Top journalist joins Labor
Video: Broadcast journalist Shelly Yechimovitz joins forces with Labor Chairman Peretz following long negotiations; announces she will run in party's primaries
(Video) Senior television and radio journalist Shelly Yechimovitz has accepted Labor Chairman Amir Peretz's request, and announced Tuesday morning that she will run in the Labor party primaries.
Yechimovitz met with Peretz Tuesday morning at the Labor party offices.
Yechimovitz meets with her new party chairman (Photo: Yaron Brenner)
"This is one of the most important days in Israeli politics. This is the first time that a person who fought for so many years on forming public opinion decides, while making concessions and taking risks, to try and make a change instead of just talking about gaps," Peretz said during the meeting.
Yechimovitz with Peretz and Labor Secretary-General Eitan Cabel (Photo: Yaron Brenner)
He added that “Shelly didn’t come only to change the atmosphere, but to be a senior partner in the leadership of the party and the leadership of the country. I see today as a holiday for Israeli society. I have no doubt that every woman today in Israel is standing tall and proud because she knows that one of the most important fighters is entering politics."
Yechimovitz said that "Amir Peretz is the only reason I am entering politics. I have known him for many years and he is a politician whose views totally match my world-view. We have an identical ideological identity."
Referring to her move from the media to the political arena, Yechimovitz said that "I do not find this move strange, because a journalist must have an agenda."
'Known him for half of my life'
Earlier, the journalist explained her moves in a radio interview Tuesday morning.
"For the first time the Labor party constitutes a social-democratic alternative to the extreme economic right, which has been raging here unhindered in the last few years," she said.
Yechimovitz praised Peretz, saying that "I have known him for half of my life, from the period when I was a reporter in the south and he was mayor of Sderot. I fully identify with his views, up to the smallest nuances."
Peretz recently held secret negotiations with the journalist, who never concealed her political views. Yechimovitz eventually accepted the request, deciding to turn her ideological journalistic struggle into an active struggle, and joined Peretz.
Yechimovitz recently interviewed Peretz in her television program "Meet the Press" following his victory in the Labor party primaries. Television critics said following the program that Yechimovitz conducted a "supportive and flattering" interview.
The journalist's decision to enter politics was made following Peretz's election and the change in Israel's public discourse. Yechimovitz decided to enter political life out of an understanding and belief that the elections will be determined by social-economic issues.
'Full exchange of territories'
Following MK Dalia Itzik's announcement Monday evening that she is leaving Labor and joining Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new party, Peretz's aides told Ynet Tuesday morning that "This is a full exchange of territories – (Professor Avishay) Braverman for (Haim) Ramon, Shelly Yechimovitz for Dalia Itzik."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's aides said in response that they were not moved by Labor's new acquisition.
"The added value that Shelly Yechimovitz brings to Labor and Amir Peretz is unclear. This is undoubtfully an interesting move, but its value in the long run should be examined," they said.
