On the way to the polls: In preparation for the submission of the lists to the Central Election Committee, this evening (Tuesday) the Yesh Atid party presented its list of candidates for the 25th Knesset at a well-attended event held in Tel Aviv, with the participation of the Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, ministers, members of the Knesset, companies and members of the list, municipal representatives, chiefs of staff There is a future and activists from all over the country.
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Prime Minister Yair Lapid did not make dramatic changes to his list compared to the previous elections. Economy Minister Orna Barbibai took second place, and Welfare Minister Meir Cohen remained in third place on the list.
Lapid spoke at the event presenting the list: “This group says from here to the State of Israel: You have a choice. You have a choice, you can go back, to a government that has been corrupted and damaged and will try to crush our democracy, or continue to step forward so that our children get the future we want for them”.
“What you see here today is the Israeli ruling party, we have proven that we know how to bring hundreds of thousands of people to the polls. We have proven that we know how to win elections, establish a government and lead a country, and now we will do it again,” added Lapid.
He attacked opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu: “Netanyahu’s campaign tells you that Israel is at war. Between the Jews and the Israelis, between the Jews and the Arabs, between politicians and the courts, between the rich and the poor, between the religious and the secular. All anger and hatred and conflicts and incitement. Yesh Atid tells you: The people of Israel are not like that, we are a family. We are better, we are more generous. Our enemies are Iran and Hezbollah and Hamas, not Israelis who think differently from us. We will respect each other, we will respect the common good.”
In addition, the Prime Minister also addressed the issue of Iran and the resolved education crisis: “In recent weeks, we prevented the teachers’ strike, because we worked together. We embarked on an operation in Gaza that achieved all of its goals, because we worked together. We solved the crisis of interns, because we worked together. We succeeded – at least in the current range , I say this carefully – to stop the nuclear agreement with Iran, because we combined forces, worked quietly and made sure that everyone was coordinated.”
Up to the 12th place, the party list remained exactly the same. With the exception of one change, all members of the list from the 13th place and below dropped one place, this to allow the entry of Knesset member Michal Shir into the 13th place, after she came from the party of the Minister of Justice Gideon Sa’ar. Member of Knesset Nir Shepak, who is placed in the 18th place, will not run, and in her place, a new candidate, Mati Harkabi, entered the list.
In addition to Barbibai and Meir Cohen, the party’s top five includes Minister Karin Elharer and Minister Merav Cohen. The second five include ministers Yoel Razvozov, Elazar Stern, Knesset Speaker MK Miki Levy, MK Merav Ben Ari and MK Ram Ben Barak. The second ten are opened by Deputy Minister Yoav Seglovitz and outgoing coalition chairman MK Boaz Toporovski.
In the list that will be presented tonight, 47% are women, with three of them placed in the top five. The list includes two champions in the IDF, two superintendents in the police and a deputy head of the Mossad. Also, of the first 36 on the Yesh Atid list for the Knesset, two are former Olympic athletes, nine are grandparents and nine live in the periphery. 14 (about 40%) define the themselves as traditional or religious. The northernmost candidate lives in Acre and the southernmost candidate lives in Be’er Sheva. In addition, three of the list members belong to the LGBT community.
The Likud stated in response to Lapid’s words: “Contrary to Lapid’s false claims – there is no harm in core studies in the ultra-Orthodox sector. Those who study core will continue to study core. The status quo is maintained, and the ultra-Orthodox did not receive anything that they would not have received from Lapid.”