The former head of the Meretz party, Zehava Gal-On, has published a scathing article in the left-wing Haaretz newspaper in which she criticizes the “left-center of Israeli politics” which, she writes, demonstrates weakness against the “wolves of the extreme-right-wing.”
Galon singles out the head of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Ram Ben Barak, lambasting him for having suspended a Muslim advisor who was photographed together with terrorist supporters Gal-On refers to as “Sheikhs whom the Shabak and the police don’t like.”
According to Gal-On, when Ben Barak suspended the adviser, “He branded himself; he showed weakness against the wolves of the extreme right-wing. And immediately they scented blood. A week later, Regev pounced on him like a steak and turned him into an ‘Israel-hater.’”
The former Meretz head argues in her article that every attempt to placate the extreme-right is answered by renewed attacks. “There is one critical point that the center has yet to comprehend: Our right-wing is not conservative,” she writes. “It is revolutionary. Its goal is to overthrow Israeli democracy and establish in its place a country solely for Jews. No red lights stop these revolutionaries. They don’t see the center or the left as rivals – they see them as enemies. They exploit every show of weakness in order to attack again and again.”
In Gal-On’s opinion, those in the political center should stop trying to pander to the right-wing: “The answer to give those on the right is simple: Listen, you piece of racist animal, you homophobe, you other-hater, you misogynist, you who want to drag us into a Taliban regime – we’re not afraid of you. We have values – equality, love of our fellow man, freedom, harmony. So, get out of here before we deal with you the way we dealt with the original fascists.”