Gabbay spars with audience for saying disengagement was 'correct step'

Gabbay presented his wider political worldview a day after the Labor primary.

FEBRUARY 12, 2019 11:05

Updated: FEBRUARY 12, 2019 12:31

Avi Gabbay (L) at a conference, February 12th, 2019 (photo credit: screenshot) — Avi Gabbay (L) at a conference, February 12th, 2019

(photo credit: screenshot)

Labor Party chairman Avi Gabbay sparred with the audience at a conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday, who interrupted him after he said Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip was the "correct step."

"People forget that they fired at Sderot from the Gaza Strip," he told the conference hosted by the newspaper B'sheva on Monday. As the crowd interrupted him with boos, Gabbay fired back: "Get used to it," he said. "There are other opinions, too."

Gabbay presented his wider political worldview a day after the Labor primary.

He said that Israel must separate from the Palestinians and work towards a two-state solution, while remaining responsible for security issues, ideally in an arrangement that is based on broad regional support.

Gabbay also said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not "the only story." He said that "after 10 years, Israel deserves change, a different world view [and] a genuine attempt to free itself from the political deadlock and restore compassion and solidarity in the State of Israel."

The Labor chairman attacked right-wing religious parties for not doing enough on social issues plaguing Israel.

Without naming specific parties, he said that they focused too much on the religious commandment of settling the land, but disregarded important social issues.

"Where are these parties? Why do not they deal with these issues? Are they not part of life in the State of Israel?" he asked.

He said that religious communities themselves were suffering from increasingly strict rabbis, and that the Labor Party believed in religious freedom.

"We believe in public transportation on Shabbat," Gabbay added.