From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Former budget chief Shaul Meridor joins Eisenkot’s Yashar party
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party announces that former Finance Ministry budget chief Shaul Meridor is joining its slate ahead of the upcoming elections.
Meridor, the son of former Likud justice-minister-turned-government-critic Dan Meridor, entered the public eye in 2020 for resigning in protest of then-finance minister Israel Katz’s budgetary moves and what he described as the government’s “irresponsible” economic policies.
Since leaving public service, Meridor has served as chief financial officer of tech company Lightricks and has spoken out against the government at anti-government rallies.
Eisenkot says in a statement that Meridor has for months played “a central role” in formulating Yashar’s economic policy and calls him “an Israeli patriot, with extensive public service experience, who deeply understands the failures that have developed in Israel’s economy and who for years stood up to attempts to harm it.”
Meridor says he decided to return to public service following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
“Israel now needs deep repair – something I want to take part in and contribute to,” he says, adding that he decided to join Eisenkot, whom he has known since Eisenkot served as IDF chief while Meridor led the budget department, because he is “a leader with moral backbone, wisdom, and the calm strategic thinking needed to analyze problems in depth.”
Meridor joins a slate that includes former MK and communications minister Matan Kahana, who resigned from Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party and the Knesset last year alongside Eisenkot, MK Orit Farkash-Hacohen, who also resigned from Blue and White but remains in the Knesset, and Inbar Harush Gity, who led the Defense Ministry’s Directorate for Promoting the Recruitment and Integration of Haredim in the IDF.
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