Israeli journalist and former ambassador Boaz Bismuth announced on Sunday that he will be running for a spot on the Likud list, according to N12.
Bismuth, once Israel's ambassador to Mauritania, is a right-wing journalist who was once the editor-in-chief of Israel Hayom. Over the last few years, he was a political commentator on N12's ulpan shishi.
The Likud's 2022 election list
"What did you not say about me yet? You said I'm pro-Likud, pro-Netanyahu, right-wing," he said in a video posted to Twitter on Monday. "What can I say? You were right. I'm running with the Likud. Good luck to us all."
Last week, current opposition head and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had submitted his candidacy for the party. The primaries are set to take place on August 10.אמרתם שאני ימין. אמרתם שאני ליכוד. צדקתם!החלטתי להתמודד בפריימריז של תנועת הליכוד. pic.twitter.com/l5C2QqvnjB
— Boaz Bismuth (@BismuthBoaz) July 25, 2022
The Likud’s list consists of a number of different types of candidates: Those chosen in national primaries; representatives of Likud’s 10 regions; a number of slots reserved for “minorities;" and slots reserved for the Likud leader’s personal choices.
Beginnings in journalism
Bismuth started in journalism in 1983. He was a sports correspondent for Maariv until 1988 when he became the newspaper's Paris correspondent.
In 1990, he began to work for Yediot Aharonot from Paris, until 2004, when he was appointed as the Israeli ambassador to Mauritania.
He served as ambassador until 2008. During his tenure, the Islamic North African state underwent a number of coups, during which the Israeli Embassy in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, by al-Qaeda. According to the radical Islamist organization, he was the target of the attack.
At the helm of Israel Hayom
Bismuth returned to journalism after that, serving as the foreign correspondent and editor for Israel Hayom. He became editor-in-chief of the paper in 2017.
He stepped down from the role this past January.