Just before the closing of the lists, with his own party, Ofer Shelach hopes to join the left-wing camp, and does not rule out right-wing partners after the election.
"Stand and mumble 'there is no right and no left, Israel first and foremost' and expect it to pass"
"My working assumption was that if there were primaries in Yesh Atid and Lapid won, I would get up the next day and continue working."
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Photography:
Joshua Joseph
At the age of 61, which he will celebrate five days after submitting the lists to the 24th Knesset, Ofer Shelach knows a lot about politics.
Know what the personal price of eight years in the profession is, know what it's like to bite your lip and let the "cockpit" run, know how it feels when your ex-partner ousts you from the party WhatsApp group because you demanded democratic elections, and mostly know that without connections on the left, he's in trouble.
The chairman of the Tnufa party, which currently does not come close to blocking the polls, admits that "the left is in existential danger." In his view, blue and white brought to an end the attempt to establish a center-left camp: "Bring chiefs of staff to lead. People who did not take a public stand In nothing like Gabi Ashkenazi or Bnei Gantz, they stand and mumble sentences like "there is no right and there is no left, Israel first of all" and expect it to pass somehow.One must create a force that has a clear agenda and political power, and this will be achieved only by connections.
"The Tnufa party, together with the Labor and the Israelis, is the natural connection that will create a bloc with a political force that I believe can reach a double-digit number of seats. It will also have the ability to sit in the coalition, led by Gideon Saar. I certainly see myself sitting "With Zeev Elkin. I will know how to sit in front of Saar and Elkin, represent my side and reach agreements that will allow the coalition to function."
On the relationship with Labor Chairman Merav Michaeli and Israeli Chairman Ron Huldai, he says: "Merav and I are friends, room by room in the Knesset. Despite all the years we were in the media, we did not know each other. She was with me in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, did serious work. "We are partners. I met Huldai for a regular lunch once a month as part of a professional friendship. What needs to happen for us to unite? I come to the negotiating room without any prior demands."
Does not work through Gmail
Unlike other party leaders, Shelach is openly active and seeks order in the left-wing bloc.
While others declare mostly in the media a desire for connections or run messengers on their behalf, he believes in direct inquiries and initiates the contacts himself.
"I'm not one to wait, in politics it's considered a weakness. If I think something has to happen I work for it to happen. Unlike Gantz, who stated in the media that he wants connections in general and sent summonses by Gmail, I told Huldai and Michaeli that it was a human error - but First-class mistake - make connections last night.
"I understand, everyone wants to keep the options open. But an early connection is made. Here, Bozi Herzog's early connection with work and Tzipi Livni with Kadima in 2015 was successful. Ganz's connection with 'Resilience to Israel' and Boogie Ya'alon with Tel. The year 2019 was right and early.
In an early connection, beyond convenience, there is energy and momentum.
A last-minute connection seems like something people do to save themselves. "
Shelach was the first to convene a press conference about two and a half weeks ago and called for a connection on the left, with his appeal to "Israelis" and "Labor."
A few hours later that day others had already joined.
The last to do so was Gantz, who gathered himself on not-so-simple days at all, involving the abandonment of nine MKs in a row.
He said goodbye to the "blue and white" logo in the background behind the podium on which he stood to broadcast that he was available for dedication.
When he had finished his statement, he sent a summons on his behalf to all the leaders of the center-left parties for the meeting, which of course did not happen that evening.
"That day I talked about something that in my eyes is exactly right in my view, it has a natural connection that produces a body with abilities," explains Shelach.
"What did Ganz do that evening? Speaking to the media at 20:00, and 56 minutes later the Blue and White Party issued a summons to the party leaders entitled 'Examination Examination'. A summons as in the army, in alphabetical order "A - Horowitz, Zelicha, Huldai, Ya'alon, Lieberman, Lapid, Peretz. I was last registered because he sent it in S. ... It is not clear, it was something between a public relations act and a thought that we might reach."
"I learn a lot from the Likud"
Despite the five apparent seats that still remain for the disintegrating blue and white and can serve a union in the bloc - alongside an oil budget in favor of an election campaign that many parties are staring at - Send is not confused.
In his words, he is in fact strengthening the boycott of the camp that Gantz is suffering from, after violating an election promise and entering the Netanyahu government following the corona crisis.
"Gantz broke his heart for the center-left camp. If he had picked up the phone, there would have been no conversation for me. I have not spoken to him since the day it broke up in blue and white."
According to the crash of the "Israelis" in the polls below the blocking percentage and in light of the refreshment in the "Labor" party with the incoming chairman, it seems that the future of the left bloc is in Michaeli's hands.
"I'm glad the Labor Party came out of the mess it was in last week. Merav said this week that she's calling me to run in the Labor Party's primaries. I know where it came from. She meant you would be happy to see me. But I have a party, I have great people and assuming there are connections, Each essay will be blessed with more than 30 independent organizations, brought with it by Tnufa deputies, Roi Cohen (President of Lahav - Chamber of Independent Organizations and Businesses in Israel). My party also includes a former IDF spokeswoman, Brigadier General (Res.) Ruth "Malkei Yaron, who is a masterpiece of public service. To me, the natural connection that is needed is ideological clarity and political ability."
You left a safe place, No. 2 of Lapid in "There is a Future", to be in an unsafe place. I guess I'll never thank you for regretting it.
"It fascinates me that I can not bring this into consciousness. I did not come to dismantle Yesh Atid, of which I was one of the founders. I will make the reception for the purpose of the discussion - Yesh Atid is a toy of Lapid, and in my eyes a party is not a person's toy. The party, my working assumption was that he would win. What did I say to myself? If that does happen, I will get up in the morning and go to work. I proposed the election because I, led by Yesh Atid, can break many issues over his head, first and foremost the issue of the ultra-Orthodox.
"I am the man who passed the recruitment law in 2014. After I did that, every ultra-Orthodox politician - including Litzman, Gafni and Deri - will say that although they have an argument with me, it is possible to reach agreements and understandings together. This is a glass ceiling I could break in Yesh Atid if "I would stay. Again, I would continue there happy and kind-hearted even if I lost in the primaries for the party leadership."
The price you pay today was worth the move?
"I am willing to pay for the things I entered politics for. That the state of Israel I was born in, grew up in and was defended in its defense will be similar to my vision and beliefs. What I saw in the future was a danger to the political system - I felt I had to act. "To do nothing. A chair in the Knesset is not an aspiration for me. After eight years in the Knesset, much of what I wanted to do, I have more to do."
Do you still feel completely excluded from the Torch environment as well, or has the anger weakened?
"I was removed from Yesh Atid by a person who acted as if the party was his private property and was not willing to discuss. Lapid distanced me from Mish Atid in the way a person behaves in the nature of a toy that belongs to him. It is part of the glass ceiling in Yesh Atid and everyone, including the media, accepts it. A party that wants to be a ruling party cannot be someone's toy. I learn a lot from the Likud. It is a living and kicking party that is grounded and rooted everywhere. I think a ruling party should be like this, even though primaries in the Likud's method and structure increase On the elected representatives and everyone who is in the Knesset. "
Money to silence the people
You enter the Knesset on the standard of the security man of "Yesh Atid". Today you seem to have gone through a process. "Tnufa" deals mainly with economics and society.
"It's a matter of what's important at certain points in time. I was the chairman of the Corona Committee and also the connection with Roi Cohen, on my list, I see as complementary for me.
In the field of security, I studied and worked for four years in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and acquired knowledge, which I also transferred to the socio-economic field.
The epidemic revealed the need for a redefinition of the state's responsibility to the citizens, in the economic and social aspect.
We are in a changing world and many people will change careers and there are professions that are disappearing.
The economic and social security that the welfare state has given to Israelis is undermined, and I want to lay new foundations - this is the most important security mission in Israel.
"The self-employed are the sector most affected by the corona and a safety net needs to be deployed in front of them. I was the chairman of the self-employed lobby in the Knesset and took care of them.
If you had asked the self-employed six months ago what most people want, they would have replied: 'Let the country leave me alone.'
Today the self-employed understand how important state assistance is, and the times we are going to have are not just times of trouble.
Very important is the way in which the state will deploy to man, in a new formulation, a safety net from birth to old age.
Today, life expectancy is rising along with basic questions for which the state must give the practical answer to citizens. "
When you see young people abusing the challah - preferring to sit at sea, or make an income supplement in black - how does that make you feel?
The application is a scandal.
All Netanyahu has presented is that the state throws money from helicopters, in order to silence people.
Giving citizens money is not a safety net, nor is it in the case of the Knesset. The German model is the right model - the state will transfer money to employers for the protection of their workers, and part of the workers' wages will be subsidized by the state in direct payment to employers. And those people who are not currently working and taking advantage of this situation will find themselves unemployed, with no chance of getting a job because employers are running out, without training for proper work and that will hurt a generation of 25-40 year olds.
"Going to work also has a positive value at any age. It gives people a sense of value, income and fulfillment. One of the failures in managing the Corona crisis is the fact that this period was not used to train more people to work in high-tech. The high-tech workforce is less than ten. "Percentage of the labor market, and we must raise it to at least 15 percent."
You have chosen a very binding name for the party. Will future reality prove you were right - a swing in or out of politics?
"The name 'swing' was born to me while running in the Ben Shemen forest. It was born a long time ago, because I always thought that if I formed a party I would call it that - a new beginning, combined with momentum that would take us to the next stage in the country's life. "You ask about the opposite situation? I do not deal with it, I have a goal in front of my eyes. But I can say that I had an excellent life before politics and I will have an excellent life after it as well. I will manage."