Ronen Tzur to Run in Democrats Primary, Says He Will Pursue “Traitors”

Ronen Tzur announced on Tuesday night that he will run in the primary of The Democrats, the party led by Yair Golan. Tzur, a communications and strategy consultant who previously headed the Hostages Families Forum headquarters, said: “I know all the tricks and tactics, they are afraid of me, so I will run and ask for your trust.”

Speaking at the “Victory Machine” conference in Tel Aviv, an event that brought together about 6,000 fighters, he said that when he set up the Hostages Families Forum he did not imagine “to what low the state would be brought by a pack of traitors,” adding that after entering the Knesset he would ensure they are brought to trial. He also said that when he created the “Victory Machine” he did not expect “how quickly and with what determination thousands of members would follow me” to defeat “the satanic machine of poison.”

Tzur argued that the coming election is not about who is more statesmanlike or nicer, and not for “people of soft language” or “professional mandate destroyers.” He said The Democrats’ list should consist only of “fighters,” with “power, energy, anger, love of country, hope in the eyes and a knife between the teeth,” and added, “That is me.”

He also said The Democrats should be a 17-seat party and that Golan should become defense minister. In his view, the slate must be balanced and made up of leaders who are not fringe figures, not suspected of corruption, and not competing with extreme rhetoric that drives away many voters.

Other speakers at the conference included Golan, Hadas Klein, Yossi Marshek, Eyal Eshel, Lucy Aharish, and Knesset members Naama Lazimi, Efrat Rayten, and Gilad Kariv. Tzur previously served as Blue and White’s strategist in the April 2019 election, left after disputes with Yair Lapid, and later advised Benny Gantz personally during the September 2019 election round.