Yacimovich hires Democratic strategist Greenberg

Stanley Greenberg: Labor leader has strengths needed to bring change and make sure Israel will move in the right direction.

By LAHAV HARKOV
US Stanley Greenberg 370 (photo credit: Courtesy Labor Party)
US Stanley Greenberg 370
(photo credit: Courtesy Labor Party)
Democratic pollster and strategist Stanley Greenberg is coming to Israel this week to advise Labor on their election campaign, party leader Shelly Yacimovich announced on Tuesday.
Greenberg worked on Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s campaign in 1999, in which he was elected prime minister.
Greenberg has also worked on campaigns for former US president Bill Clinton, former British prime minister Tony Blair and former South African president Nelson Mandela.
He currently advises the British Labor party and SPD, the German social-democratic party – and was rumored to be connected to the 2011 social protests.
“It is an honor for me to work with Shelly Yacimovich and the Labor Party in the upcoming election,” Greenberg said. “Yacimovich has the ideology and the strengths needed to bring change and make sure Israel will move in the right direction for its citizens.”
He added that, in the past, he has worked with prominent politicians around the world, and expressed confidence that Yacimovich “has what it takes to lead her country.”
Yacimovich and Greenberg met six months ago and agreed to work together. The deal was closed by Labor faction chairman Isaac Herzog in New York last week.
The American strategist will be working with Labor’s strategy and media teams, including former Channel 2 News director-general Shalom Kittel, who worked on Barak’s 2008 campaign, and PR advisers Tal Alexandrovich and Itai Ben-Horin. On Thursday, Greenberg will meet with Labor’s economic staff.
Yacimovich said she wanted to work with Greenberg because he is both an internationally respected professional and someone who shares an ideology similar to her own as he works only with social-democratic parties.
“Greenberg will help us put together a campaign based on our clear ideology, which will serve as a sharp alternative to Netanyahu’s bad government,” she said.
In November 2011, Greenberg denied reports that he advised Eldad Yaniv, Barak’s former bureau chief, and other left-wing activists that the only way to bring votes from the Right to the Left is to highlight a socioeconomic agenda via grassroots protests.
When asked by The Jerusalem Post in Washington if he helped initiate the protests, Greenberg replied via e-mail: “No. Not true.”