Blue and White: Peretz can't see through closed binoculars
By GIL HOFFMANAmir Peretz(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Labor leader Amir Peretz unveiled a new economic plan for his party in a press conference at his party’s Tel Aviv headquarters on Monday and faced immediate attacks from parties across the political spectrum.The eight-point plan calls for raising Israel’s minimum wage to NIS 40 an hour, building 200,000 government housing units, free education for children of all ages, free health care, a minimum NIS 6,000 pension, zero Value Added Tax on basic items, investment in small businesses, unemployment benefits for independent workers and raising welfare stipends.“The tragedy of the economy under [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is that even though Israel’s credit rating is AA plus, the credit of the Cohen family in Hadera is BB minus,” Peretz said.The first attack on the plan came from United Right Knesset candidate Naftali Bennett, who summarized it as “taxing the wealthy and giving out lots of presents.” He warned that the plan would make the wealthy leave the country and investors turn elsewhere.Blue and White then tweeted that Peretz “cannot see through his closed binoculars,” but warned that he could implement his plans as finance minister for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Peretz responded by challenging Bennett to a debate on economic policy, which he accepted and Labor reacted to Blue and White by saying that in hindsight, Peretz proved that he had more economic vision through those same binoculars than all the generals in Blue and White.
