MK Shelly Yachimovich
MK Shelly YachimovichFlash 90

MK Shelly Yaechimovich (Labor) announced tonight that she is taking a break from political life and is not planning to run for the next Knesset.

"It was a prolonged personal process and a personal and private decision," said Yachimovich, "The one who tipped the scales was my son who said, 'I feel that you have exhausted your ability to change the discourse. No doubt you can still do well, but it will not matter as much as it used to.

She wrote in her Twitter account, "I'm grateful for the privilege given me to legislate for the public and to serve in the spirit of my beliefs. I love the Knesset, but I'm tired of the too-long political season, which has become poisonous. It made me feel oppressed and useless. In the past, I was full of strength to overcome such crises, but unfortunately it is not so now.

"I haven't left to some other party, I'm committed to Labor and its values, I'll support Amir and I'll do everything for his success and the success of my party. To the many friends and partners I've acquired - I'm grateful in a way that cannot be expressed in words; I hope you understand. I love you," Yachimovich wrote to her supporters.

Yachimovich was a senior journalist on the New News 2 before she was elected to the Knesset in March 2006. She is considered an active legislator and initiated 69 laws, most of them in economics, society, equality, good governance, and integrity.

Over the years she refused Netanyahu's proposals to join his government and serve as a minister, but held senior positions in the Knesset, including Ethics Committee Chair, State Control Committee Chair, and twice as opposition leader.

Most of her parliamentary work was in the Finance Committee and the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. She was also the head of the subcommittee on foreign affairs and security of the State Comptroller. She served as Labor Party Chairwoman.

A characteristic Yachimovitch quote is her attack this year on the National Union Chairman: "The fact that Smotrich and his friends aren't marginalized dreamers but people who hold influential positions is an enormous threat to human freedom and the enlightened age." She has called on the Prime Minister to fire Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked for criticizing the Supreme Court.

Yachimovich
YachimovichFlash 90