I am watching with interest what is happening in the Labor party with Avi Gabbay as the new chairman and his recent statements, and the opposition developing because of them.

Gabbay is saying things not quite in tune with the Labor party mainstream ideas.

When he ran for chairmanship of the party it was said that he was an outsider, not really a true or classic Labor person and had even been associated with the Right and Likud at earlier stages in his life, though being new to politics there did not seem to be anything clear on his actual positions or history regarding those positions.

It turns out now that at least on nationalist issues Avi Gabbay is pretty similar to a mainstream Likudnik, or even anybody on the Right such as a member of Habayit Hayehudi or Shas.

First he talks about not forming a government coalition with the Arab parties. Then he talks about not dismantling settlements. And now he is talking about how Abraham was promised all the land of Israel and we will need other creative solutions to come to peace besides for dismantling settlements.

People on the Left are livid, and I wait to see if they try to oust him from the chairmanship of Labor or if they give him a chance to come up with a plan that can challenge the Right in a realistic way. From that perspective, what they have been trying for the past 20 years or so has not worked and they have pretty much been kept out of power, possibly because of it. Maybe they need a new approach and maybe Avi Gabbay can bring it.