Labor candidate hopes to carry on Rabin legacy

Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin served as an assistant to then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin 20 years ago.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
AYELET NAHMIAS-VERBIN (photo credit: FACEBOOK)
AYELET NAHMIAS-VERBIN
(photo credit: FACEBOOK)
Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin served as an assistant to then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin 20 years ago.
Since then, she had three children and built up a successful career as an industrialist for a company her father founded 45 years ago that deals with irrigation and exports to countries around the world.
Now she hopes to go back to the Knesset where she once worked with Rabin, this time as an MK.
Nahmias-Verbin, 44, will be among 36 candidates seeking slots on the Labor list in the Tuesday’s primary. Labor’s 48,904 members will be eligible to vote from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in 400 polling stations at 76 locations around the country.
Unlike the Likud, which has run into trouble because only two women won slots in the party’s top 24, Labor has four slots reserved in its top 20 and five in its top 25. Hatnua, which is running on a joint list with Labor, is expected to add another three female candidates.
“It’s important to [party leader Isaac] Herzog that we not repeat the Likud’s saga,” she said. “But people will be voting for us to change the government, because it’s not doing its job well.”
Like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Nahmias-Verbin is a big believer in there being a two-party system. She said Israel should learn from its “big sister America” that two parties are enough.
If elected to the Knesset, she intends to focus on reducing unemployment, especially among women and the middle- aged. She hopes to carry on the legacy of Rabin, who she said took key steps like initiating a huge hike in teachers’ salaries.
“People respected Rabin even if they disagreed with him on the peace process,” she said. “Rabin was not thrilled about Oslo, but he knew it was key to get something going. He knew that future wars would be fought with rockets and missiles.”