Labor chief clarifies: ‘Left is no less Jewish than anyone else’

Labor leader Avi Gabbay on Thursday clarified his statement that the left “forgot what it means to be a Jew.”

Gabbay, speaking at a regional development conference in the Jezreel Valley, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was being “vile” when he was caught on mic in 1997 telling Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri that “the left forgot what it means to be Jews.”

“The left is no less Jewish than anyone else. All liberal values are based in Judaism,” Gabbay said.

At the same time he denied that he was retracting his previous statements. “I’m not walking back anything,” he said.

On Monday the Labor leader had said: “In ’97 Netanyahu was caught on camera saying ‘the left forgot what it means to be Jews. You know what the left did in response to this? Forgot what it means to be a Jew.

“I seriously think one of the problems with Labor party members is that [the party] has moved away from this,” he continued on Monday. “They say about us ‘We are now only liberals.’ That isn’t true. We are Jews and we need to talk about our Jewish values.”

Gabbay on Thursday also commented on former prime minister Ehud Barak’s assertion Wednesday that he was the most qualified candidate to serve as Israel’s prime minister, saying he did not view Barak, a two-time former Labor chief, as a political threat.

Barak’s comments were widely viewed as an indication that he was considering another political run, and perhaps a challenge to Gabbay himself.

But Gabbay said, “No drama has occurred… I welcome any worthy person entering politics.” He also noted that Barak “supported me during the primaries.”

Asked if Barak’s comments could indicate political maneuverings taking place behind his back, Gabbay said he was “not naive” but was “not interested in conspiracy theories.”

Gabbay’s comments on the Jewishness or lack thereof of the left on Monday had sparked a swift backlash.

“No, Avi, you’re the one who forgot. There is no contradiction between Judaism and liberal values, and not all Jews are willing to bow down to the ultra-Orthodox or national religious version of Judaism,” Meretz party leader Zehava Galon tweeted. “The left who founded your party knew this once.”

“I am a leftist, a Jew and do not have a memory problem,” Labor MK Mickey Rosenthal wrote on Twitter.

Over the past few weeks, Gabbay has made a number of statements at odds with the traditional views of the center-left-leaning Labor, including calling West Bank settlements “the beautiful and devoted face of Zionism” and saying he would not evacuate such settlements as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians. He also said he would not join a coalition with the Joint (Arab) List.

Responding to a student’s question on the party’s change of direction, Gabbay denied Monday that there has been a shift.

“I did not break left or right; they said I moved, but it isn’t true,” he said, maintaining he has been consistent in his views.

Since Gabbay was chosen as Labor chairman in July, the party has seen a leap in the polls, with a number of the seats it is expected to pick up coming at the expense of Yair Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid party. Like Gabbay, Lapid has tacked rightward on a number of issues in a bid to pick up support from more moderate members of Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party.

Alexander Fulbright and Marissa Newman contributed to this report.