Walla! News editor Yinon Magal has joined Jewish Home, he announced Sunday morning, and he is not apologizing for it.
Magal is running the Jewish Home party primaries, he stated Sunday, in hopes of serving in the 20th Knesset on party Chairman Naftali Bennett's list.
The two made the announcement in a viral video spoofing the Walla! News program, whereby Magal explains why he "could not be objective" anymore regarding the future of the State of Israel.
Magal, 45, served in the army as an officer in the prestigious Sayeret Matkal unit, and participated in several crucial operations, including the famous capture of the Sheikh Obeid in Lebanon.
He then became an announcer and reporter for Israel Radio and then IDF Radio, before becoming a war correspondent on Channel 10. Magal then served for four years as a news anchor on the "Mabat" program, before serving as a senior news editor for Walla! since 2012.
Magal, who is not wearing a kippah in the clip, keeps the Shabbat and sends his children to religious schools. He stated in the clip that he identifies with Religious Zionism.
He added Sunday morning that "I am not ashamed to love the Land of Israel, the people of Israel and the Torah of Israel - Jewish Home is my home."
Bennett warmly greeted Magal and appeared with him in the video.
"Jewish Home is the natural place to anyone with a Jewish identity," Bennett stated. "Yinon sustained fire from the media about his views and stood by them even when it was convenient to think otherwise."
"He joins Jewish Home and strengthens the views of anyone who opposes the establishment of a Palestinian terror state," he continued, adding that he "represents many new voters who join us and get the values of Religious Zionism - and do not apologize for it."
The full clip, in Hebrew, is below.
Magal, as an editor for several left-leaning Israeli media organizations, has nonetheless maintained his pro-Israel stance on a number of occasions.
"I am first of all a Jew and an Israeli who lives in this country, then a journalist," he said during a Globes conference that was held during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.
In an interview with London and Kirschenbaum he said as well that he "prefers to take the side of the law and law enforcement agencies" and that "I am not from the United Nations. I am not CNN. Anyone who wants me to be CNN needs to open their own CNN office," referring to the anti-Israel bias of major international news agencies.
Magal has also confronted Balad MK Jamal Zahalka for his anti-Israel views during Operation Protective Edge, saying that the grave sites of generations of Jews can be found throughout the Land of Israel and indicating that if Zahalka ignores the connection between Jews and Israel, as well as the existence of the holy Temples, he is "not telling the truth" and is "impossible to hold dialogue with."