Merav Michaeli: “Israel Is Not Netanyahu”

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, when you got the job, when you were named and I guess elected as head of your party, the left-leaning newspaper in your country, “Haaretz,” said, welcome to the worst job in Israeli politics, Merav Michaeli. And just to hammer the point home, the actual facts show that from 1995, where your party had about 37 percent — sorry — 36 percent of the country, now, in 2021, it’s about 16 percent. So, again, you have managed to move the dial a bit since you have taken over. But what will it take to successfully contest an election from the left?

MERAV MICHAELI, LEADER OF ISRAELI LABOR PARTY: Well, what we’re seeing now, the dysfunctional system, as you have described it very well at the opening, is a result of 12 years under Netanyahu. But, actually, this begins in 1993, when Netanyahu came onto the political sphere of Israeli politics. He introduced new language and standards that Israel never had before. And he started the campaign of hatred and incitement and delegitimatization against the Yitzhak Rabin, the late prime minister from Labor, against the Oslo Accord, against peace, against the left, against the Arabs. And it’s been going on. This campaign by Netanyahu and his partners and very big financial powers that are backing extreme right-wing powers in Israel is continuing to this day. And the result is what we are seeing today, a political camp that is completely fractured and has no political power almost. But, at the same time, we see that the majority of Israelis actually want what Labor has to offer. There’s an amazing disconnect between the wishes and the desires and the interests of Israelis, because Israel is not Netanyahu, not at all. The majority of Israelis are interested in equality, gender equality, gay rights, in civil equality for Arab citizens. They are interested in a welfare state. They’re interested in pluralism, in freedom of religion. And even after 28 years of incitement and delegitimatization of the mere idea of the two-state solution, there still is a tiny majority supporting the two-state solution, even if many people are completely convinced that it’s unachievable. So, what we need to do now is really gain back our confidence that was shattered after the assassination of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the assassination that was caused by this incitement campaign. So we really have to get back up on our feet.