Chairman of the Machane Tzioni party, Avi Gabbai, continues to provide interesting statements in order to wink at new audiences. On Monday evening, Gabbai said at a meeting with students at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheva that “the left has forgotten what it is to be a Jew” – quoting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s remarks to Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri in 1997. Netanyahu caused a public and political storm at the time.

Referring to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s remarks regarding the left-wing in1997, and it was captured by TV. Gabbai said, “People feel that I am closer to Jewish values, we are Jews, living in a Jewish state … I think one of the problems of the Labor Party, seriously, is that it distanced itself from it. In 1997, Rav Kaduri told him, ‘The left has forgotten what it means to be a Jew.’ “You know what the left did in response to this? It defended itself and insisted they too are Jews and maintain Jewish values.

I tell you responsibly, it all starts with our Torah, our laws and the basic things, we should be proud of it. There are those who say, ‘You have to be extreme secular.’ I respect every way.”

He was asked whether he would be willing to be number two of future coalition headed by the chairman of Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid, if he gets a larger number of seats.

He replied, “It is clear that a prime minister is a means of changing the country, not a goal. Of course, I can be number two. It’s a matter of the public. If you choose me, I will be number one, but in the end, I will do everything that is necessary to change the State of Israel. It is not a dream that I have dreamed of since childhood. I’m there because it’s a means of changing a country.”

Since he was elected head of the Machane Tzioni (Labor Party), Gabbai has used many statements that were perceived as a message to potential voters in the center of the political map. Among other things, he stressed that a government under his leadership would not evacuate settlement blocs as part of a peace agreement. Gabbai recently noted that he would not sit in the government together with representatives of the joint Arab list.

“I said that we will not build a coalition with the Arab List six months ago, That I believe in a two-state solution and that we need to find creative solutions for the Jews who live in the settlement blocs,” I haven’t changed direction.”

On Monday evening, it was announced that after evaluating the current situation, Iron Dome anti-rocket attack batteries have been deployed in the north, south and center of the country.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)