Former Welfare Ministry chief of staff Inbar Yehezkeli joins Eisenkot’s Yashar party

By Ariela Karmel

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30 April 2026, 12:52 pm

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Ariela 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.

Yashar party chief Gadi Eisenkot (right ) shakes hands with Inbar Yehezkeli, a newcomer to his electoral list, April 30, 2026. (Courtesy Yashar)

Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party announces that former chief of staff to three welfare ministers and social policy adviser Inbar Yehezkeli is joining its slate ahead of the upcoming elections and will lead the party’s efforts to address war-related trauma and national rehabilitation.

Yehezkeli, 48, has more than two decades of experience in senior roles across government and civil society, including as senior social policy adviser to then-finance minister Moshe Kahlon.

She has also led several civil society organizations, including the Democratic Institute and the Jerusalem Rape Crisis Center, headed the legal department of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, and served as legal adviser to the Bizchut center for people with disabilities.

Yashar says that Yehezkeli is leading a team tasked with crafting Yashar’s national recovery platform, “with an emphasis on addressing and treating national and individual post-trauma.”

Eisenkot, in a statement, calls Yehezkeli “a leader with deep understanding and experience in addressing the societal challenges Israel faces,” adding that the societal impact of more than two years of war will receive “serious and comprehensive attention” under her leadership.

Yehezkeli says that social issues in Israel have been neglected for years and that the scale of trauma created by the war requires a comprehensive shift in policy.

“Tens of thousands of Israelis and their families have been drawn into the cycle of trauma,” she says. “They deserve the best possible care. This is an immensely important mission, and we are committed to bringing about fundamental change.”

Yehezkeli joins a slate that includes former Finance Ministry budget chief Shaul Meridor, 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.