Bennett recruits Russian immigrant female leader

Stella Weinstein was the former chief of staff for Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman, and became the face of the protest movement against closing gyms.

Stella Weinstein. (photo credit: COURTESY YAMINA)
Stella Weinstein.
(photo credit: COURTESY YAMINA)
MK Naftali Bennett announced on Monday that Ashdod City Councilwoman Stella Weinstein would be a candidate on his Yamina list in the March 23 election.
Weinstein, 33, is a Russian immigrant leader and represented Yisrael Beytenu on the city council. She was Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman's chief of staff when he was foreign minister.
She made a name for herself nationally as the leader of the protest movement against closing gyms and health clubs due to the coronavirus. She owns a chain of gyms.
Weinstein was born in Russia and made aliyah at age six. She was raised in Holon. 
"Naftali Bennett is good at finding solutions, and he really cares about people," Weinstein said. "Bennett is a real leader, and as an enthusiastic Zionist and right-winger, I see Yamina as my political home."
Bennett praised Weinstein as a woman who knows how to get things done and is sensitive to poor people, because she experienced poverty.  
In the past, Weinstein was very critical of the religious establishment on social media. She is considered a secularist, whose views are very different on matters of religion and state than religious Zionist Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi, who joined Yamina on Sunday.