The biggest headlines Peretz made in this election cycle had nothing to do with his or his party’s political positions – they had to do with his facial hair.Peretz, a fixture of Israeli politics since the 1980s, shaved off his mustache for the first time in 47 years during this election, saying that he wanted to make sure people could read his lips when he said he will not join a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.The other big move the leader of the long-floundering Labor Party made was to bring in reinforcements in the form of Gesher’s Orly Levy-Abecassis. Peretz faced criticism from within his party, because she was in Yisrael Beytenu, a right-wing party, in the past, and comes from a Likud family, but the Labor leader said it was irrelevant in light of her current opinions.Peretz and Levy-Abecassis are on the economic Left, in favor of increased taxes and higher government spending. They have called for a dramatic increase of minimum wage to NIS 40 per hour from the current NIS 29.The Labor leader and former defense minister is also on the Left on diplomatic matters, strongly supporting a two-state solution and favoring evacuating settlements.
