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Israeli parties in search of ex-generals

On the backdrop of security tensions on Israeli’s northern and southern fronts, all of the parties are looking for security-oriented stars.
Israel's military chief Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz salutes in front of the grave of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during his funeral near Sycamore Farm, Sharon's residence in southern Israel, January 13, 2014. Israel buried Sharon at his family farm on Monday, celebrating the military achievements of a man seen as a war hero at home but as a war criminal by many in the Arab world. Sharon, 85, died on Saturday after spending the last eight years of his life motionless in a hospital bed, pitc
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On the eve of the last election in 2015, professor Manuel Trajtenberg was one of the most sought-after people in the political campaign. Every large and mid-sized party tried to recruit the popular economist. In 2011, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Trajtenberg to head the Committee for Social and Economic Change, a group intended to restore calm after the masses took to the streets to protest the rising cost of living. The “Trajtenberg Committee,” as it became known, eventually published a detailed report. Some of its recommendations were even implemented. As a result, Trajtenberg became the most prominent socio-economic brand name in the entire country. He finally chose to join the Labor party, and they highlighted him as their candidate for finance minister and gave him the safe 11th spot on their list.

The 2015 election campaign was a direct consequence of the social protests, which began with the 2013 election when Itzik Shmuli and Stav Shafir, two leaders of the younger generation of protesters, were first elected to the Knesset. Without those protests, Moshe Kahlon, an icon of the Likud party’s social awareness, would never have founded his own party in 2014, won 10 seats and been appointed minister of finance.

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