Labor Party leader Minister Merav Michaeli spoke on Tuesday evening after the party released the results of the primaries for its Knesset slate in the upcoming election.
"What an amazing team, what a diverse team, from a variety of places in the country, from a variety of parts of Israeli society - what an equal team. And what a team that is committed to our State of Israel, to our Israeli society and to our truth. Welcome them!” she said.
“Only a year and a half ago, we sat in the first faction meeting of the renewed Labor Party. Only a year and a half ago we saved the party at the last minute, just before it sank into the depths of history because of more and more people who thought that if they just gave our vote to Netanyahu, then they would be able to influence something.”
“Well, they made an impact. They led the party to a bottomless abyss.”
“Then, members of the Labor Party chose a new, young faction, Members of Knesset for most of whom it was the first Knesset, and me, who stubbornly went against all the talk of ‘you won't succeed, it won't work’. And it succeeded and it worked, and it's still working,” Michaeli continued.
“And tonight, the members of the Labor Party did it again, big time,” she said.
“Over the last year and a half we have been building our democratic, clean liberal party. The Labor Party has become a vibrant, new party, with clean politics, with values and a path and, above all, a very clear vision of where we want to go, and where we will take our State of Israel.”
“In just the last few weeks, almost 5,000 new members joined the Labor Party. They join the 40,000 members of the Labor Party family - a big and committed family,” said Michaeli.
She said that Labor does not “have Knesset members who break promises, who vote as they like who boycott, threaten and in the end - pull apart everything we've built. On the contrary, with us you know that you can trust us.”
“Because with us, every word is the truth, simply the truth. With us, elected officials, men and women, Members of the Knesset get up every morning and just get to work, and work hard,” she said.
“Working to reduce intolerable gaps. Working for true equality. They work to make it cheaper and easier to live here. So that our rights are truly ours.”
“To maintain our security - national security and, just as important, our personal and existential security.”
“Work so that our lives will be as they should be - much, much better.”
“The elected representatives of the Labor Party are truly elected representatives. Men and women who put everything aside and say to you - we are here for you, and absolutely for you And I tell you - we are here for you, and you know that when I make a promise, I keep it.”
“We are taking a new-old path today. We still have a lot of work to do. The path we started on a year and a half ago is being reshaped and changed. This is the way that we will do everything we can to remind the Israeli public that there is really almost no Israeli who does not want the things that the Labor Party offers,” said Michaeli.
“Anyone who believes in a country that is Jewish and democratic and liberal and egalitarian can find themselves in the Labor Party. Because among all the options that rise and fall there is one party, the Labor Party, with the previous faction and with the new faction, an island of stability and an island of truth that can be trusted. This is your home, friends.”
“The Labor Party goes into these elections strong and strengthened, internally and externally. We will do everything to establish an even better government than the one we had. To fulfill our vision that truly sees each and every one here in the country, and to change the reality as only we know.”
“So friends, a winning party and great success for us all," she concluded.