Shaked at goodbye party at Justice Ministry
Shaked at goodbye party at Justice MinistryNo credit

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (New Right) bid adieu to the Justice Ministry Wednesday morning, at a special goodbye party arranged in her honor.

Shaked, who was left out of the 21st Knesset after the New Right party narrowly failed to cross the 3.25% electoral threshold, said that she would be leaving politics, but hinted at a possible return in the future.

“It appears that the judgment of voters, and also the minimum threshold, managed to cause me, after six years of intensive work, to be ‘free’ – at least for a period of time, which I won’t commit to how long it will be.”

The minister thanked Justice Ministry employees for helping her pursue her “Judicial Revolution” – an effort during her four years as Justice Minister to curtail the Supreme Court’s judicial activism and push to shift the Israeli judiciary at large to the right with conservative appointments.

“I am happy to say that I succeeded, with your help, to set goals and also to see gradual progress towards them.”

The New Right, which had been polling safely above the minimum threshold prior to last Tuesday’s election, came up just 1,400 votes short – leaving the faction out of the next Knesset.

While there had been talk of enlisting Shaked in the Likud, thus enabling her to stay on as Justice Minister, Shaked made clear Wednesday she would be leaving politics for the time being.