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 The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

for the Democrats, which was formed in 2024 by a merger of the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and

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 ...

. She served as the Labor Party's leader from 2021 until 2024, and as Minister of Transport 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, 2021 Knesset elections. On 2 June 2021 a coalition agreement was s ...

Biography

Michaeli was born in

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva (, ), also spelt Petah Tiqwa and known informally as Em HaMoshavot (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of the Old Y ...

to Ami Michaeli and Suzan Kastner, of Hungarian Jewish background. She is the granddaughter of Rudolf Kastner and also of Nehemia Michaeli who was the last secretary of the

Mapam File:Pre-State_Zionist_Workers'_Parties_chart.png, chart of zionist workers parties, 360px, right rect 167 83 445 250 Hapoel Hatzair rect 450 88 717 265 The non-partisans (pre-state Zionist political movement), Non Partisans rect 721 86 995 243 ...

party. During her youth, Michaeli served as leader in the Israeli Scouts. In the IDF, Michaeli was a newscaster on the Army Radio. 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 List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' newspaper. She also taught university classes and lectured extensively on the topics of

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, 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 legislative elections were held in Israel on 22 January 2013 to elect the 120 members of the nineteenth Knesset. Public debate over the Tal Law had nearly led to early elections in 2012, but they were aborted at the last moment after Kadi ...

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

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

Hatnuah Hatnua () 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 the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. The pa ...

parties formed the

Zionist Union The Zionist Union (, 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 Party and Hatnuah to create a joint electoral list ...

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 resigned from the legislature. On 22 April 2020, after the

2020 Israeli legislative election Legislative elections were held in Israel on 2 March 2020 to elect members of the twenty-third Knesset. The result was initially a stalemate, which was resolved when Likud and Blue & White reached a coalition agreement. Under the terms of the ...

, the then Labor party leader

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

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. She announced, at the time, that her party would have gender equality on the party list; with a female-male rotation. In the 2021 election, the party won seven seats, becoming part of the thirty-sixth government, with Michaeli as Minister of Transport and Road Safety. On 31 December 2021, she announced that the Tel Aviv central bus station would be closed within four years, reneging her promise to close it immediately. Michaeli was re-elected to lead the Israeli Labor Party in July 2022. In the legislative election held later that year, Labor narrowly crossed the electoral threshold, receiving the bare minimum of four seats. Some blamed Michaeli's refusal to run jointly with the left wing

for the latter party falling beneath the electoral threshold and enabling the formation of a new government formed by Benjamin Netanyahu. Michaeli was accused by prominent Meretz lawmaker Issawi Frej of 'delusions of grandeur'. In 2023, she was one of the active participants in the anti-judicial reform protests. She rejected an invitation from Prime Minister Netanyahu to join the compromise talks at the president's residence. On 7 December 2023, Michaeli called a press conference in which she stated her intention to hold a leadership election in April 2024, in which she will not run for another term. In February 2024, the party announced that the election would take place on 28 May. She was replaced in that election by

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 ...

. In April 2024, Michaeli called for dismantling an army unit with a history of abuses ( Netzah Yehuda Battalion), saying it is killing Palestinians “for no real reason.”

Personal life

Michaeli's partner is the television producer, host and comedian Lior Schleien.Meet Merav Michaeli, the fiery feminist of Israel’s government
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

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

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

surrogate pregnancy Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman gets pregnant and gives birth on behalf of another person or couple who will become the child's legal parents after birth. People pursue surrogacy for a variety of reasons such as infertility, danger ...

. In April 2023, Michaeli announced that her second son had been born via surrogacy.

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Michaeli, Merav 1966 births Living people 21st-century Israeli women politicians Haaretz people Israeli activists Israeli feminists Israeli Labor Party leaders Israeli people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Israeli radio presenters Israeli women radio presenters Israeli television journalists Israeli women activists 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 Israeli women television journalists Zionist Union politicians Jewish women activists Israeli Ashkenazi Jews The Democrats (Israel) politicians