Am Shalem roster devoid of promised stars

Hi-tech entrepreneur Moshe Zarfati, businessman Reuven Agassi follow Shas party cast-off Haim Amsalem on slated Knesset list.

By JEREMY SHARON
Am Shalem event (photo credit: atara beck)
Am Shalem event
(photo credit: atara beck)
MK Haim Amsalem’s Am Shalem party released its full electoral list on Wednesday.
Despite the public declarations, it was noticeably lacking any of the well-known figures who had been touted by the new party as possible candidates.
The most glaring omission was Maj.-Gen (res.) Elazar Stern, the former head of the IDF Manpower Directorate who Amsalem himself had confirmed would run with Am Shalem.
At the beginning of November, Amsalem said during an interview with Army Radio that Stern would be joining his party and would get the No. 2 spot on the list.
Stern did not, however, appear on the list of names sent to the press on Wednesday morning.
According to an Am Shalem spokesman, Stern decided last week to that he would run with a different party and not with Amsalem, but subsequently decided not to run in the election at all.
Stern said on Wednesday afternoon that he was not responding to any requests for comment on the issue.
The Am Shalem list included nine names other than Amsalem’s, although the party is unlikely to win more than three or four Knesset seats in the election.
Moshe Zarfati, a former colonel in the air force and a hi-tech entrepreneur, is No. 2 on the party list, with businessman Reuven Agassi in at No. 3.
Another public figure who at one point seemed likely to join Am Shalem was Itzik Alrov, the man who started the cottage cheese uprising of 2011, which has been seen as one of the triggers of the broader social protests against the high cost of living later that summer.
Alrov does not, however, appear on Am Shalem’s list.
Amsalem has said that he intends to “bring back moderate and beautiful Judaism to the Jewish people... a Judaism which is Zionist and nationalist, a Judaism of Torah and [earning] a livelihood, of service in the army... and of accepting those who are different.”