The list of the Israeli Yesh Atid party is entering a phase of extensive restructuring that may change the image of the party that has accompanied it since its founding, after MP and former Energy Minister Karen Elharar announced that she will not run in the upcoming Knesset elections, becoming the latest veteran face to leave the list, while party leader Yair Lapid remains the only member of the founding team who ran in the 2013 elections.
According to a report by journalists Amit Segal and Daphna Liel on the Israeli “N12” website, Elharar informed her party members that she would not run on the “Yesh Atid” list for the next Knesset, 14 years after she joined the nucleus that founded the party.
Elharar’s departure has a special significance for the course of Yesh Atid, as 14 years after the founding of the party, none of the members of the founding team that was presented on the eve of the 2013 elections are present in parliamentary life, with the exception of party leader Yair Lapid.
Elharar’s decision comes in light of the severe narrowness in the number of places available on the party’s list, and within an unprecedented wave of departures that affected a number of the most prominent and oldest faces of Yesh Atid in recent weeks.
In a detailed message addressed to party members, Elharar said: “Yes, yes, it is also my turn to make a dramatic announcement. 14 years ago, Yair Lapid included me among the founders of Yesh Atid and opened a door for me into the exciting world of politics, and I will always be grateful to him for that. Yair was and remains a friend and partner, a true leader who sees people at eye level and always has the interests of the state before him.”
Elharar presented the outcome of her years in the Knesset and the government, saying: “I was a partner in founding the best centrist party in existence. Over the years, I was in the coalition and in the opposition, chaired committees in the Knesset, held the position of Minister of Energy, and was a partner in national and international steps. “I pushed forward important legislation for children and youth at risk and to advance women’s rights.”
She added: “After all the achievements I have achieved, I have decided, after consulting with my family, to move on to a new challenge, and therefore I will not run on the Yesh Atid list for the next Knesset.”
But at the same time, she stressed that she was not leaving the party, and said: “I am staying in Yesh Atid because it is my political home, and you will meet me again in the election campaign, where I will contribute and fight with you.” A chapter has ended, but the story is not over.
Elharar’s departure does not constitute an isolated event within the party, but rather comes within a series of withdrawals that emptied the Yesh Atid bloc of a large part of its well-known faces.
Meir Cohen and former Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy announced that they would not run in the upcoming elections, while Cohen was appointed head of the party conference.
Yoav Segalovich also chose to leave the party and join the “United Arab List – Raam,” while Eleazar Stern ended his long career within Yesh Atid and moved to the political framework led by Gadi Eisenkot.
An additional number of Knesset members, including Ron Katz, Idan Roll, Boaz Toporowski, Debbie Biton, Yaron Levy and Tatiana Mezreski, also announced they were leaving the party or not running in the upcoming elections on its list.
In recent days, Lapid devoted a series of posts to farewelling his party’s veteran figures, offering the official explanation for the wave of departures and saying: “The list must be led by the next generation of the party.”
In parallel with vacating a large number of positions within the list, Lapid is working to renew the ranks of Yesh Atid, as reserve Major General Noam Tibon joined the party.
At the same time, Lapid is considering promoting figures from within the party organization, including Nita Atias, director of the Yesh Atid bloc, and placing her in the second ten on the list.
Thus, Ilharar’s departure does not appear to be merely a personal withdrawal from an electoral race, but rather a milestone that completes the departure of the generation that created the first image of Yesh Atid, and leaves Lapid alone from the 2013 team facing the test of building a new generation capable of carrying the party in the next stage.
