Meretz Party: victim of its own convictions
The left-wing Meretz Party suffers from a negative image among Jewish voters, but its greatest problem is speaking the truth and daring to criticize the government even at times of military conflict.
Yair Lapid, who went into politics riding the waves of the social protest of summer 2011, does not miss an opportunity to accuse the Labor Party of “leftism.” In a 2012 interview, the Yesh Atid Party leader announced: “I am not part of the center-left bloc, we are center, [Hatnua leader] Tzipi Livni belongs to the center, and Labor is a declared left-wing, socialist party.”
After long months with Livni in the most right-wing government in Israeli history, the day after she joined forces with Labor Party Chairman Isaac Herzog in December, Lapid said, “The elections will not be between right and left, but between right and center.”
