Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 19:07, 5 June 2014

Template:Infobox member of the Knesset Ayelet Shaked (Template:Lang-he-n; born 7 May 1976) is an Israeli politician and computer engineer. She is the former chairwoman of My Israel, and was elected as member of the Knesset for the Jewish Home in the 2013 Knesset elections, and currently holds fifth place on the party's list.

Early life

Ayelet Shaked, whose birth name was Ayelet Ben Shaul, grew up in Bavli- a neighborhood in northern Tel Aviv. Her mother was a teacher of Tanakh and her father, an accountant. Ayelet was a counselor in the Scouts movement. She studied in the high school Ironi Dalet where she won the class elections representing the Likud party. In the army she served as an education coordinator in the Golani Brigade. Through Tel Aviv University she obtained a degree in electrical engineering and computer sciences and she worked as a director of marketing at Texas Instruments.

She is married to a fighter pilot. They, and their two children, live in the neighboorhood of her upbringing- Bavli.

Public Activities

From the years 2006- 2008 Shaked served as office director for Benjamin Netanyahu, while he sat as head of the opposition. In 2008 Shaked and Naftali Bennett left Netanyahu’s office. At the start of 2010, the pair joined together to establish “My Israel”, which Shaked headed until May 2012.

Within the framework of the movement she criticized Bank Leumi- via the media- on the background that the bank might sell the Jerusalem real estate company Degel Hapoelet to a group of Palestinian Investors. The bank changed its mind and ultimately sold the business to a group of Jewish investors. In November 2010 Shaked and her personnel began a campaign against Dvir Benedek, who attacked the Minister of Culture and Sport Limor Livnat after she criticized actors who expressed an unwillingness to appear in the Culture Hall in Ariel. In the aftermath of My Israel’s campaign, Benedek announced that his criticism was passed as the Chairman of the Actor Organization, however as an actor, he will perform there.

After the Itamar Massacre, Shaked released- with the family’s permission- gruesome pictures of the murdered Fogel family. In an interview with the news she said “It was a difficult decision, but this is the way of war. There is more power in pictures than words; it worked and received headlines. The Palestinians use digital media and we use the real thing. The time has come to return fire.

On Yom Hazikaron 5771 (Memorial Day 2011) she organized a public trip to the graves of childless IDF martyrs and Holocaust survivors to recite Kaddish as a tribute to their memory.

In June 2011 she led the movement in a campaign against Galei Tzahal (Army Radio), with the intent of it including broadcasters at peak hours whose opinions didn't identify exclusively with the Left. Another goal was to prevent the station from interviewing Hamas personnel during the war.

In September 2011 she called to arrange the civil “Tzaadat Magen” (“March of Protection”) in order to protect the State and its soldiers against a planned Palestinian March. Ultimately, their march was cancelled.

At the end of 2011 she began to lead a campaign against infiltrators from Africa to Israel, with the statement that they pose a threat to the Jewish Democratic personality of the State, as well as damaging economic difficulties. She called for enforcement of the law that forbade them to pass, to return them to their countries of origin and to enact a new law that would allow holding them in custody for three years

Political Activities

In January 2012 Shaked was elected to serve as the coordinator of Likud, however in June 2012 she resigned and announced her intent to run for Knesset as a member of the Bait Yehudi (Jewish Home) party, alongside Naftali Bennet. On November 14, 2012 she took 3rd place in the party primaries, and after their joining with Ha’ichud Ha’le’umi she was placed in the 5th spot in the joint register for elections for the 19th Knesset. Together with Bennet she represented the party in election campaigns. The Bait Hayehudi register won 12 seats, and Shaked entered as the parties only secular Minister.

In her first speech in the Knesset as an MK, Shaked called on U.S. President Barack Obama to release Jonathan Pollard.

In the 19th Knesset Shaked is the Chairwoman of the lobby for Jonathan Pollard and the chairwoman of the lobby for dealing with problems of foreign infiltration. She is a member of the lobby for Knesset Members, the lobby for employment equality, the lobby for the evacuation of Gush Katif, the lobby for the production of Hi Tech in Israel, and the lobby for Holocaust Survivors.

In the aftermath of the opening of discussion between Israel and the Palestinians (2013), which resulted in Israel being pressured to release Palestinian terrorists with “bloody hands,” Shaked wrote an open letter to the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, and accused him of hypocrisy: he pressures Israel to free murderers who pose a security threat while America not only won't free terrorists, but won’t even free Jonathan Pollard.

Shaked was selected as an outstanding MK of the 2013 Summer session in a survey held by the Knesset channel.

Shaked is the chairwoman of the committee for sharing the burden which was established by the 33rd Israeli Government, with the goal of preparing a law that will arrange the enlisting of the Charaidim to the IDF and their integration into the economy.

In December 2013, in the aftermath of a feud between factions of Habait Hayehudi and Yesh Atid regarding a bill to award tax points to homosexual couples, a bill that passed in the Ministerial Committee for legislation, the faction of Bait Yehudi prevented the finalizing of the legislation, by vetoing, Shaked received threats, obscenities, and severe insults from activists on the radical left and activists of the LGBT community. The incitement against Shaked grew more severe due to her actions regarding “the Charity Laws” (a bill which limits financing from foreign countries to local NGOs critical of Israel and/or Israeli policy), and according to the Bayit Yehudi faction, the Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni refused to condemn the law, or to work against it, regardless of her.

Awards

Chosen as woman of the year 5771 of B’shava for her actions to advance Zionism

Shaked is the recipient of the 2012 Abramowitz Israeli Prize for Media Criticism.

External links

• Video Interview with Ayelet Shaked in 2013 on YouTube - Channel 2 interview (Hebrew)

References

1. MK Shaked to Obama: Bring Pollard with You
2. Meltzer, Yoel (August 15, 2012). "An Interview with Ayelet Shaked, Secular Candidate for HaBayit HaYehudi". The Jewish Press.

Template:Persondata

• 1976 births
• Israeli Jews
• Israeli women in politics
• Jewish politicians
• Living people
• Members of the Knesset
• People from Tel Aviv
• Tel Aviv University alumni
• The Jewish Home politicians
• Zionists