Knesset member Shelly Yachimovich headed the Labor Party from 2011 to 2013. During those two years, she led the party to a general election while eschewing the diplomatic platform of the most senior party in the Israeli peace camp and burying it deep in the closet.
Riding on the coattails of the 2011 social justice protest, Yachimovich went full throttle with a strategic approach that underscored the Labor Party’s social democratic banner de rigueur, while addressing the diplomatic issue as little as necessary. Thinking that if she focused only on social and economic issues while dimming her party’s character as the standard-bearer of a diplomatic compromise, she had hoped to garner support from right-wing voters who were not die-hard.