Herzog Hoping Buyers Of HaPoel Tel Aviv Also Want Labor Party

Both organizations have roots on the political left.

Tel Aviv, December 7 – Zionist Union faction chief and Opposition leader Isaac Herzog voiced confidence today that if and when a buyer comes along to purchase and rehabilitate the ailing HaPoel Tel Aviv soccer franchise, the investor or investors will do the same for his Labor Party.

Both the party and the soccer team have suffered in recent years from underperformance when it counts, over-reliance on past glory, and far-too-optimistic assessments of their trajectories and public support. In the case of HaPoel, the team has fallen hundreds of millions of shekels into debt and faces receivership and restructuring with the goal of finding a new owner interested in rebuilding the venerable franchise. For Labor, flat electoral performances and a delusional notion that it can convince enough voters to restore the party to power threaten to keep the reins firmly out of Labor’s grasp for the foreseeable future.

Both organizations have roots on the political left, with labor historically a socialist party, and HaPoel – whose name means “the worker” – grew out of early-to-mid-twentieth century Communist associations. HaPoel was the last Israeli soccer team to formally relinquish ties to any political party, in its case the Communist parties Mapam and Maki, as well as the Histadrut labor association. The team’s red emblem includes the iconic hammer and sickle of Communism, and its supporters have always been referred to as “reds.”

Some Labor officials object to the prospect of achieving rejuvenation through new investment. “It was unbridled capitalism that got us and HaPoel into this mess in the first place,” charged former Labor Chairwoman and current MK Shelly Yechimovich, a staunch socialist who intends to run for leadership of the Histadrut next year. “The systematic dismantling of socialist institutions and values since the Right came to power has weakened this society and rendered it susceptible to such dangerous ideas as individual achievement, economic incentives, and private initiative. We of course cannot deflect all the blame, since we failed to indoctrinate the people properly when we were in control.”

“As for HaPoel,” she continued, “the major factor is the soulless capitalist principles by which any football league operates. Instead of caring for and nurturing all clubs equally, the various leagues, be they Israeli or international, allow the more athletic, more skilled teams to tread all over the weaker, less robust organizations. Thus HaPoel has won only one international championship – the Asian Cup, back in 1967 – and hasn’t won the State League Cup since 2012. A team tied for 170th place in the UEFA rankings can never hope to claim a title unless a more equitable system is in place.”

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