"An unpleasant surprise": Russian speakers are almost completely pushed out of the next Knesset

In the expected 26th Knesset, the representation of Russian speakers is expected to drop from seven members in the outgoing Knesset. Ze'ev Elkin was placed in the 32nd spot on the Likud list, Vladimir Beliak was pushed to the 16th spot on 'Beyachad', and Yisrael Beiteinu placed Russian-speaking candidates in relatively low positions. The trend is drawing criticism of the passivity of the community itself.

The 26th Knesset is expected to include fewer Russian-speaking representatives than the outgoing Knesset, which had seven members. Ze'ev Elkin, the only Russian-speaking minister from the outgoing coalition, was placed in the 32nd spot on the Likud list, which is not realistic according to polls. Prime Minister Netanyahu said in an interview to Channel 9 that "you have a representative from the Commonwealth, you are talking to him now," but the statement fell on deaf ears. In the 'Change Bloc', on the Yashar list of Gadi Eisenkot, there is one Russian-speaking candidate in a realistic spot, Alex Rief. In Naftali Bennett's Beyachad party, MK Vladimir Beliak was pushed to the 16th spot. Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid tweeted in support of Beliak, calling on voters to reward him. Yisrael Beiteinu of Avigdor Lieberman is also distancing itself from the community: Yulia Malinovsky in fifth place, Evgeny Sova in eighth place. Sova wrote in a Russian-language post that the eighth spot was "an unpleasant surprise." The article notes criticism of the passivity of the Russian-speaking public itself, as expressed by Marina Kigel, founder of the Facebook community "Russians on Russians."