A series of interviews with candidates who are likely to become new MKs.

Yisrael Beytenu’s Sharon Gal

Ex-journalist refers to his closed sexual harassment case in expressing lack of trust in police probe of his party.

Yisrael Beytenu candidate Sharon Gal was in a good mood as he had lunch in the Knesset cafeteria Thursday afternoon – after all, the Central Elections Committee had just accepted his party’s petition and voted in favor of disqualifying MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad) from running for the next Knesset. Continue reading

Yesh Atid’s Haim Jelin

Jelin, who immigrated from Argentina as a lone soldier, maintains a sunny disposition despite being chairman of the rocket-plagued Eshkol Regional Council.

“I’m always optimistic,” Eshkol Regional Council chairman and Yesh Atid candidate Haim Jelin said Sunday. “Whoever is not optimistic cannot be the head of a regional council near the Gaza border.”

Jelin, who has led the Eshkol Regional Council through Operations Cast Lead, Pillar of Defense and Protective Edge, decided to move from local politics to the national scene and from voting for Labor to voting Yesh Atid, where he is 7th on the list. Continue reading

Zionist Union’s Revital Swid

The surprising success story in Labor’s primary, a successful criminal defense attorney and the party’s only Orthodox candidate, says “Zionism doesn’t just belong to the Right.”

Labor didn’t see Revital Swid coming.

The criminal defense attorney, who was known for representing high-profile criminals like the Abutbul family, only began to consider entering politics last summer. Now she is a sure thing for the next Knesset, passing incumbents to reach No. 14 on the Zionist Union list.

Swid, a 47-year-old Ra’anana resident, is a married mother of four children, ranging in age from seven to 22. She has been a lawyer for 23 years, with her own firm for 20, reaching prominent positions in the Bar Association, but she decided to leave her comfort zone. Continue reading

Likud’s Yoav Kisch

Likud candidate Yoav Kisch supports a social justice agenda with a neoliberal twist.

Kisch’s name first became well-known when he helped found “Camp Sucker,” the protest tent camps set up in 2012 to promote equality in the burden of national service. Within months, he became the reservists’ representative to the Knesset’s Plesner Committee, which was dedicated to passing a haredi conscription bill.

Now in the 19th position on the Likud’s candidates list, which is reserved for a resident of Gush Dan, he is running for the Knesset a second time after getting voted into an unrealistic spot ahead of the last election, and he hopes to continue working in the Camp Sucker spirit. Continue reading

2 thoughts on “Meet the candidates”

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Mezo Frank | April 21, 2015 at 5:07 AM

Hi there! This article couldn’t be written much better! Looking
through this post reminds me of my previous roommate!
He always kept preaching about this. I’ll forward this post to him.
Pretty sure he will have a great read. I appreciate you for sharing!