For example, what is his position on someone like Mohammad Zoabi, the relative of Haneen Zoabi, but a young Arab man who says he loves Israel, who supports Prime Minister Netanyahu. Marzel responded, without hesitation, “yes, of course he should stay.”
YACHAD SPLIT
There have been reports that Marzel would split from Yachad if they make the threshold. He said he and party head Eli Yishai won’t be splitting up the party. But they will work it out so that Yishai will definitely be a part of the coalition, but Marzel won’t.
Marzel admitted that he did not see himself in the ruling coalition, but that is because, he said, “I cannot sit with a prime minister (Netanyahu) who says there should be two states. If, as was recently reported, however, Netanyahu has decided that giving away part of Eretz Yisroel is wrong, if he admits he made a mistake, then that is different, but I cannot sit with someone who talks about giving away land.”
EXTREMIST
Finally, Marzel was asked about his reputation as a right wing extremist. His response was swift, and unexpected, but it made sense. “With this image I live very nicely in Hebron, among 150,000 Hamas supporters. It helps, this image.” When encouraged to admit there is more to him that people should know, he responded, “People who know me aren’t concerned about my image.”
To go along with that “bad boy” image Marzel wears comfortably, just two days ago an indictment was filed against him. The charge claimed that Marzel hit an Arab during a confrontation, and the army had to physically separate the two. The incident took place two years ago.
The timing of the indictment, just the week before the election, for a several years old incident is curious, but Marzel is likely to just wear it as another coat of varnish on his scrappy warrior visage.
Look for tomorrow’s article, with more Yachad surprises: how the party deals with women’s issues.