Were it not for the 19 Knesset seats of Yesh Atid, the left-wing party Meretz would have been crowned as the surprise of the elections to the 19th Knesset.
Barely two months ago, Meretz was buried by pundits and discounted by politicians. Polls gave it four seats in the Knesset, at most, until the very last moment. When Hatenua leader Tzipi Livni called on Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid and Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich to form an obstructive anti-Netanyahu bloc, she didn’t bother mentioning Zehava Gal-On as a potential partner. When Yachimovich defended herself against critics who accused her of concealing Labor’s agenda on political issues, she said hers was the only party with a political platform. She ignored the fact that several weeks ago Meretz unveiled a plan calling for the replacement of negotiations based on the Oslo Accords with immediate recognition of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.
As is the case in other parties and in politics, in general, some Meretz members are toasting the results with a glass that’s half-full, seeing the doubling of the small left-wing party’s strength from three to half a dozen seats. And then there are those crying over a glass that’s half-empty — mourning the loss of three potential additional seats that would have tripled the party’s showing in the Knesset. The first group lauds Zehava Gal-On’s leadership, her commitment to the principles of the Zionist left and her courage. The others complain about the shortcomings of the election campaign (for example, addressing a voter condescendingly with the expression “my soul”). They believe that if Meretz had been headed by a left-wing charismatic 'Naftali Bennett', the party would have garnered thousands of additional votes from the young Tel Avivians who swarmed in droves to the Yesh Atid Party led by Yair Lapid. They claim Meretz failed to cash in on the potential of the intellectual elites, who had been jarred out of their complacency by the right-wing take-over of the education and culture systems.
In a special interview with Al-Monitor, a day after the elections results were published, Gal-On talked about the campaign and the targets she has set.
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