Israel's Gabbay Targets Netanyahu After Victory in Labor Runoff
- Former Bezeq CEO promises to inject aging party with new life
- Gabbay comes out of political obscurity to beat Labor veterans
Avi Gabbay
Photographer: Tsafrir Abayov/AP PhotoThis article is for subscribers only.
Israel’s Avi Gabbay, who steered the country’s biggest telecommunications company before entering politics barely four years ago, won a runoff contest to lead the Labor party and its efforts to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Gabbay took 52 percent of the votes cast by party members in the upset victory over Amir Peretz, a former defense minister and chairman of the party, who got 48 percent, according to results announced at party headquarters late Monday in Tel Aviv. He joined Labor just over half a year ago after starting his political career by helping to found the consumer-focused Kulanu party in 2013.