Shelly Yachimovich - 17th Knesset

17th Knesset

The 17th Knesset, which span from April 2006 to February 2009, saw the Labor party joining the Kadima-led coalition under prime-minister Ehud Ulmert in the thirty-first government of Israel. Yachimovich was quickly growing critical of Labor's role in the government, as she believed the party was not executing its social-democratic mandate. She also became frustrated of then party leader Peretz, citing his choice to become Minister of Defense over an economically related minister, as a choice which created a personal, ideological and political drift between them. She consequently started to divert from voting along party lines and opposed the 2006 State Budget bill. Responding to criticisms, she justified her stance by claiming that most Knesset members and ministers who voted for the State Budget bill had not actually read it, and had not debated its long term consequences, which she deemed irrational. In the February 2007 party leadership primaries, she endorsed Ehud Barak over Ami Ayalon, pointing out that while she couldn't see the difference between them as both were not representing social-democratic values, Barak still had a better shot at leading the party to electoral victories.

She received The Knight of Quality Government award from the Movement for Quality Government in Israel in 2008. The selection committee commemorated her as being one of the very few elected officials who attacks Crony capitalism practices; who consistently supports the Supreme Court and State Comptroller legitimacy and standing; and who voices out for the issues of the less-privileged classes of society.

In 2009, Yachimovich leaked an undisclosed version of the forthcoming State Budget bill's Arrangements Act, the traditional addendum to the yearly budget, on her website and invited ordinary citizens to provide comments on its contents. She also released a detailed criticism of many of the State Budget's proposals, mainly in regard to proposed cutbacks to governmental services. The publication of the complete document, which under normal circumstances is being kept under the strictest secrecy in the Ministry of Finance and only distributed in small portions to selected officials, has been described as explosive, and an unprecedented event in the bill's history. As a result of the leak, the Bill came under public scrutiny and was susceptible to a wide debate in the Knesset and over the media, eventually causing the Ministry of Finance to withdraw some of its proposals for budget cutbacks. Furthermore, the case brought into question the Arrangements Act's objectives, with critics noting it bypasses the Knesset by essentially cancelling out previous legislation in a swipe of hand.