Avi Shaked, one of the controlling shareholders in online gambling company 888, will contend for a place on the Labor Party's list in the forthcoming Knesset elections. This morning, Shaked published full-page announcements in two newspapers explaining his decision.
"Avi Shaked, socialist millionaire (and not ashamed of it)" is the campaign slogan accompanying Shaked's attempt at membership of the Knesset.
"They say I'm a millionaire. It's true, and I'm not ashamed of it, but first and foremost I'm a socialist, and after that a millionaire," Shaked writes in the announcement.
Shaked is considered one of the wealthiest people in Israel, mainly thanks to the huge IPO by 888, the world's largest online casino operator, in London in September. In the IPO, Avi Shaked and his brother Aharon (each separately) sold shares worth some $90 million, and were left with holdings in the company worth some $250 million each. In other words, the wealth of each of the Shaked brothers from 888 alone amounts to about $340 million, which is NIS 1.6 billion.
"Despite all this money, I believe that for the sake of all of our futures here in Israel, I must act on behalf of the have-nots," Shaked writes. "The time has come for a revolution in Israeli society's order of priorities. The time has come that we should all understand that narrowing the gaps is in everyone's interests, including the haves. There is no future for a country in which working people are below the poverty line."
In Shaked's view, as a first step, the minimum wage should be raised to NIS 5,000 a month (compared with NIS 3,335 at present). "The wealthy must not live inside a bubble here. We must not ignore the poverty, the inequality, and the embittered feelings, because, in the end, the wealth gap will explode in everybody's faces," he warns.
"This is the time to influence matters, and therefore I have decided to run on the Labor Party list for the Knesset, because only Labor's social manifesto will lead to the required change," Shaked concludes.
This is not Shaked's (52) first foray into politics. His political activity began on the left more than 20 years ago. In 1981, he joined the "Young Guard", and he has been a Labor Party member ever since. Shaked is considered to be a close friend and political ally of Yossi Beilin, leader of the Yahad (Meretz) party. He came to know Beilin in the 1970s, and was one of the first to recruit Beilin to the initiative, which produced the Geneva Accord, an unofficial peace agreement between Israeli and Palestinian representatives, in December 2003.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on November 30, 2005