Naftali Bennett adds four female candidates to B’Yachad slate, bringing total women on list to 17

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett announced the addition of four women to the B’Yachad Party’s Knesset slate, bringing the total number of female candidates to 17 ahead of the October 27 elections. The new candidates include Esti Ayalon Kubo, former head of Israel’s economic delegation to China; social entrepreneur Olessia Kantor; Bruria Naim Erma, director-general of the party; and Orly Harel, head of the party’s Women’s Branch. Bennett emphasized that inclusion was based on merit, not gender.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett announced on Tuesday the addition of four women to the B’Yachad Party’s Knesset slate, bringing the total number of female candidates on the list to 17 ahead of the elections scheduled for October 27. B’Yachad is led by Bennett and is a core party in the opposition bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The new candidates include Esti Ayalon Kubo, former head of Israel’s economic delegation to China, who was born in Ethiopia and made aliyah with her family; Olessia Kantor, founder of the Lev Esh initiative providing therapy to survivors of the October 7 massacre; Bruria Naim Erma, the party’s director-general and former Transportation Ministry official; and Orly Harel, head of the party’s Women’s Branch and an AI expert. Bennett stated that each candidate reflects a 'true Israeli mosaic of top-notch women of action,' and that their inclusion was based on merit, not gender. Other female candidates include former government director-generals Keren Terner and Liran Avisar Ben Horin. B’Yachad merged with Yesh Atid in April, and Bennett has contrasted his previous government’s record on female representation with the current one.