12 Mako

Labor chairman Amir Peretz appeared without a mustache on Sunday evening, saying that he shaved after organizations for the deaf and hard of hearing complained to him that they can't read his lips.

In an interview with Channel 12 News, Peretz said that now everyone will be able to read his lips when he pledges "I won't sit with Netanyahu."

"I had my mustache for 47 years," Peretz said. "In 2002, deaf organizations contacted me and that was the first time I trimmed it - because they couldn't read my lips."

Peretz rejected reports of a deal with Netanyahu, according to which Peretz would join the Netanyahu government and later be appointed the president of Israel. "There is nothing of the kind," he claimed. "A lot of very respectable media people, but my camp, too, bought into this deal, people who never believed Netanyahu bought into it. I'm saying here - I will not sit with Netanyahu. Period."

"Our problem is changing the Israeli discourse, this discourse that is constantly underway. There is a second election campaign in six months and ultimately, we talk about the same things. Let's talk about people. Let's talk about the health system and education."