Stav Shafir
Stav ShafirKobi Richter/TPS

MK Stav Shafir officially announced on Friday that she would be running for the leadership of the Labor Party ahead of the September Knesset elections.

“Friends: I am running the for the Labor Party leadership! And I am very excited," Shafir wrote on Facebook, adding, "Come with me and we will start again. We will build our party so that it can truly fight for a democratic, open, egalitarian and just Israel.”

"If until today you have been sitting on the fence and waiting, you have to raise your head. Get up and take power into your own hands," she explained.

“The elections will take place on July 2 and I need you with me. In order for you to vote for me in the elections, you have to become party members as quickly as possible," Shafir added.

Shafir’s announcement came a day after the Labor Party leadership received the recommendations of the party’s Constitutional Committee, saying that members of the party's Central Committee will be asked to approve the holding of the elections for the party's leadership among all party members on July 2.

Shafir announced earlier this week that she would run for the leadership of the Labor Party only if open primaries are held.

Tensions have risen among the members of the Labor Party in recent days, after it was revealed that party chairman Avi Gabbay held coalition talks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu despite vowing during the election campaign that he would not be a part of Netanyahu’s coalition.

Gabbay has come under fire by Labor members following the party’s poor showing in the last elections, when it won just 6 Knesset seats - an all-time low.

Shafir will be challenged for the Labor leadership by MK Amir Peretz, who announced on Sunday that he intends to run for the post.

Another potential challenger is former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who has reportedly decided against establishing a new party.

Barak last led the Labor Party in 2011, but then split the party and formed the short-lived Independence party before stepping down from politics ahead of the 2013 election.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)