Labor leader asks public to run with him- literally

Labor Party leader Avi Gabbay’s spokeswoman said the 50-year-old politician has participated in eight marathons.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Avi Gabbay (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Avi Gabbay
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Labor Party leader Avi Gabbay is running again, but this time in a different kind of race.
Gabbay on Wednesday invited the public to run with him in the annual Tel Aviv Night Run that will be held on October 31. Sources close to the MK said they hoped it would help him appeal to new sectors that do not normally vote for Labor.
“We take part in the night run every year and, when Avi decided to run, we decided to run with him and invite the public to join us,” said Lior Levy, who organized the Labor initiative.
Participants in Gabbay’s group will run with Labor Party balloons. Gabbay’s spokeswoman said the 50-year-old politician has participated in eight marathons.
Gabbay started off the week Saturday by making headlines when he said at a cultural event in Beersheba that he would not sit in a coalition with the Joint (Arab) List. On Sunday, the leader of the Israeli Left told a crowd in Dimona he was not sure if there was a partner for peace on the Palestinian side.
Then, on Monday, he caused a political storm when Channel 2 aired part of an interview with him in which he promised that, as part of a peace agreement with the Palestinians, settlements would not have to be evacuated.
He also said, in a clip from the interview broadcast Tuesday night, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not have to resign due to the “expensive gift affair” unless he is indicted by Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit.