Labor-Gesher head Amir Peretz is defending his decision to merge forces with the Meretz party, saying it gives them a better chance at ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We don’t agree about everything, but the common denominator between us is greater than that which separates us. This merger gives a chance of overturning Netanyahu’s policies,” he says at a press conference.
Labor-Gesher head Amir Peretz, left, and Meretz party leader Nitzan Horowitz shake hands during a press conference in Tel Aviv on January 13, 2020. (Flash90)
He calls the alliance “the difference-maker in the 2020 vote.”
Meretz head Nitzan Horowitz hails the merger as a “historic step.”
Peretz and his centrist partner Orly Levy Abekasis of Gesher had expressed misgivings about joining up with Meretz, which is further to the left on the political spectrum, but had faced pressure to unify out of fears that one of the parties could slip below the electoral threshold and be kept out of the Knesset.
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