Avi Gabbay

Kulanu Party

Prior to the 2015 Knesset elections he was amongst the founders of the new Kulanu party.^[6] Despite not being elected to the Knesset, he was appointed Minister of Environmental Protection in the Netanyanu government.^[7] On 27 May 2016, he submitted his resignation from the government in protest at the appointment of Avigdor Lieberman as Minister of Defense and the coalition's shift to the right.^[8][9]

Labor party

On 29 December 2016, Gabbay announced he would join the Israeli Labor Party,^[10] and on 4 March 2017 announced he would run for the Labor Party leadership in the intra-party election for the leadership of the Israeli Labor Party, held in July 2017. The announcement was unusual because he was not a sitting Knesset member at the time.^[11] In the first round Amir Peretz came first with 32.7% and Gabbay came second with 27.08%; In the second round on 10 July Gabbay won with 52.4% of the vote.^[12] Since Gabbay is not a Knesset member, he will lead the party from outside of the Knesset. In addition, usually the head of the largest opposition party in the Knesset gets the official title of Leader of the Opposition. Because Gabbay is not a current Knesset member, he worked out a deal with Issac Herzog, that Herzog, as the outgoing leader of the Labor Party, will retain the title of Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset.^[13] As leader, Gabbay is believed to be leading Labor away from the left; to that end he has sought advice from such figures as Tony Blair.^[14]

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

In his political plan, published during the 2017 Labor leadership primaries,^[15] Gabbay expressed support for a two-state solution, with the Palestinian state being demilitarized and the settlement blocs and Jordan Valley remaining under Israeli control. The Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem would become Area B.^[15] Palestinian refugees would receive compensation. The bilateral agreement with the Palestinians would be part of a regional agreement, with the aim of strengthening the moderate Sunni axis vis-à-vis Iran and the Shiite axis. The IDF would be deployed along the Jordan River until the conflict is resolved, maintaining Israeli freedom of action in the West Bank. Construction in the settlements outside the main blocs must be frozen, in order to channel the money so that it will priorities the periphery and settlement blocs, not isolated settlements ("Dimona and not Amona").^[15]

In October 2017, during a television interview, he stated that there was no need to evacuate settlements as part of an agremment.^[16][17] Later, he clarified that he was committed to the two-state solution and the distinction between settlement blocs and isolated settlements, in which construction must be stopped, but that there is no need to draw the borders of future negotiations and its recipe at this stage, including an immediate evacuation of all settlements and an undertaking to evacuate as a starting point for talks, and that any solution that will lead to an agreement should be examined.^[18][19][20]

Following the President Donald Trump's declaration of recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Gabbay was recorded in an interview saying that "undivided Jerusalem" is more important than a political settlement with the Palestinians.^[21] However, about six months earlier he explained that "undivided Jerusalem" did not include the Arab neighborhoods on the suburbs of Jerusalem.^[22]

In January 2018, he declared that if the negotiations with the Palestinians will fail, a unilateral disengagement should be carried out, and that such a plan does not necessarily require the evacuation of settlements. ^[23]

Economy

According to the social-economic plan he published during the 2017 Labor leadership primaries, Gabbay supports an increase in expenditure on social benefits and services along with public sector efficiency measures. He supports the reduction of inequality between central Israel and the periphery, and between Jews and Arabs in the education system. He opposes teachers in the public school system being employed by third-party labor contractors. According to the plan, he supports the public health system and a complete separation with private healthcare, instead favoring expanding public health spending to the OECD average. According to Gabbay, public transport can be a social tool that reduces inequality and contributes to social mobility, and he supports additional investment of NIS 100 billion in public transport over a decade, and supports public transportation over private in infrastructure and accessibility.

Gabbay supports the expansion of the social networks protecting all employees, and is in favor of linking wages to the Consumer Price Index. He also favors linking wages of soldiers serving in combat units to the minimum wage. According to his plan, an equitable taxation system must be created in order to deal with the trends of inequality and deep gaps in Israeli society; in order to reduce the cost of living in Israel, he proposed that there should be an increase in market competition, a reduction in bureaucracy and competition among kosher agencies should be created. In order to cope with the increase in housing prices in Israel, Gabbay proposes building 300,000 housing units within five years, adopting models of affordable housing and changing the planning process in order to shorten the time of construction of apartments.^[24]

Religion and state

Gabbay stated support for public transportation on Shabbat,^[25] as well as allowing supermarkets and hang-out places to remain open on Shabbat,^[26] Reform conversions,^[27] Civil marriage,^[28] the Western Wall compromise, and against the "Hadata" (הדתה, "religionization") of schools by the activities of the various associations (Amutot)^[29] On the issue of enlisting Ultra orthodox Haredim, on the other hand, he declared that this was unrealistic.^[30]

Education

Gabbay called for reform in the education system in which all streams of education for each sector will be united into one educational stream.^[31][32][33]

Holocaust

In February 2018, the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated that "there were Jewish perpetrators" of the Holocaust, "not only German perpetrators."^[34] Gabbay condemned Morawiecki's words: "The blood of millions of Jews cries from the earth of Poland over the distortion of history and the escape from blame. Jews were murdered in the Holocaust and Poles took an active part in their murder. The government of Israel has to be a voice for the millions of murdered and strongly denounce the Polish prime minister's words."^[35]