The 2024 Israeli Labor Party leadership election was held on 28 May 2024 to elect a successor to

Merav Michaeli Merav Michaeli (; born 24 November 1966) is an Israeli politician, journalist, TV anchor, radio broadcaster, feminist, and activist currently serving as a member of the Knesset for the Democrats, which was formed in 2024 by a merger of the L ...

as leader of the

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party (), commonly known in Israel as HaAvoda (), was a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Israel. The party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi (political party), Rafi. Unt ...

Yair Golan Yair Golan (; born 14 May 1962) is an Israeli politician, the leader of the Democrats party, and reserve major general in the Israel Defense Forces. He served as the Deputy Minister of Economy in the thirty-sixth Israeli government, and ser ...

won the election.

Background

Michaeli was first elected leader of the

in the party's 2021 leadership election. Prior to her election as the party's leader, opinion polling for the 2021 Knesset election had the party falling below the

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ...

; however, the party's support in polling recovered after her election as its leader, and the party won seven seats in the 2021 Knesset election. Michaeli was re-elected as party leader in 2022, becoming the first Israeli Labor Party leader to win two consecutive leadership elections since

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, and the only one to do it after the party first opened participation in leadership elections to all party members in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. Labor won four seats in the 2022 Knesset election (the minimum number of Knesset seats that an individual electoral bloc could receive if they exceeded the electoral threshold). Michaeli faced heavy criticism for her decision not to partner Labor in the election with the left-wing

Meretz Meretz (, ; ) was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party was formed in 1992 by the merger of Ratz, Mapam and Shinui, and was at its peak between 1992 and 1996 when it had 12 seats. It had no seats in the Knesset following its failure ...

party, especially after the election's results came in. Meretz won no seats due to falling narrowly below the electoral threshold, which helped

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

and hard-right ally parties win enough seats to form a right-wing governing majority. The Labor Party soon fell below the electoral threshold in opinion polling for the next Israeli legislative election. On 7 December 2023, Michaeli announced her intentions to relinquish her position as party leader and retire from politics after the end of the 25th Knesset. As a result, the party prepared to hold a leadership election in April 2024. The same day that Michaeli announced her plan to step down, Meretz chairman Tomer Reznik proposed that Labor hold its primaries jointly with Meretz. On 25 February 2024, the party set 28 May as the date of the leadership election. In early May, the party announced that its registered membership had grown with 13,500 new members in advance of the leadership vote.

Candidates

, former Member of the Knesset for Meretz and former deputy chief of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

. * Itai Leshem, anti-corruption activist who defines himself as a

whistle blower Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

aiming to expose an alleged

bribe Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrar ...

between PM

Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

and

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. * Azi Nagar, social and political activist from

Gilo Gilo () is an Israeli settlement in south-western East Jerusalem, with a population of 30,000, mostly Jewish inhabitants. Although it is located within the Jerusalem Municipality, it is widely considered a settlement, because as one of the five ...

, Jerusalem, and unsuccessful Knesset candidate for the party in the

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2009 Israeli legislative election 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bo ...

s. * Avi Shaked, businessman and

2021 Israeli Labor Party leadership election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

candidate.

Campaign

On 26 February 2024, Yair Golan announced his candidacy. Golan is the former deputy chief of the Israel Defense Forces and a former Knesset member. Golan had first been elected to the Knesset in the September 2019 election on the list of the Democratic Union alliance. Golan was re-elected to the Knesset in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, and served until the party fell below the electoral threshold in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. Ahead of the 2022 election, Golan had run unsuccessfully in the 2022 Meretz leadership election. Golan had received praise within Israel for his actions to rescue those caught in the

Re'im music festival massacre On 7 October 2023, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist political organization Hamas, initiated a October 7 attacks, sudden attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. As part ...

during Hamas' 7 October 2023 attack. In his campaign for Labor party leadership, Golan has declared he wants to merge Labor with Meretz under a "new political framework". Golan received endorsements from incumbent Labor MKs

Gilad Kariv Gilad Kariv (; born 30 November 1973) is an Israeli attorney and a politician. He was the former CEO of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism and is currently a member of the Knesset for the Democrats and previously for the ...

and

Naama Lazimi Naama Lazimi (; born 11 January 1986) is a politician and Member of the Knesset for the Democrats and previously for the Labor Party. Previously, she was a member of the Haifa City Council and vice chairman of the Student Association at the Un ...

. Leshem, Nagar, and Shaked entered the race after Golan. Shaked opposes merging Labor with Meretz, and criticized Golan as "a

Trojan horse In Greek mythology, the Trojan Horse () was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer, Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending ...

... who suddenly comes out of nowhere and tries to steal our party." Golan was perceived to the heavy

front-runner In politics, a front-runner (also spelled frontrunner or front runner) is a leader in an electoral race. While the front-runner in athletic events (the namesake of the political concept) is generally clear, a political front-runner, particularly i ...

in the election.

Results

Ex-general and deputy minister Yair Golan won in a landslide, replacing outgoing Merav Michaeli as chairman and leader of the Israeli Labor Party.

Aftermath

The party would have needed to hold an election for its "party conference" within a month of the leadership election, according to a ruling made on 21 May 2024 by the Tel Aviv District Court. The ruling was appealed by Nir Rosen. A day before the election, the District Court decision was reversed by the

Supreme Court of Israel The Supreme Court of Israel (, Hebrew acronym Bagatz; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts, and in some cases original jurisdiction. The Supreme Court consists of 15 jud ...

, who ruled that the results of the election will be final. Outgoing leader Merav Michaeli publicly congratulated Golan, writing, "Good luck to Yair and the party."

Yair Lapid Yair Lapid ( ; born 5 November 1963) is an Israeli politician of the centrist Yesh Atid party and a former journalist who has been the Leader of the Opposition (Israel), Leader of the Opposition since January 2023, having previously served in t ...

, leader of the

Yesh Atid Yesh Atid (, ) is a centrist political party in Israel. It was founded in 2012 by former TV journalist Yair Lapid, the son of the former Shinui party politician and Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid. In 2013 the first election it conte ...

party, also publicly congratulated Golan.

References

{{Political party leadership elections in Israel Israeli Labor Party leadership elections

Israeli Labor Party leadership election Labor Party leadership election