Religious social activist Yair Pink to run in the Democrats' primaries

Yair Pink, a social and political left-wing activist, said he intends to run in the primaries of the Democrats party, saying he wants to offer an alternative and bring a distinct voice inside the left camp. Pink is known as one of the leading figures in the public campaign for equal military burden-sharing and serves as a faction head and the social justice division chief at the Histadrut labor federation.

Pink said the move takes his public activism one step further into the parliamentary arena. In his announcement, he described his main motives as fighting “extremism and coercion,” and stressed that his personal and religious identity is part of his effort to change attitudes within the movement.

“I decided to run in the primaries of the Democrats led by Yair Golan in order to fight from within,” Pink said. He added that his identity matters especially in the current struggle, “especially as a religious person, against extremism and religious coercion.”

The announcement came amid broader movement inside the left bloc. Earlier the same morning, Uri Zaki, a veteran figure and former head of the Meretz executive committee, announced he was leaving the Democrats after 28 years in the party and shifting his full support to retired Major General Gadi Eisenkot and the Yashar! party.