She went on to become an anchor for the Israel Broadcasting Authority's radio station Reshet Bet, earning a reputation as opinionated and critical of conventional wisdom and the establishment.

In October 2000, following a work dispute, she left her radio job and joined Channel 2 TV, where she hosted a political talk show and served as a news commentator.

As a journalist, Yachimovich was credited in giving prominent stage on national radio for activists of the "Four Mothers" advocacy group who campaigned for Israel's withdrawal from Southern Lebanon.

The founders formed a pressure group advocating a withdrawal, pointing out the excessive cost in human lives of a continuing Israeli presence in Southern Lebanon.

Yachimovich and military affairs journalist Carmela Menashe were the first to give stage to the group's agenda, helping the grass-roots movement strike at the heart of Israeli public debate.

The growing discussion over Israel's role in Southern Lebanon eventually led prime minister Ehud Barak to announce a withdrawal plan in 2000, amid vocal criticism over Yachimovich's agenda from military officials.

The bank's main shareholder, American-Israeli businesswoman Shari Arison, one of Israel's wealthiest women, led a press conference to defend the layoffs, on advice from her public relations consultant Rani Rahav.

Critics rejected her argument as being poorly constructed, claiming that her remarks only seemed to demonstrate that for the country's wealthiest, national responsibility means profit maximization.

She warned that the threats of a lawsuit provided an example of how the rich and successful are able to arrange things to their liking, in this case by firing such a large number of employees and then silencing public criticism of the move.

[9] The next day, Arison's consultant Rani Rahav published an assertive open letter attacking Yachimovich, faxing it to 500 of Israel's top CEO's and media personalities.

Despite criticisms, her entry to political life was preceded and followed by numerous other Israeli journalists who ran for a Knesset seat, including Nitzan Horowitz, Yair Lapid, Nachman Shai, Uri Orbach, Ofer Shelach and Merav Michaeli.

[16] The 17th Knesset, which span from April 2006 to February 2009, saw the Labor party joining the Kadima-led coalition under prime-minister Ehud Olmert in the thirty-first government of Israel.

[19] 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.

[20] 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.

[22] 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,[23] has been described as explosive,[24] and an unprecedented event in the bill's history.

[25] 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.

[26] 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.

[36] The debate escalated to Yachimovich and six other Labor MK's being named as 'Labor rebels', who formed an anti-Barak alliance and restrained from voting along party lines, although officially being part Netanyahu's government.

She argued that the Israeli Left is locked in a false paradigm that is portraying the Settlement project as responsible for the erosion of the welfare state, while actually the shortage of resources to relieve social injustices was a direct result of Benjamin Netanyahu's economic agenda.

Paradoxically, even though I have a much more conciliatory attitude and harbor no resentment toward religion, and feel connected to the sources on the social level – their anger contained much greater faith.