Ora Namir
_a.jpg "צילום: ירון ברנר")
Benjamin Netanyahu
Photo: Yaron Brener
Former Labor minister endorses Netanyahu
Ora Namir says she will not vote for Likud but will be happy if Netanyahu wins next elections. 'He will be an excellent prime minister and will lead to an agreement with the Palestinians,' she adds
"I would be very happy to see Benjamin Netanyahu win the elections and become our next prime minister," Former Labor Party minister, Ora Namir, said Saturday.
"In addition, he did an excellent job as finance minister, and therefore I consider him the most suitable person to be the next prime minister," she added.
Namir, 77, told Yedioth Ahronoth, "I believe Netanyahu will be an excellent prime minister. I have been following him in the past few years and I believe that he has learned a lot from his mistakes.
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Namir, who worked for former Labor Chairman Amir Peretz in the 2006 Knesset elections and supported Knesset Member Ophir Pines-Paz in the recent Labor primaries, had been considered for years a senior member in the "Rabin camp."
When Yitzhak Rabin was elected prime minister in 1992, he appointed her minister for environmental protection. She later also served as labor and social affairs minister.
After Rabin was assassinated, fearing that she would lose her position as the Labor Party's leading woman, she asked to be appointed as Israel's ambassador to China.
Namir was very successful in her job, and as a token of appreciation she was named by the Chinese a distinguished citizen of the city of Beijing and was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
After she returned from China, Namir stood by Peretz and assisted him in his election campaign for the Labor Party leadership. However, she later said she was disappointed by him and moved her support to Pines-Paz.
Namir said Saturday that although she would like to see Netanyahu become prime minister, she did not plan to vote for the Likud party. The veteran politician said that she believed Netanyahu would continue the diplomatic process and reach an agreement with the Palestinians, should he be elected.
"I saw the change that Yitzhak Rabin went through when he was appointed prime minister," she said. "As a person who opposed any talks with the Palestinians, Rabin went to Oslo. Sharon also went a long way toward peace. I believe Netanyahu will lead to an agreement, because when one sits on the prime minister's chair, one thinks differently."
Senior aides to Labor Chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday evening that they did not know why Namir decided to move her support from Barak to his rival Netanyahu. It should be noted that after Ophir Pines-Paz quit the Labor race, Namir supported Barak for party chairman.
