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What happened to Israel's once-rising political star?

Gesher leader Orly Levy-Abekasis promised Israeli voters a social issues-oriented agenda, but she has been little seen or heard since her election to the Knesset in September.
Israeli legislator Orly Levy-Abeksis (L) campaigns at a shopping mall in the town of Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem February 22, 2015. Whether on the left, in the centre or on the right of the spectrum, women are filling senior positions in Israel's major parties, influencing the style, tone and manner of politics, even if it remains a tough-talking game. One of the most prominent is Levy-Abeksis, number two on the list for Yisrael Beitenu, a far-right nationalist party that is expected to win 5 or 6 seats in
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“We will change the current reality and carry a message of real social change,” said Knesset member Orly Levy-Abekasis in July when announcing that her party, Gesher, would be joining forces with the Labor Party. Levy-Abekasis and Labor Chairman Amir Peretz spoke of a “historic union” and “tearing down walls.” They also expected to win 15 seats in the September election. The Labor-Gesher alliance ultimately won only six seats, however, and since then almost nothing has been heard from Levy-Abekasis. What happened to the woman who was determined as recently as last year to conquer every political peak and who was considered by many to be the “determining factor” in Israeli politics?

With Israel now racing toward the abyss of a third election, debate about a “big merger” on the left has returned, rooted in the fear that one of the current left-wing parties will fail to pass the four-seat electoral threshold for the Knesset. The most recent polls are not promising, indicating that both the Democratic Camp and Labor-Gesher will lose at least one seat. If the trickle of votes to their big sister party, Blue and White, continues, it is safe to say that pressure on the two will intensify. At the same time, it is also safe to assume that the Democratic Camp, which only won five seats in September and has been willing to join forces with Labor from the start, will be under greater pressure to form such a union. On the other hand, joining forces with the Democratic Camp runs counter to the core thesis of Labor’s Peretz, who believes that a socially oriented left is essential to the country and views a merger with the Democratic Camp as a last resort.

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