Impudence, sheer opportunism, cowardice and treason. There is no word strong enough to describe the act perpetrated last week by Labor-Gesher-Meretz's No. 2 Orly Levy, when she announced she would not support a narrow government supported externally by the Joint List - a predominantly Arab party.
And in order to ensure that she really twisted the knife, Levy said she no longer saw herself as obligated to a partnership with the left-wing Meretz party, a partnership she claimed "was forced upon me and my partner Amir Peretz by several elements, including the Blue & White party."
Forced? Really? Dare we ask how exactly? Maybe with a gun pointed at your head? Were there threats or blackmail? You really didn't know what kind of party you were joining, or that it supported the formation of a narrow government?
Reading Levy's request for "a divorce" might give the impression that she was the head of a party bursting with voters whom she offered as a dowry in exchange for a political partnership, but is now feeling cheated.
The reality is completely different. If anyone forced themselves upon another, it was Levy upon Meretz. More specifically, it was Amir Peretz who forced her on Meretz due to his loyalty to his partnership with her.
From the very beginning, Meretz saw Levy as a foreigner in its ranks.
Levy, who didn’t even pass the electoral threshold during the second round of elections in September, behaves like she is a precious jewel and anyone who can win her should consider themselves to be the luckiest person alive.
It is impossible to recall such hubris from a politician who not only failed to deliver on what was promised but had nothing to promise in the first place.
Levy's partnership with Meretz saved her from oblivion; to prove how misplaced her arrogance is, one only has to look to the election results in her hometown of Beit Shean, where Gesher received 403 votes on March 2, less than half the the 821 votes it received in the April 2019 vote.
Let's not forget the fact that Meretz and Labor almost definitely suffered the loss of votes over this partnership with Gesher, as Levy is seen as a representative of the right.
It is not just the betrayal when her party was needed the most, it is also the complete contradiction between the things she said on the eve of the elections and her statement on Tuesday in which she announced she was no longer bound to the partnership with Meretz.
It is not even close to the case of Blue & White MKs Yoaz Hendel and Zvi Hauser, who declared ahead of the March 2 elections that they would neither accept Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister nor agree to a narrow government backed by the Joint List - and who in the end only stuck by their refusal to accept Arab support.
One can criticize their choice, one could even say that they chose racism over integrity, that they preferred to sit with a thrice-indicted man instead of in a government that has outside backing from the representatives of approximately 20% of Israelis.
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Heads of Labor-Gesher meeting with President Reuven Rivlin
(Photo: Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Levy made no such declaration; in fact, the opposite is true. Before the elections, she said on more than one occasion she had no problem sitting in a government supported by the Joint List. They are after all, she said with unexpected enlightenment, part of the Israeli population.
That is why when she said that she would not support such a government, she was just flat out lying.
The internet does not forget, and you can see her exact words during her interviews prior to the elections in videos published on social media.
What makes Levy even more treacherous is not only the fact that she betrayed Peretz, who carried her on his back all through the elections, but that she betrayed those who voted Labor-Gesher-Meretz and had no fears over a government supported by the Arabs.
Her act pushed the head of Meretz to demand she vacate her seat in the Knesset, a seat he rightly claims she won thanks to the voters of the left-wing bloc.
"We are all witnessing leaders who pledged to act with integrity and accountability, engaged in shameful display of lobbying," wrote Levy last week.
"These leaders are willing to pay any price in order to form a minority government."
Even the prime minister's son, Yair Netanyahu, is no capable of writing such a blunt statement. One can only wonder at Levy's reason for doing so.
Was it the talks between Yisrael Beytenu's Avigdor Liberman and the Blue & White leadership that got her to jump ship? Or was it the fact that she had been negotiating with Likud behind the backs of her associates?
That would explain after all why Likud upped its demands to be part of a unity government with Blue & White.
It is true Levy vehemently denied the accusations she was a prime contender to defect to the ranks of the Likud, she also lied though when she said she is all for a minority government supported by the Arab population.