News
Ya’alon to form new party and run for Prime Minister
A former Likud Defence Minister has announced that he will establish his own political party in a bid to become Israel’s next Prime Minister.
Moshe Ya’alon told delegates at an cultural event in Tel Aviv: “I am establishing a party. I will establish a political force to challenge the leadership.”
Explaining that “our threats are internal,” Ya’alon said his main goals will be to tackle “corruption, a dialogue of hatred, threats to the rule of law, the attempts to delegitimise the press, the dialogue of hatred against Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews and between the left and the right”.
Ya’alon accused politicians of being “responsible for the hatred,” for the sake of scoring political points.
Ya’alon also responded to reports that he has been in talks with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid about joining forces, saying: “I do not like the fracturing into small parties… I am building my political power now, and when needed I will be happy to see unity.”
Ya’alon, former IDF Chief of Staff, served as Israel’s Defence Minister until May. He resigned following sharp disagreements with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the public expression of views by army generals. Both Ya’alon and Netanyahu were criticised in a State Comptroller report last week, which said they had failed to adequately inform the security cabinet over the threat of Hamas tunnels prior to Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
Yesterday, the Labour Party announced that its leadership election will take place on 3 July and that only members registered by the end of February would be eligible to vote.
So far, the candidates are current leader Isaac Herzog, former leader Amir Peretz, MKs Omer Bar-Lev, Erel Margalit and Eitan Cabel, former Environment Minister Avi Gabbay who recently joined the party, and journalist-activist Eldad Yaniv.
Herzog said: “I will run in the primaries, and I intend to win.”
Peretz, former Defence Minister and leader of the Labour Party, who is considered a major rival, said: “I’m convinced I’ll win and lead the Labour Party to victory in the elections.”