Political drama on the far left: Political strategist Ronen Tzur announced this evening (Wednesday) his withdrawal from running in the Democratic Party primaries - and disavowed the party.
Tzur, who joined the party only nine days ago, made serious accusations against the party's leadership and its ideological line.
Tzur: "This is a party that is close to Ofer Kassif. The process of 'democracy' will prevent it from even being part of the next coalition.".
He said these things in an interview with the "Sheva" program on Channel 12.
At the "Victory Machine" conference held in Tel Aviv in the presence of about 1,500 activists on June 15, Tzur dramatically announced his joining the party. He presented himself as someone who knows how to crack the right-wing propaganda line, saying: "I know how to beat them. I know how to defeat them. I know how to answer them in their language. I know all the tricks and the tricks, they are afraid of me, and therefore I will run and ask for your trust.".
The Democratic Party has not yet responded.
A storm arose around Tzur after thousands of text messages were distributed to party officials, in which candidate Nimrod Shefer was described as "an extreme leftist who cowers before the advocates of October 7.".
The content of the text messages resembled criticism that Tzur had previously leveled at Shefer, creating the impression that this was a negative campaign originating from Tzur's headquarters. However, it later emerged that the person who distributed the messages was Shefer's personal spokesman.
Following the exposure, claims were made that the goal of the move was to make functionaries attribute the messages to Tzur and disavow him.
It should be noted that the party's bylaws, which were approved about two weeks ago, allow for the removal of a party member who uses false, defamatory propaganda.
After the publication, Sheffer issued an apology and took responsibility for the incident: "I apologize. One of the text messages sent today as part of the primaries came from my team - but it was written in such a way that it seemed as if it was intended to attack me. The message echoed Ronen Tzur's messages and was therefore attributed to him.".
Sheffer added: "This is not the spirit I want to bring to politics, and the fact that I did not know about the move does not absolve me of responsibility. The responsibility is entirely mine." He said he spoke with Tzur and apologized to him, and also apologized to party members.
