Linda Gradstein/The Media Line
The center-left Labor party, which recently announced a joint list with former Justice Minister TzippiLivni’sHatnuah party, announced the results of party primaries today, with women taking four of the top ten spots. After party leader Yitzhak Herzog and Livni, number three on the list is former Labor party leader Shelly Yachimovich, followed by StavShaffir, a young Knesset member who was one of leaders of Israel’s social protest movement in 2011.
The results mean that three of the top five slots in the party went to women. Former journalist MeravMichaeli, one of the Knesset’s most prolific lawmakers, is also in the top ten.
Writing on his Facebook page after the results were announced, Labor Party leader Yitzhak Herzog wrote, “This is a morning of hope! We’ve selected a good list yesterday: honest, brave and combative, with a lot of Zionism, that combines experience with ground-breaking thinking, deep-rooted ideologies and a great ability to execute.”
Several recent polls show the Labor-Tnuah list would receive 24 seats in the 120-seat Israeli Knesset if the elections were held today. Labor is running neck-and-neck with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party. After the March election, Israel’s President will ask one of the parties (usually the one that received the most votes) to try to form a majority coalition with 61 seats.
Herzog has signed a deal with Livni that, if they form the next coalition, each would serve as Prime Minister for two years. That would make Livni only the second female Prime Minister of Israel after Golda Meir, elected on March 17, 1969, the same day that these elections are being held 45 years later.
The win in the primaries by Yachimovich, a former outspoken journalist, as well as Shaffir and another former leader of the social protest movement ItzikShmuly, show that Labor intends to focus on economic issues, rather than questions of Israel’s security. While most of Israel’s national elections have focused on security issues and the chance of a deal with the Palestinians, the social protest movement of 2011 focused on the high cost of living in Israel.
Polls show that most Israelis have given up hope of any peace deal with the Palestinians, and that economic issues are high on their personal agendas. At the same time, there are concerns about personal security after a wave of attacks in Jerusalem, which could benefit the Likud or other parties on the right.
“The Labor party is returning to its ideological core as a social democratic party,” Rabbi Gilad Kariv, the head of the Reform movement in Israel and a Labor Party candidate, told The Media Line. “I believe we have a competitive and impressive list that can confront the issues facing Israeli society.”
Women’s organizations also welcomed the results of the Labor primary elections.
“We are very happy that one of Israel’s leading parties will have four women in the top ten slots,” Dana Naor, the director of the legal department at the Israel Women’s Network, a women’s lobby group, told The Media Line. “We are also happy that these are feminist women who have been advocating for women’s rights for many years.”
She said she expects these Knesset members to raise many issues concerning women, including the gender pay gap. Although the percentage of women working in Israel is high (more than two-thirds of Jewish women in Israel work outside the home), they earn between 15 and 30 percent less, depending on the sector, than their male counterparts.
Another issue is the retirement age for women, currently at 62, although there was an attempt in the last Knesset to raise it to 65, a move women’s groups opposed.
The current Knesset has 27 female members out of 120, less than a quarter of the total, even though women make up more than half of Israel’s population. Naor says she hopes the next Knesset will have more women and eventually they will reach 60, a goal she calls “a dream.”