Published: August 30, 2026 · Tedros Editorial
Jerusalem Post opinion: give Gabi Worku, winner of the primaries' immigrants' race, a realistic slot
Important: this is an opinion piece
This article summarizes an op-ed published in The Jerusalem Post on August 23, 2026 — not a news report. The views are the author's, Shmuel Legesse, not Tedros's position.
Who is Gabi Worku
Per the piece, Worku is a longtime Likud member and community activist from Haifa who previously worked as a political aide to former MK Dr. Avraham Neguise. He is active in immigrant integration and in efforts to bring the remaining Jews of Ethiopia to Israel — and in Likud's latest primaries he won the race for the immigrants' slot.
The core argument
Legesse — whose previous op-ed on Ethiopian-Israeli leadership we covered — argues Netanyahu should place Worku in a realistic list position, preferably within the first 23:
> "Worku entered the primary, faced the voters, and won the immigrants' contest. Now he deserves a realistic opportunity to serve."
He frames it as a test of democratic fairness — "primaries become meaningless if members' choices are buried beneath appointments" — and of whether Ethiopian-Israeli votes "matter" to Likud.
Context
The piece runs against the backdrop of the 32 kessim's letter to Netanyahu and the reserved-slots debate.