As the Democrats party primary approaches on July 20, competition is intensifying and more contenders are joining the race amid the party’s strong polling. On Wednesday, Ram Shefa, head of the rehabilitation team for Western Negev kibbutzim, announced he will run on the list and presented what he called “the new contract for the Negev and the Galilee.”
Shefa is a former Knesset member who served as chair of the Education Committee and as head of the Labor faction in the government of change. Since October 7, 2023, he has served as the kibbutz movement’s recovery coordinator for the Western Negev communities. One of his first battles after the Hamas attack was to pressure state authorities to allow temporary burials for all communities in the area, after the Religious Services Ministry initially refused because the region had been declared a closed military zone.
That fight centered on a formal state commitment to finance and carry out future reburials once the destroyed kibbutzim are rebuilt. The effort ultimately succeeded, and many victims were buried across Israel before later being laid to rest permanently in the region’s kibbutzim and moshavim.
Alongside his return to politics, Shefa has unveiled a broad rehabilitation plan for the Negev and Galilee. He says it calls for immediate, comprehensive protection for the north, ending what he described as “the era of cosmetic solutions,” and for full shielding of every home, school and public building in northern and southern areas within rocket range. The plan also includes expanded education and welfare services, new staffing standards, retention bonuses, a Negev and Galilee adaptation of the Eilat model for social workers, teachers and medical staff, community-centered schools, frontline medical centers in regional councils, and a national mental-health emergency system that reaches residents at home. Democrats chairman Yair Golan said Shefa is “from the new generation of Israeli leadership,” praising him as “sharp, hardworking, professional and committed.”
