MK Pnina Tameno-Shete to 'Post': 'It's time to replace the government' - interview

MK Pnina Tameno-Shete, 42, a member of MK Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party, had what she described as a “troubled” childhood. She was born in Gondar Province in Ethiopia and came to Israel in 1984 at age three with her family as part of Operation Moses. She grew up in an integration center in Pardes Hannah and eventually in Petah Tikva. 

After completing her IDF service in the Home Front Command, Tameno-Shete studied law at Ono Academic College, and in parallel became a social activist, mainly on behalf of the Ethiopian-Israeli community. 

She became a leading figure in a number of high-profile public protests on behalf of the community, against racially based discrimination. She eventually became a journalist and media personality, but in 2012 joined Yesh Atid and entered the Knesset, becoming the first-ever female Israeli-Ethiopian member of Knesset, and, at age 31, the youngest member of that Knesset.

Tameno-Shete did not make it into the Knesset in the 2015 election, but returned in 2018 after the resignation of one of Yesh Atid’s MKs. In the meantime, she completed an executive M.A. at Tel Aviv University (with honors) in Public Policy.

In 2020, she split ways with Yesh Atid and opted to enter the COVID-19 emergency Gantz-Netanyahu government as part of Gantz’s Blue and White Party. She became aliyah and integration minister, and remained in the position during the Lapid-Bennett government until the end of 2022. In the current Knesset, Tameno-Shete is the faction leader of Gantz’s National Unity Party and heads the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality.

For Tameno-Shete, entering the governing coalition following the Hamas massacre on October 7 was not a question. Her party, perhaps unlike the other parties in the opposition, viewed it as its duty to stabilize the government and support the war effort.

National Unity wasn’t a full member of the coalition, in the sense that its ministers did not join ministerial committees other than the security cabinet, and did not receive ministerial portfolios. But its presence in the coalition, and Gantz and National Unity No. 2 MK Gadi Eisenkot’s presence in the war cabinet, were important at the beginning of the war to project unity, and continued to play an important role at the critical junctions that followed, Tameno-Shete said.

Four critical junctions 

The first critical junction came right at the beginning. According to Tameno-Shete, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and most of the government ministers were “in shock” during the first few days after the attack. Gantz and Eisenkot’s entry into the government injected some life back into the system and contributed to its ability to begin to function properly. It was Gantz and Eisenkot who pushed for the IDF to invade Gaza, despite concerns over heavy casualties, Tameno-Shete said.

The second critical junction was the hostage exchange deal in late November. Tameno-Shete said she was certain that without Gantz and Eisenkot’s involvement, the deal would not have happened. For National Unity, freeing the hostages was the goal with utmost importance from the outset, but she was stunned that some ministers opposed the first deal, even though the price Israel paid was relatively small, Tameno-Shete said.

The third junction came ahead of Ramadan, and Gantz applied all the pressure at his disposal to prevent the West Bank from exploding into violence due to decisions and statements by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir attempted to limit Muslim visitation to the Temple Mount in a way that “did not make sense,” but Gantz managed to prevent it, she said.

Fourth was Gantz’s international contribution. Around the period of Ramadan, he traveled to the United Kingdom to stave off a potential arms embargo. In addition, Gantz, as defense minister in the past and as a minister during the war, assisted in weaving together the international defense umbrella that defended Israel from the Iranian rocket and drone attack on April 13.

In addition, Gantz and Eisenkot’s presence had intangible advantages. 

“Their style isn’t contentious, they are gentlemen who don’t create headlines based on populism and spin, and this nation must believe that it is worthy of such leaders,” Tameno-Shete said.

Approximately four or five months into the war, Netanyahu’s conduct began to change, and that was when National Unity began to contemplate leaving the government. 

The most pressing matter was the prime minister’s unwillingness to make strategic decisions regarding the “day after” the war. Gantz and Eisenkot already in January demanded that the government begin a strategic debate to set policy for the day after the war.

Netanyahu responded by scheduling a meeting for three months later, in April – which he eventually canceled. Political considerations played a part, namely the concern that Netanyahu’s far-right partners would leave the government on the issue.

Another point that led to a rupture was when Netanyahu discredited the hostage negotiation team at a critical point in late March, near the end of Israel’s operation in Khan Yunis. Gantz and Eisenkot pushed to broaden the negotiating team’s mandate to make concessions in the name of the government, but Netanyahu’s conduct at the time undermined the negotiating team and a deal fell through. Two weeks later, Israel exited Khan Yunis and lost significant leverage, Tameno-Shete said.

Looking ahead, Tameno-Shete said there was “no choice” but to hold an election to regain public trust in the government. She said she preferred this come from the government itself, for campaigns not to deteriorate into mudslinging in the midst of war.

But she acknowledged that this is unlikely, and therefore said the party intends “to make life difficult” for the government. National Unity would continue to support the war effort, but will push back against any initiative that it deems unworthy, Tameno-Shete said.

Even without the October 7 massacre, Israel needed an election because there were “less than a handful” of ministers who were functioning well, and the government’s conduct has been “scandalous,” according to Tameno-Shete. 

Israel isn't doing nearly enough 

She pointed out as an example the fact that in northern towns that were not evacuated but are still threatened by Hezbollah rockets, schools are not operating fully and medical and welfare centers are shut down. The state isn’t fulfilling its basic duties towards tax-paying citizens – education, health, and welfare – and is simply incompetent, Tameno-Shete argued. 

Especially in wartime, the state needs the best people available, and for this alone, it was time to replace the government, she said.

THE SECOND part of the interview focused on Tameno-Shete’s leadership of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality since the war’s outbreak.

She argued that the committee had become one of the most important in the Knesset due to its focus on the sexual violence against Israeli women on October 7 and in captivity; the state’s treatment of those who returned from captivity; and the struggle on behalf of wives of reservists and of officers, many of whom suffered emotionally and financially due to their husbands being away for months at a time.

Tameno-Shete hosted a conference in the Knesset in November on Hamas’s sexual violence, which included international leaders such as the leader of the German Bundestag and representatives from the European Parliament.

The conference included testimonies from police officers and from ZAKA volunteers who scoured the Gaza border area for remnants of bodies in the days following October 7, some of which were heard for the first time. According to Tameno-Shete, the conference was the first time that the issue received international coverage and prominence.

Creating a supportive space for women 

But first and foremost, Tameno-Shete said her committee was an “open space” and a safe platform for women to speak about their experiences in captivity and in other situations, and receive “empathy and an embrace.” This was true for family members of hostages, some of whom received indifferent and sometimes even hostile treatment from some members of Knesset, and for women who had been in captivity or whose husbands have been absent for months. 

The committee was an opportunity for some of these women to come together and share their stories and experiences in a supportive environment, Tameno-Shete explained.

She stressed, however, that empathy was not enough, and that her committee was responsible for a number of policy moves, the most prominent of which was ensuring financial support for wives of reservists. 

Tameno-Shete was proud of what she portrayed as wily political skill to get this done. She said she has pressured government ministries to include it in a NIS 9 billion package earmarked for reservists, which the government announced in late December. 

She explained that she succeeded in ensuring the aid by pitting the ministries against each other, threatening each that a rival ministry would receive credit for the move if it did not act on the matter.  

Once this was done, Tameno-Shete continued working with volunteer forums of wives of reservists to increase the aid packages, and also became involved in a parallel forum of wives of officers who were in need of assistance as well. Other issues that she dealt with included sexual harassment of women from the Gaza border area or the North who had been evacuated, and who were residing in hotels.

Values and a true calling 

Asked towards the end of the interview what motivated her public activity, Tamano-Shete responded, “I think that my values are from home, from a complicated childhood. I know what bureaucracy is, I know what it feels like to be lacking. I know what it is like to part from a mother at age three, and I know what difficulty is.”

“My political journey stemmed from my conviction that no part of society should be, and that is my calling. Precisely in the difficult places, that people don’t see, and where [success] is against all odds,” she said.

Tameno-Shete said she believed in a combination of grassroots social activism and activism as a member of parliament.

“When these come together, you can achieve many things,” she concluded.