Labor party central committee okays entry into Netanyahu-led government

Members of the Labor Party’s central committee vote by 62% to 34% in favor of joining the new government being formed by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud and Knesset Speaker Benny Gantz’s Blue and White.

Speaking after the online vote, Labor cheif Amir Peretz, who is set to be economy minister in the new government, says, “This evening, we won sweeping backing of the party members to influence the government from within, and to change the agenda and economic policy of the government to one of social democracy.”

“We are not joining the right-wing government, we are joining an egalitarian unity government with rotation. Our strategic cooperation with Benny Gantz will put the labor movement in its place as a leading and influential political movement in Israel,” Peretz says.

— Raoul Wootliff