Report: Labor Seeking to Unite With Blue and White

Activists in the Labor Party are working towards a unification with Blue and White in order to ensure the party’s survival in the next election. Speaking to Maariv, Labor activist Moshe Ben-Atar said “I am trying to jump-start the process and I am speaking with senior officials in Blue and White. Yesterday I conducted a number of meetings on the matter. This is a personal project on my part, but it has many supporters.”

Labor Party head Amir Peretz has not directly commented on the possibility of his party’s joining Blue and White. When asked in an interview Friday about the possibility, he said that the party as of now was planning to run alone.

But Maariv reported that given the ongoing poor showing for Labor in new polls – which follow the poor showing at the polls in the last two elections – there is great concern that Labor may not pass the electoral threshold in new elections. The concern is the same in Democratic Camp. In recent polls, both parties have shown strength no greater than 6 Knesset seats – and in many polls, they are seen just scraping the edge of the electoral threshold, the report said.

Peretz said on a tour of northern Israel Thursday that Labor was kicking off its election campaign with an effort to “bring home lost Labor voters. We are going to be seen in every place, at every corner. Next month we will approach things from another perspective, taking into consideration what we can do to remove Netanyahu, and what we can do to increase representation in the left-wing bloc.”