IDF's first female general will join Yesh Atid

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said in a press conference Tuesday that he intends to have Barbivai serve as a senior minister if he is in the next coalition.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Updated: JANUARY 1, 2019 15:26
Yair Lapid announces that Maj.-Gen. (res.) Orna Barbivai will join Yesh Atid on January 1, 2019 (photo credit: TPS)
Yair Lapid announces that Maj.-Gen. (res.) Orna Barbivai will join Yesh Atid on January 1, 2019
(photo credit: TPS)
The IDF’s first-ever female general, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Orna Barbivai, has joined Yesh Atid’s list for the Knesset.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said at a press conference on Tuesday that he intends to have Barbivai serve as a senior minister, if he is in the next coalition.
Barbivai has “a life full of contributions to our security and our society. A life full of values, of giving and of leadership,” Lapid said.
“Orna is joining the leadership of the best team in Israeli politics,” Lapid added. “The day after the elections, we can start to run this country, not for the benefit of politicians, but for the benefit of our children.”
Barbivai was the head of the IDF’s Manpower Directorate and the first woman to serve in the General Staff. After her military service, she was the CEO of Sheatufim-Strategies for Social Impact and chairwoman of the board of the Max Stern Yezreel Valley College.
“My decision to join Yesh Atid stems from my identification with the values of the party and my respect for its experienced team,” she said. “I believe in Yair Lapid’s ability to provide an alternative to the current government and to lead us as prime minister of Israel.”
Barbivai said that as a member of the General Staff of the IDF, which she called “the people’s army,” she saw a range of security and societal challenges Israel faces and the ability to provide system-wide solutions.
“This is a country in which alongside impressive achievements of advanced technology and groundbreaking innovation there are also, right under noses, unbearable social gaps,” she stated. “As someone who came from the periphery, from a family blessed with many children, I believe in the right of people to fulfill their potential, irrespective of where they start their lives, and in the responsibility of a nation to create opportunities to make the best use of its human capital.”The IDF’s first-ever female general, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Orna Barbivai, has joined Yesh Atid’s list for the Knesset.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said at a press conference on Tuesday that he intends to have Barbivai serve as a senior minister, if he is in the next coalition.
Barbivai has “a life full of contributions to our security and our society. A life full of values, of giving and of leadership,” Lapid said.
“Orna is joining the leadership of the best team in Israeli politics,” Lapid added. “The day after the elections, we can start to run this country, not for the benefit of politicians, but for the benefit of our children.”
Barbivai was the head of the IDF’s Manpower Directorate and the first woman to serve in the General Staff. After her military service, she was the CEO of Sheatufim-Strategies for Social Impact and chairwoman of the board of the Max Stern Yezreel Valley College.
“My decision to join Yesh Atid stems from my identification with the values of the party and my respect for its experienced team,” she said. “I believe in Yair Lapid’s ability to provide an alternative to the current government and to lead us as prime minister of Israel.”
Barbivai said that as a member of the General Staff of the IDF, which she called “the people’s army,” she saw a range of security and societal challenges Israel faces and the ability to provide system-wide solutions.
“This is a country in which alongside impressive achievements of advanced technology and groundbreaking innovation there are also, right under noses, unbearable social gaps,” she stated. “As someone who came from the periphery, from a family blessed with many children, I believe in the right of people to fulfill their potential, irrespective of where they start their lives, and in the responsibility of a nation to create opportunities to make the best use of its human capital.”