Zionist Camp MKs: Herzog’s ‘Crawling’ to Gov’t Destroying the Party

In the wake of two polls that show the Zionist Camp/Labor Party failing at the polls, party MK Erel Margalit slammed head of the party Yitzchak Herzog for “crawling on his hands and knees” to join Binyamin Netanyahu’s government. “We must immediately stop attempting to crawl into the government,” said Margalit. “Herzog must come to his senses immediately. Labor will be seen as an alternative only when it returns to being a fighting opposition, and not as a party waiting in the wings to join the government.”

An even worse fate awaited the party if it did not halt efforts to join the government, said MK Miki Rosenthal. “Herzog might enter the government and take a few MKs with him, but it will split Labor. It will also slam the lid on the next elections, and if there is a failure we will fall down into the single digits in the next Knesset.”

The two polls – taken by different polling organizations on behalf of Channel Two and Channel Ten – show Zionist Camp/Labor at its lowest level of support in years. Both polls show the party shrinking in support to third largest, eclipsed by Yesh Atid. The Channel Two poll shows that if elections were held today, Zionist Camp/Labor would fall from its current 24 to 17 seats, while Yesh Atid jumps to 18 seats. The Likud would garner 27 seats – three fewer than its current level, but still the single largest party.

The Channel Ten poll predicts even worse results for Zionist Camp/Labor, with the party reaching a mere 13 seats in new elections – with Yesh Atid coming in a strong second, with 20 seats. In that poll, the Likud achieves 25 seats.

Both polls also show solid opposition among both left and right for a unity government that would see Zionist Camp/Labor join the Likud. In the Channel Ten poll, 50 percent of Israelis are opposed to the idea, while only 26 percent were in favor; in the Channel Two poll, 52 percent were against, and 24 percent in favor – and among Zionist Camp/Labor voters, 60 percent were opposed.

“Herzog’s personal situation is hopeless, and this is leading him to political suicide – and he has decided to take Labor with him,” Channel Two quoted a senior source in the party. “He must wake up immediately and understand that the national interest and the interest of the party come before his personal situation.”