Labor 'finished its role' in Israeli politics, Michaeli must resign - Omer Bar Lev

"It began when the party decided to lower its security flag to half-mast," the former IDF Sayeret Matkal commander lamented.

 Labor party leader MK Merav Michaeli leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on July 17, 2023 (photo credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Labor party leader MK Merav Michaeli leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on July 17, 2023
(photo credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Labor Party has "finished its historic role" in Israeli politics, former Labor MK and public security minister Omer Bar-Lev said on Saturday.

Speaking on Channel 12's Meet the Press program, Bar Lev claimed his former faction leader MK Merav Michaeli must resign from her role as party head.

"The Labor Party, in its current state, has finished its historic role in Israeli politics," Bar-Lev declared, explaining that "we can see it in the polls.

Bar-Lev: This is not the Labor party I joined

"It began when the party decided to lower its security flag to half-mast," the former IDF Sayeret Matkal commander lamented. "Since then, we are in decline."

Bar-Lev added that "the leader of the faction might have risen it from the ashes to seven mandates, but now we are on four. This is not the Labor party I joined."

Zionist Union MK Omer Bar-Lev (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Zionist Union MK Omer Bar-Lev (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

Last month, it was reported that opposition sources criticized Michaeli, accusing her of "radicalizing the discourse in order to seek a new base, and maybe out of political distress."