Labor MKs: Gabbay has ‘zero intention’ of uniting with Meretz in left-wing bloc

Labor leader Avi Gabbay will reject a proposal made by Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg for the two parties to form a leftist alliance for the upcoming Knesset elections, two of his MKs running for reelection told The Times of Israel on Thursday.

Zandberg said Thursday morning that Labor and Meretz should follow the example of the two leading centrist parties Israel Resilience and Yesh Atid, which earlier in the day announced they had agreed to run on a joint slate.

“In light of the unification in the center, this is the time for unification on the left in order to set up a center-left government,” she said in a statement. “Meretz will leave no stone unturned in order for this to happen. We have 12 hours, and we invite Avi Gabbay to immediately come to the negotiating table.”

But despite calls from some of his own faction to meet with Zandberg and consider the proposal, Gabbay has “zero intention” of uniting with the left-wing party, a Labor MK who asked not to be named told The Times of Israel.

“He won’t do it. I don’t know if he will meet with her but I know he won’t agree to it. He has zero intention of taking the party left,” the MK said in a phone conversation after Zandberg released her statement.

Reports in Hebrew-language media said that Zandberg called Gabbay Thursday morning, but he didn’t answer her call.

Another of the party’s candidates, also an incumbent lawmaker who requested anonymity, said that Gabbay didn’t buy the idea that without a merger, Labor could fall below the electoral threshold and fail to enter the Knesset at all.

“He thinks that joining with Meretz would put us in an even worse position,” the second MK said. “I don’t know if I agree.”

Gabbay was set to discuss possible options with his party this morning, calling an urgent meeting immediately after the Israel Resilience and Yesh Atid union was announced, the MK said.

Prominent Labor member MK Shelly Yachimovich, who also serves as the party’s head of the opposition, has already publicly called for Gabbay to consider the offer.

“In light of the new political situation that has been created, the possibility of creating a joint bloc with Meretz must be examined thoroughly and quickly, and automatic refusal to do so will cause damage to us if the new situation brings about the elimination of Meretz and the collapse of Labor,” she wrote on Twitter.

Meretz MK Issawi Frej backed up his party leader’s call, pointing to another merger from the previous day in which three nationalist parties — Jewish Home, National Union, and the far-right extremist Otzma Yehudit — united, following strong pressure to do so from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“At a time when the centrist parties treat the left as a sort of curse, we must not stand idly by and act as though nothing has changed,” he tweeted. “We have responsibility for the left in Israel, for the fate of a humanist worldview.”

Parties have to finalize their slates before 5 p.m. Thursday, the legally mandated deadline for registering each Knesset slate that will run in the April 9 race.

The Kan broadcaster reported that a Meretz-Labor merger is unlikely to happen as both parties have central committees that would need to approve the measure, and they usually take at least 48 hours to convene.

Recent polls have predicted Labor could win up to 10 seats while Meretz, on the far-left of the political spectrum, is not expected to gain more than 5. The surveys have also given an Israel Resilience and Yesh Atid union up to 32 Knesset seats, more than the 30 predicted for Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party. However, even with 32 seats, the alliance would struggle to form a coalition of 61 seats out of the 120 total and, so far, Netanyahu is still expected to be tasked with forming the next government.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.