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Profile: Isaac Herzog: Netanyahu's key challenger in Israel's elections

Xinhua, March 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

Isaac Herzog, widely regarded in Israel as a non-charismatic and unimposing politician, has been gearing up to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tuesday's parliamentary elections.

The 54-year-old politician, head of the center-left Zionist Union and leader of the opposition, is in a tight race against Netanyahu, who is running for a fourth term as Israel's prime minister.

With his nasally voice and nerdy look, Herzog seems as unlikely contender in a society which usually prefers its prime ministers tough and gruff.

But latest polls show that Herzog is gaining a bigger lead on Netanyahu, and would win 25 seats in a 120-seat parliament, with Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party receiving only 21 seats.

He took over the Labor party in 2013, after beating former Chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich, a parliament member known for her staunch socialist stance on welfare and economic issues.

On December 10, after the upcoming snap elections were announced, Herzog forged an alliance with Tzipi Livni, head of the centrist Hatnua party and former Minister of Justice and peace negotiator.

Talking to journalists in Jerusalem last month, Herzog said that as prime minister, he plans to "reignite" the negotiations with the Palestinians, based on a regional platform with Jordan and Egypt. The last round of peace talks collapsed last year amid the Israeli expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

Herzog pledged to stop the Jewish construction outside major settlement blocs in the Palestinian territory. However, he supports the expansion of settlements within the blocs, such as Ma'aleh Adumim, Ariel and Gush Etzion, which he considers "very important for Israel's security."

Speaking to Israeli electorate, Herzog is emphasizing his economic platform, which promises to restrain the high cost of living in the country, particularly the housing prices.

"The right to housing is one of the basic social rights the state is committed to safeguarding as part of its responsibility towards its citizens," the platform said. "Solving the housing crisis must be a central goal for every responsible Israeli government," it added.

Herzog is a veteran in Israeli politics. He has been a long-time member of the Labor party and served as Housing Minister in Ariel Sharon's government. He later served as the Tourism and Social Affairs Minister and was the leader of the opposition since being elected as labor chief last year.

Herzog, better known in Israel as "Bougie" (a nickname from his childhood that combines the French word for toy, " joujou," with the Hebrew equivalent, "buba), is a son of the sixth President of Israel and former ambassador to the UN, Chaim Herzog. His grandfather, Isaac HaLevi Herzog, was Israel's first Chief Rabi.

During his service in the military, he served as an officer in an elite intelligence unit known as "8200."

Herzog lives in Tel Aviv with his wife, and he is a father of three sons. Enditem