Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid announced Sunday that Dr. Karnit Flug will be the next head of the Bank of Israel.
As the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Israel, Flug had recently stepped in to serve as acting governor after former governor Stanley Fischer stepped down in July.
“We were impressed by Dr. Flug’s management in recent months,” Netanyahu and Lapid said. “We are confident that she will continue to assist us in leading Israel’s economy to additional achievements despite the global economic instability.”
Dr. Flug’s appointment was welcomed by the Opposition as well, with opposition head MK Shelly Yechimovich saying she “took her hat off” to Netanyahu in respect. “Dr. Flug is the most experienced, most skilled and most appropriate candidate for the position, even if I don’t agree with all of her views,” Yechimovich said.
She praised Netanyahu for “correcting his mistakes” by appointing Flug rather than other, previously favored candidates.
Yechimovich also expressed satisfaction at the fact that Flug will be the first woman to lead the Bank of Israel. The appointment helps Israel’s image as “enlightened and equal,” she said.
MK Tzipi Hotovely of Likud expressed similar sentiments, calling Flug’s appointment, “A historic and important milestone for equality between men and women.”
“The field of economics was perceived as ‘masculine’ in the past, and a woman has never served in one of the top positions in the public sector – not as Bank of Israel governor and not as Finance Minister,” she said. Flug’s success indicates the end of that mindset, and the creation of a new reality in which women can serve in top economy-related posts, she said.