Labor MKs Gilad Kariv and Naama Lazimi announced on Sunday their support for former IDF deputy chief of staff Yair Golan to be the next leader of the party.
The endorsement signals Kariv and Lazimi’s support for Golan’s plan to merge Labor into a larger party that will include supporters of the left-wing party Meretz and members of protest groups against the government.
Golan previously served as a member of the Knesset within Meretz. He ran for the leadership of Meretz ahead of the November 2022 election and lost to Zehava Galon. Current Labor chairperson MK Merav Michaeli refused to merge with Meretz ahead of that election, and Meretz eventually failed to pass the electoral threshold.
Golan said in a video statement that Kariv and Lazimi were "excellent parliamentarians" and added, "After I am elected, we will together lead to many more mergers in order to create a large and broad movement."
"The responsibility for change and hope is on us"
Lazimi said, "The responsibility for change and hope is on us. We have an opportunity for a diplomatic-security, economic, and social horizon for life itself."
Kariv added, “These days, what is required of us is to join forces and [create] collaborations... Together we will build the joint home for the Zionist Left, a home that will fly the diplomatic-security flag, the social flag, and the democratic flag.”
Golan first announced his intention to run for head of Labor on March 7. Michaeli herself announced that she would not run for another term as head of Labor, and the only other person to announce her candidacy so far is Labor MK Efrat Rayten. Potential candidates have until May 1 to join the party and May 5 to announce their candidacy, and the election itself will be on May 28.
Golan was also endorsed earlier this month by the Kibbutz Movement, whose secretary-general, Lior Simcha, and Kibbutz Economic Organizations Union CEO Yaakov Becher, both said they would act to form a new “social-defense” party led by Golan, that will unify Labor, Meretz, protests movements, and civil organizations.
“We must rise from the disaster [of October 7] to a better country whose priorities serve all of Israel. We deserve a government that cares for security and agriculture, settlement, periphery, and healing the schisms in the people,” Simcha and Becher said.