Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot is the only leader capable of uniting the country and addressing the divisions created by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Yashar candidate Shaul Meridor told The Jerusalem Post in a recent interview, outlining the party’s plans to improve the country.
Meridor told the Post Netanyahu had prioritized his own political interests and electoral base over the needs of the country, deepening divisions within Israeli society.
“I think a part of being a leader is understanding that after elections, you’re the leader of all the country–everyone. The ones who voted for you and the ones who didn’t,” he said.
“This country has to go back to basics in a sense and have leaders that are leading the entire country once elections are over.”
Meridor in a strong position to become MK
Meridor is running for the Knesset in seventh place on the Yashar list, led by Eisenkot, ahead of the October 27 elections. He outlined the party’s plans for the next government while sharply criticizing the outgoing government’s policies.
Eisenkot’s Yashar has been polling as a leading party in the opposition bloc seeking to replace Netanyahu in the October elections. The party has recently been projected to receive around 20 seats, putting Meridor in a strong position to enter the Knesset.
Criticizing Netanyahu, Meridor said the country remained divided, and that the prime minister had failed to achieve the war’s objectives or provide a vision for the future.
“I think none of the targets of the war were achieved over three years of war. And I think this country needs hope, needs a vision,” he said.
“The only thing Netanyahu offers is hate, is fear, is endless war. That’s not what a leader should do.”
Meridor previously served as director-general of the Energy Ministry and later as head of the Finance Ministry’s Budget Division.
How disagreements with Netanyahu led to Meridor's resignation
He resigned from the latter position in 2020, saying it had become impossible to carry out his duties under then-finance minister Israel Katz. Meridor opposed policies advanced at the time, arguing that they harmed the public interest.
Recalling the circumstances surrounding his resignation, Meridor said he had disagreed with Netanyahu and Katz over decisions he believed put political interests ahead of those of the country.
“I left when I had a big argument with Netanyahu and Katz about values, about whether it’s okay to lie to get more,” he said.
“I was the head of the budget department, and I thought these two things - lying and deceiving the public.”
Meridor said that he saw “a lot of politics got into decisions that were supposed to be for decisions of this country.”
After leaving government service, Meridor became chief financial officer of the high-tech company Lightricks. He told the Post that the October 7 Hamas massacre prompted him to consider returning to public service.
The Yashar party has pledged to establish a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding October 7 and enforce haredi (ultra-Orthodox) conscription into the military amid the IDF’s severe manpower crisis.
Outlining Yashar’s plans for the next government, Meridor said the party would prioritize professional appointments and seek to separate government decision-making from politicians’ personal interests.
“The director-generals of this new government are going to be professionals,” he said.
“It’s very different from what you saw from this government,” the Yashar candidate added.
“A very big part of being a government is understanding the weight of responsibility on your shoulders and understanding that you are doing things for the people and not for your survival.”
Allocating funds to haredi institutions runs counter to what Israel's economy needs
Meridor also criticized Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s budget policies, arguing that coalition funding had come at the expense of economic growth and those serving in the military.
He said Smotrich “took all our reserves and, you know, stashed them in fire in a sense, putting it to coalition money, which didn’t give anything or get any growth going in the other direction.”
He argued that the allocation of funds to haredi institutions in recent state budgets ran counter to what was needed to promote economic growth.
“You’re doing the exact opposite of what you should do,” Meridor said.
“Having the ultra-Orthodox community [receive] so much money at the expense of the ones serving this country, I think, is unacceptable.”
Meridor said Yashar planned to halt state funding for those who do not serve in the IDF.
He also told the Post that he helped draft much of Yashar’s platform on economic and other issues, including plans to invest in and support communities along the northern border that had been heavily affected by years of war.
Recalling a visit to the North, he said residents had lost faith in the government and felt abandoned.
Meridor said that only one government minister came to visit the North. “They abandoned for three years. They didn’t go there,” he added.
“They [the government] didn’t see the damage. They didn’t see the people there. They didn’t see the devastation of Kiryat Shmona, of other communities.”
“They didn’t care. And it’s devastating to see that. And when you talk to the people, you realize that they weren’t busy making the lives of the Israeli people better.”
Meridor said that the next government would need to put residents’ needs first.
“You have to put the most professional people in the right places. What we saw from this government is the opposite.”
Meridor also criticized the government’s handling of the integration of olim (new immigrants), stating that Israel needed to do more to help newcomers find work in their professional fields.
“The olim plan is something that we don’t have anymore. The idea of helping people get work in the field that they were in, not only just putting them in the labor market, it’s a crucial thing.”
Meridor said the party had developed a plan to bring an additional one million olim to Israel over 10 years.
“I think what people need to understand is we need a change.”
“Gadi is the only one who can really unite Israel again,” he added.