Three weeks have passed since Merav Michaeli was elected chairman of the Labor Party. Despite the great sympathy in the party and the growth in the polls, it was reported last week that dozens of veteran and prominent activists from the Arab sector actually announced their departure from the Labor Party. .
Merav Michaeli at the Labor Party conference. Photo: Avshalom Shashoni
Ralph Majadele, a former Labor minister, told Lennon Magal and Ben Caspit this morning (103) on 103FM: “We sent out a letter signed to Labor Party chairwoman Merav Michaeli by 20 members – branch heads and Arab district heads – that we stop Our members are leaving the Labor Party. ” According to him, there is a larger list of old friends and supporters, all Arabs, who intend to abandon the party.
Majadele sought to justify his departure and that of many others in the sector: “To remind you, almost a month ago, my friends and I signed a statement supporting Merav Michaeli’s candidacy for the party presidency – we were probably important then. After that, we supported her election because we believed leadership change “I can revive the party and bring it back to the political agenda, after its collapse and the disappointment of Amir Peretz’s leadership.
And what has happened since then? “Absolute disregard,” Majadele said angrily, “individual decision-making, without consulting former ministers and district heads. And you know the Labor Party: it is a diverse party in the districts, circles, activists, former ministers of Israeli society in the field of politics – but She just makes the decisions on her own. “
The silence that followed the storm of the primaries very quickly became a source of disappointment for Majadele and his friends, who discovered in the leadership of Merav Michaeli – a leadership they had not known before. “With all due respect, in order for us to come and advance our support for the party in the most difficult and sensitive election campaign, we need authentic leadership,” Majadele concluded.