Recent "right-wing" statements by Labor Party Chairman Avi Gabbay and the resignation Oct. 18 of Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On from the Knesset are two facets of the deepest crisis ever experienced by Israel's historic left.

Ostensibly, there is no connection between these two political events, which occurred in the only two left-wing Zionist parties at around the same time. Nevertheless, they point to confusion on the left and an ongoing effort to extricate itself from its long-standing irrelevance to the Israeli public.

Gabbay is more than just a new figure in Israeli politics. He is also very new to the left. He grew up in a Likud home and decided to join the Labor Party in 2016, with the explicit purpose of being elected its leader so that he can run for the position of prime minister. He has an instrumental, business-oriented worldview, rather than a romantic perspective, which is why he is neither enamored with nor tied to the economic or diplomatic positions of the left. He certainly does not consider the 1993 Oslo Accord to be sacrosanct and inviolable.

Gabbay supports the two-state solution as a pragmatic position that accords with the basic worldview of the left electorate. It was in this vein that he made a “leftist” comment on the night he was elected, on July 10, saying that it is time “for leadership that takes care of [periphery town] Dimona — and not just of [evacuated settlement] Amona."