The Labor Party, once Israel’s largest political party that ruled the country for decades but has declined dramatically in recent elections, set an admirable example of resilience during wartime in its smooth primary race on Tuesday.
Its new leader, Yair Golan, who won 95.15% of the vote, pledged to unite all left-wing parties into a single bloc and provide a real alternative for the Israeli electorate. Whatever your political views, this is good news for Israeli democracy and augurs well for the next national election.
“We have to unite everyone – Labor, Meretz, the protest organizations, those disappointed by other parties,” Golan said after his victory was declared, adding that he would get to work immediately on forming a new left-wing alliance.
The Labor Party, whose predecessors and leaders had ruled Israel since the nation’s establishment in 1948, was formed in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda, and Rafi. The Labor Alliance, which once had a whopping 45 seats in the Knesset, lost its majority for the first time in 1977 when Likud won the election for the first time; in the last election in 2022, it plunged to only four seats under the leadership of Merav Michaeli.
She served as Labor leader since Amir Peretz’s resignation in 2021. She initially raised the number of its Knesset seats to seven and graciously congratulated Golan, wishing him and the party “great success.”
Golan's landslide labor victory
Golan, 62, is a former IDF deputy chief of staff who joined Ehud Barak’s Israel Democratic Party in 2019, served as an MK for the Democratic Union alliance, then moved to Meretz from 2020 to 2022. He became deputy economy minister under Orna Barbivai in the Bennett-Lapid government before joining Labor in February this year.
A general in the reserves, Golan drove himself to the South on October 7 and heroically rescued many people at the Nova music festival. Married and the father of five, he holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from https://jpost.1eye.us/israel-news/article-796716 and a master’s degree in public administration policy from Harvard, and lives in Rosh Ha’ayin.
In the primary, he scored a landslide victory against veteran party activist Azi Nagar (0.77%,) online gambling magnate Avi Shaked (1.89%,) and anti-corruption attorney Itay Leshem (1.76%.)
According to Labor, 31,353 party members – 60.6% of the eligible 51,747 – voted in the primary. Since January 2024, it said, Labor has registered more than 20,000 new members. “I congratulate the over 20,000 citizens who joined us to establish a large and determined political home for the liberal-democratic camp,” said Labor’s director-general Nir Rozen. “The Labor Party is entering a new era, and I hope that better days will soon come to the State of Israel.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, who heads Yesh Atid, signaled that he would welcome a future coalition with Labor, tweeting that “Israel needs patriotic public representatives, lovers of the country like Golan. We have a lot of work to do for the country. I wish success to Golan and the Labor Party.”
Labor MK Gilad Kariv tweeted: “The members of the Labor Party voted unanimously today in favor of Yair Golan, in favor of uniting forces on the Zionist Left, and favor of a path of hope. Tonight, we took the first step in the journey to repair and restore the State of Israel and Israeli society.”
Meretz has indicated that it is ready to merge with Labor for the next election. One of Michaeli’s failures, according to Labor sources, was her refusal to join Meretz before the last election, a move that kept the party out of the Knesset.
In his victory speech, Golan lashed out at the Netanyahu government and its handling of the war, but his tone was more inclusive and upbeat.
“We will be a home of truth for all democrats,” he said: “a liberal, pluralistic, and open home, a broad home whose heart is generous to all, a Zionist home that is committed to the values of the Declaration of Independence, to enlightened Judaism, to Judaism that sees the person at the center and not the land, because a good country serves its citizens and does everything possible to ensure that their blood does not saturate its land.”
As the Gaza war approaches its eighth month with no end in sight, we urge other parties to follow Labor’s example and set primaries for new leaders. Perhaps more than anything else, Israel needs leaders who offer hope for the future.