Photo by
Eitan Elhadez/TPS on 10 July, 2017
Gabbay: Israelis Have Not Lost Hope for Change
By
Andrew Friedman/TPS
• 10 July, 2017
Jerusalem, 10 July, 2017 (TPS) -- Avi Gabbay began his tenure as chairman of the Labor Party saying his election proved that Israelis have not lost hope for change and adding that outgoing Party Chairman Yitzhak Herzog would continue to lead the parliamentary opposition.
Dressed in black on a hot night in Tel Aviv, Gabbay told a group of some 200 supporters chanting “victory,” victory” that following the night’s “celebration of Israeli democracy,” he would go from community to community and home to home to bring Israelis back to the Labor Party.
“Starting tomorrow, we begin our journey to the hearts of good Israelis, Israelis who believe in this country and who contribute to this country, Israelis who share our values and ideology, but who haven’t voted Labor for decades,” Gabbay said. “Starting tomorrow, we begin our journey to tell people what we offer, not why to reject the other guys. We’ll tell them why to vote for us, not why to reject anybody else. We’ll talk about what we will do differently, explain what our plans are and what our values.”
Gabbay praised outgoing party chairman Yitzhak Herzog and Zionist Union co-chairwoman Tzipi Livni for leading the party to its current 24 Knesset seats, as well as former chairman Amir Peretz, whom he defeated for the nomination.
The newly-elected Labor leader called on Peretz to join his campaign to replace the current national leadership.
“Amir and I spoke an hour ago. I told him then, and now I repeat: Let’s join forces. I need you by my side, I need your experience, I need your wisdom.Together – only together -we will win,” Gabbay said.
