Zionist Camp split reveals ethnic divide among Israeli left
The dissolution of the Zionist Camp is about much more than a rift between Labor head Avi Gabbay and Hatnua leader Tzipi Livni; it shows that the long years of bitterness between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews are far from over.
Labor chair Avi Gabbay unexpectantly announced his political divorce from his Zionist Camp partner, Hatnua head Tzipi Livni, on Jan. 1. The announcement, which broke the Zionist Camp into its original components, was followed by a rapid deterioration in the party’s standing in the polls to single-digit numbers, accompanied by mounting voices calling for Gabbay to be fired.
The move testifies to Gabbay’s failure to improve the image of the party that ruled all of Israel from the establishment of the state until 1977.
