Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel /Occupied Palestine) 29.05.2025
As we said for weeks, Yair Golan is a right-wing charlatan wearing a left-wing Zionist mask.
Today we are informed that Yair Golan, chairman of the Democrats party, called on Thursday morning during a speech at the Berl Katznelson Foundation’s “Democratic Israel Will Win” conference for a merger between his party and Yesh Atid and the National Camp, stressing that “we must go under the stretcher together” and establish one large party that will lead the bloc in the upcoming elections. Sources close to opposition leader Yair Lapid rejected the move: “He was presented with the polls that prove that such a union will only shrink the bloc and return voters to Netanyahu.”
Golan did not say publicly who would head the union, but according to political sources, in private conversations, he made it clear to the heads of the parties — Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid — that polls should be conducted, “and whoever gets more seats will lead.” However, the two are not expected to agree due to the differences in views between them and Golan, and the chances of a move are not great. In an interview with Ynet last week, Lapid condemned Golan’s remarks, he referred to polls that predict a single-digit number of seats for his party. “We will all know how to work after the elections and establish a government of change and hope. I have no interest in discussions about the mandates before elections. This will change 1,000 times,” Lapid said.
Lapid’s circle, however, expressed opposition to the move. “The time has come for Yair Golan to stop helping Netanyahu with harmful statements,” they said. “He knows that he is hurting the chances of winning the elections, and he was presented with the polls that prove that such a union will only shrink the bloc and return voters to Netanyahu. It’s not clear why he insists on making himself the right’s greatest asset just for the sake of headlines.”
On the other hand, those around Golan said in response to this opposition that “the time has come for us to stop running after polls and start formulating a moral and ideological backbone.” According to them, “We have to stop the old politics. It did not win a single election. Enough of being afraid and together we will win. Merav Michaeli was also presented with surveys and counseled consultants, and we saw how it ended.”
According to Golan, “We must unite before the elections and establish the largest party within the bloc, which will be the alternative that will lead the next government and determine the path of Israel. We must re-establish the political, security and democratic backbone of the country. That way we can lead – and not be led again.”
Golan harshly attacked Netanyahu’s government, calling it “the anti-Zionist and undemocratic right-wing government,” which he said strives for “a full-fledged occupation, annexation, an eternal war, life by the sword and a future without hope.” He called for the formation of a single common front of all the opposition factions that are not part of the coalition: “We democrats, Lapid, Gantz, Eisenkot, Liberman and Bennett – we are all on the same side. This is the next unity government.”
Golan stressed that the alternative offered by his camp must be “moral and ideological – not just ‘just not Bibi.’ We know what this path should look like: a strong democracy, a humane and diverse Judaism, complete equality between all citizens of the country and a true political partnership with Israeli Arabs.” He said, “We have the backing of millions of citizens, of countless protest movements and civil society organizations. We are not a minority, we are the majority. And a democratic, liberal, egalitarian Israel will win.”
The problem is that we do not have a party with a program of one secular democratic state that includes the Palestinian refugees.
Hadash, the Stalinist front, is calling for two bourgeois states and a just solution for the Palestinian refugees. The right-wing centrists “Socialist Struggle” also call for two states, but add to it “socialist” as they support the right of self-determination for the settler colonialists.
Trotsky, dealing with the South African apartheid, wrote:
A Black Republic?
“The overthrow of the hegemony of British imperialism in South Africa can come about as the result of a military defeat of Great Britain and the disintegration of the Empire. In this case, the South African whites could still for a certain period – hardly a considerable one – retain their domination over the blacks.
Another possibility, which in practice could be connected with the first, is a revolution in Great Britain and her possessions. Three-quarters of the population of South Africa (almost six million of the almost eight million total) is composed of non-Europeans. A victorious revolution is unthinkable without the awakening of the native masses. In its turn, that will give them what they are so lacking today – confidence in their strength, a heightened personal consciousness, a cultural growth.
Under these conditions, the South African Republic will emerge first of all as a “black” republic; this does not exclude, of course, either full equality for the whites, or brotherly relations between the two races, depending mainly on the conduct of the whites. But it is entirely obvious that the predominant majority of the population, liberated from slavish dependence, will put a certain imprint on the state.”[i]
The result is that even those Israeli Jews who begin to break with Zionism are captured in the Zionist cage.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu is expanding the settlements and creating new ones to prevent any chance for even a mini-Palestinian state. This policy is an open declaration and admission that Israel is an apartheid state.
The only solution is one secular democratic state for the Israelis and all the Palestinians, including the Palestinian refugees, governed by a workers’ government supported by the Fallahin!
Endnote:
[i] Leon Trotsky Letter to South African Revolutionaries (April 1933)