Bennett’s party adds former Ra’anana director general Michal Negri to slate

By Sam Sokol 16 June 2026, 3:35 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Michal Negri (left) and Naftali Bennett. (Courtesy of the Together party)

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s Together party announces former Ra’anana Municipality director general Michal Negri as the latest addition to its election slate ahead of this year’s parliamentary election.

The former senior municipal official has “been active in the fight against the proposed draft evasion bill,” the party says in a statement, referring to a bill that would enshrine blanket exemptions for IDF service to yeshiva students.

Negri’s son Roi, an officer in the IDF reserves, was killed fighting Hamas at Kibbutz Be’eri during the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre.

In a post on Facebook, Negri writes that she chose to join Bennett out of a sense of “deep trust” in his “ability to lead with responsibility, clear values, and a heart that is in the right place.”

“Over the years, I have held many senior positions in educational and municipal systems” and “today, I choose to take all the experience and knowledge I have accumulated to the place where the decisions that shape our lives are made,” she adds.

Negri is the latest in a series of female former officials chosen by Bennett to run on his list. The first two candidates announced by Bennett in April were Keren Terner, who resigned as director general of the Finance Ministry in 2021, and Liran Avisar Ben-Horin, who resigned as director general of the Communications Ministry in 2023.

Addressing a so-called “women’s headquarters conference” late last year, Bennett vowed to stack both his party and senior governmental positions with women, stressing that six of his party’s nine co-founders were women in senior positions, “not because they are women, but because they are excellent.”

Speaking with The Times of Israel last week, Bennett said that “women make up the majority of my team. On average, I believe they are better managers and leaders.”