Lasky demanded to stop using "Judea and Samaria," Golan replied: "It is not a right-wing term"
During a closed-door meeting, the Democrats party leadership instructed candidates to coordinate all public statements with headquarters. Gaby Lasky urged Yair Golan to replace the term "Judea and Samaria" with "West Bank," but the chairman rejected the request.
The Democrats faction convened this week for a closed-door meeting, during which a debate arose regarding the party's messaging and the need to maintain member discipline during the election campaign. The party leadership instructed candidates that if they have issues with a specific party message, they should first contact the headquarters rather than posting independent statements on social media.
At the center of the discussion was the party's conduct regarding the terror attack at Havat Gilad the previous weekend. It has been learned that during the meeting, Gaby Lasky, a candidate representing Meretz who reached sixth place in the primaries, remarked to party chairman Yair Golan that he uses the term "Judea and Samaria" in his messages, and demanded:
"Call it the West Bank."
Golan replied that he "denies that 'Judea and Samaria' is a right-wing term."
Sources present at the meeting indicated that representatives of the Arab sector on the list, candidate Sumaya Bashir (tenth place) and candidate Aed Badir, criticized Golan's initial response to the incident, noting that they received significant backlash regarding his tweet within the Arab sector. In his initial tweet, Golan defined the event as a terror attack rather than "friction between settlers and Palestinians," which some party members perceived as a "right-wing message and a settler narrative."
The Democrats party responded that they do not comment on discussions held in closed meetings.
