Merav Michaeli ( he, מֵרַב מִיכָאֵלִי, translit=Mērav Mīxāʾēlī; born 24 November 1966) is an Israeli politician, journalist,

TV anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

, radio broadcaster, feminist, and activist. She is currently the leader of the

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party ( he, מִפְלֶגֶת הָעֲבוֹדָה הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית, ), commonly known as HaAvoda ( he, הָעֲבוֹדָה, , The Labor), is a social democratic and Zionist political party in Israel. The p ...

and the Minister of Transport and Road Safety in the

thirty-sixth government of Israel The thirty-sixth government of Israel, or the Bennett–Lapid government, was the cabinet of Israel that was formed on 13 June 2021 after the 2021 Israeli legislative election. On 2 June 2021, a coalition agreement was signed between Yesh At ...

Biography

Michaeli was born in

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Jews of the Old Yishuv, and became a permanent set ...

to Ami Michaeli and Suzan Kastner, of

Hungarian Jewish The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived i ...

background. She is the granddaughter of Rudolf Kastner and also of Nehemia Michaeli who was the last secretary of the

Mapam Mapam ( he, מַפָּ״ם, an acronym for , ) was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party. History Mapam was formed by a January 1948 merger of the kibbutz-based Hashomer Hatz ...

party. During her youth, Michaeli served as leader in the Israeli Scouts. In the IDF, Michaeli was a newscaster on the

Army Radio Army Radio ( he, גלי צה"ל lit. IDF waves) or Galei Tzahal, known in Israel by its acronym Galatz ( he, גל"צ), is a nationwide Israeli radio network operated by the Israel Defense Forces. The station broadcasts news, music, traffic repor ...

. She helped establish Galgalatz and Radio Tel Aviv radio stations and would also lead Hebrew television programs focused on politics. She was a journalist and opinion columnist for the ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner ...

'' newspaper. She also taught university classes and lectured extensively on the topics of feminism, media, and communications. In September 2012, she spoke at TED Jaffa on the theme of "paradigm shift", in which she argued that society should "cancel marriage".

Political career

In October 2012 Michaeli announced that she was joining the Labor Party, and intended to run for inclusion on Labor's list for the

2013 Knesset elections Early elections for the nineteenth Knesset were held in Israel on 22 January 2013. Public debate over the Tal Law had nearly led to early elections in 2012, but they were aborted at the last moment after Kadima briefly joined the government. Th ...

. On 29 November 2012 she won fifth place on the Labor Party's list, and was elected to the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (wit ...

when Labor won 15 seats. In preparation for the 2015 general election the Labor and

Hatnuah Hatnua ( he, הַתְּנוּעָה, lit=''The Movement'') was a liberal political party in Israel formed by former Israeli Foreign Minister and Vice Prime Minister Tzipi Livni to present an alternative to voters frustrated by the stalemate in ...

parties formed the

Zionist Union The Zionist Union ( he, הַמַחֲנֶה הַצִיּוֹנִי, translit. ''HaMaḥaneh HaẒiyoni'', lit. ''the Zionist Camp'') was a centre-left political alliance in Israel. It was established in December 2014 by the Israeli Labor Par ...

alliance. Michaeli won the ninth slot on the Zionist Union list, and was elected to the Knesset as it won 24 seats. Shortly before the end of the Knesset term, the Zionist Union was dissolved, with Labor and Hatnuah sitting in the Knesset as separate parties. Michaeli was placed seventh on the Labor list for the April 2019 elections, but lost her seat as Labor was reduced to six seats. However, she returned to the Knesset in August 2019 after

Stav Shaffir Stav Shaffir (; born 17 May 1985) is an Israeli politician. She is the leader of the Green Party and was a member of the Knesset for the Democratic Union alliance. She came to national prominence as one of the leaders of the 2011 Israeli social ...

resigned from the legislature. On 22 April 2020 after the 2020 Israeli legislative election the then Labor party leader

Amir Peretz Amir Peretz ( he, עָמִיר פֶּרֶץ; born on 9 March 1952) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party. A Knesset member almost continuously from 1988 to 2021, he has served as Minister of Defen ...

announced that the Labor Party would join the unity government in the Netanyahu-Gantz coalition, but Michaeli rejected sitting in the coalition under Netanyahu. She was elected to lead the Israeli Labor Party on 24 January 2021 after her predecessor,

, announced he would not stand for re-election. In the election on 23 March 2021, the Israeli Labor Party was granted seven seats, and, during the parliamentary negotiation phase, put their trust in

Yair Lapid Yair Lapid ( he, יָאִיר לַפִּיד, transliterated: , ; born 5 November 1963) is an Israeli politician and former journalist who has been serving as the 14th prime minister of Israel since 1 July 2022. He previously served as the alt ...

to form the government. On 13 June 2021, the 36th Israeli government was sworn in, and with it Michaeli as Minister of Transport and Road safety. On 31 December 2021, she announced that the Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv would be closed within four years, breaking her promise to close it immediately. She gave in to the mayor of Tel Aviv,

Ron Huldai Ron Huldai ( he, רוֹן חוּלְדָּאִי; born 26 August 1944) is the current Mayor of Tel Aviv, since 1998. Before he entered his role as Tel Aviv mayor, Huldai served as a fighter pilot and a commander in the Israeli Air Force. After ...

, who has no intention of closing the Central Bus Station. Michaeli was re-elected to lead the Israeli Labor Party in July 2022.

Personal life

Her partner is the television producer, host and comedian

Lior Schleien Lior Schleien ( he, ליאור שליין; born 1 July 1978) is an Israeli television producer and host. Early life Lior Schleien was born in 1978 in Tel Aviv, Israel to Jewish parents of Lithuanian descent. He holds law degrees from Tel Aviv U ...

.Meet Merav Michaeli, the fiery feminist of Israel’s government
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 23 December 2015 In August 2021, Merav and Schleien's son was born in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

surrogate pregnancy Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to delivery/labour for another person or people, who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People may seek a surrogacy arrangement when pregnan ...

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Michaeli, Merav 1966 births Living people 21st-century Israeli women politicians Haaretz people Israeli activists Israeli feminists Israeli Labor Party politicians Israeli people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Israeli radio presenters Israeli women radio presenters Israeli television journalists Israeli women activists Israeli women journalists Israeli women's rights activists Jewish Israeli politicians Members of the 19th Knesset (2013–2015) Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019) Members of the 21st Knesset (2019) Members of the 22nd Knesset (2019–2020) Members of the 23rd Knesset (2020–2021) Members of the 24th Knesset (2021–2022) Members of the 25th Knesset (2022–) Ministers of Transport of Israel People from Petah Tikva Women government ministers of Israel Women members of the Knesset Women television journalists Zionist Union politicians