Former justice minister Ayelet Shaked announced Sunday evening that she will not run in the upcoming Knesset elections, according to The Zioneer. Shaked said she will register for the Likud party to accumulate the required seniority and run on its ticket in the next elections. She criticized the political system for 'converging into the same patterns of encampment and boycotts' even after October 7.
Former justice minister Ayelet Shaked announced Sunday evening that she will not run in the upcoming Knesset elections and confirmed plans to register as a member of the Likud party to accumulate seniority for a future candidacy. In her statement, Shaked criticized the political system for 'converging into the same patterns of encampment and boycotts' even after the October 7 attacks, and said she sees no realistic path to a broad cross-bloc unity government, which she considers necessary for the country.
At 19:58 Jerusalem, The Zioneer first reported via ynet that Shaked would not run, citing the electoral threshold, while simultaneously reporting from its own sources that she was expected to join Likud to begin building seniority. The confirmation of the Likud registration plan came later in the evening, solidifying the earlier expectation. Shaked's decision to join Prime Minister Netanyahu's party rather than form a separate list or join another right-wing party signals her intent to compete within Likud's framework.
As The Zioneer earlier reported (Sat Jun 27, 19:40 Jerusalem), Shaked stated she would only return to electoral politics through a right-wing party, ruling out the Bennett-Lapid alliance. Her move comes amid broader political flux: several Likud figures, including former Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Fri Jul 3, 18:31 Jerusalem) and MK Dan Illouz (Wed Jul 15, 21:32 Jerusalem), have departed the party, while other MKs have announced they will not seek reelection.
Shaked noted that some of her supporters remain without representation, alluding to fragmentation in the right-wing electorate. Whether she can secure a realistic slot in Likud's primary system remains an open question, as does the timeline for the next elections.
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