Opposition leader Herzog lightly hurt in car crash

Zionist Union leader treated at scene for minor injuries, does not require hospitalization after collision north of Tel Aviv

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog was lightly hurt in a car crash Wednesday on Israel’s coastal highway.

Herzog was treated for minor injuries at the scene of the crash near Rishpon, north of Tel Aviv, and was not hospitalized, a spokesperson says.

Two other people were lightly hurt in what Herzog said on Twitter was a “pile-up.”

The Zionist Union leader earlier in the day attended a conference in the southern city of Sderot on the Hamas tunnel threat from the Gaza Strip.

“If I were prime minister, the person initiating these tunnels wouldn’t stay alive,” Herzog said at the conference, blasting the government and security cabinet as being short on action and long on word.

“I don’t think Hamas is deterred enough. They keep digging tunnels, which shows they’re not deterred,” Herzog said.

The Zionist Union leader’s week began with him being grilled by police over a graft probe, and on Tuesday night his problems were compounded when it emerged he had said his Labor Party should stop giving the impression that “we are always Arab-lovers,” drawing criticism from inside and outside the party.

Some in Labor have called for him to resign his leadership post or call new primaries, even as Herzog doubled down Wednesday on his controversial statement.

Responding to a barrage of criticism from both within Labor and across the political spectrum, Herzog suggested on Twitter Wednesday morning that anyone unhappy with his statements should consider leaving the party.

“I have heard that there are some who are unhappy with my Zionist approach. If they want the chair of the Zionist Union to prefer the interests of the Palestinians, I have a message for them: Go and find a new path,” he wrote.

The Labor Party is the larger of the two parties — the second is Hatnua — that make up the Zionist Union faction in the Knesset.

Herzog has been leader of Labor since 2013. He led the party to defeat at the hands of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud in Israel’s last general elections in March 2015. On election day, Netanyahu galvanized his supporters by claiming that Israel’s Arab minority were “streaming to the polls.”

Joshua Davidovich, Raoul Wootliff and Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.