TV personality Merav Michaeli joins Labor in Knesset run

Television personality, writer, Haaretz commentator and outspoken feminist Merav Michaeli announced on Tuesday that she would run in the Labor Party primary in a bid to enter the 19th Knesset.

Michaeli, 46, is the latest in a string of high-profile figures who have recently joined Labor in advance of the primary, to be held on November 27. The general election is set for January 22, 2013.

“All of my adult life I have been a social activist and feminist, while working as a journalist. In both areas I acted to right wrongs, for equality, for the empowerment of women and for other disadvantaged sectors. Now I want to do this in politics, where things are decided on and where funds are distributed,” she wrote on her Facebook page on Tuesday.

Other new Labor Party candidates include former IDF intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Uri Sagi, social protest leaders Stav Shaffir and Itzik Shmuli, Peace Now head Yariv Oppenheimer, venture capitalist Erel Margalit and the head of Israeli’s Reform movement, Rabbi Gilad Kariv.

On Sunday, former IDF spokesperson MK Nachman Shai announced his defection from Kadima to Labor, joining MK Nino Abesadze, who made the switch last week. A survey published on Monday by Maariv shows Kadima plummeting from 28 seats to four, while Labor is expected to show significant gains, climbing from eight to 20 seats.