Her own stated target: in a Shakuf interview on 7 July 2026, she explicitly confirmed that becoming justice minister was her goal.
Who they are
Efrat Rayten is a Labour MK and chair of her party’s Knesset faction. She was an actress and television presenter for two decades before she practised law.
She was born in Haifa in 1972 to Miri, a medical secretary, and Avi, a navy colonel who later went into insurance, and grew up in Ramat Hasharon. She won national athletics titles at school and served in the Southern Command entertainment troupe. She began acting in 1992, trained at the Yoram Loewenstein studio and worked in television drama and theatre, taking the lead in He Walked Through the Fields at the Beersheba theatre. She presented children’s and youth programmes on the Children’s Channel and Educational Television, and later the morning shows Yom Hadash and Kol Boker.
She read law at Sha’arei Mishpat while still on screen and joined Goldfarb Seligman in 2012, practising contract, company and defamation law. She acted for the Israel Medical Association and for the families of those killed in the Nahal Tzafit disaster. As chair of the Knesset’s Labour and Welfare Committee she carried a law stopping benefits such as disability payments being offset against unemployment pay, and she has put through an amendment removing the statute of limitations on sex offences against minors and one on the rights of disabled soldiers and victims of hostile acts.
Positions and record
Workers: At a December 2021 hearing, Rayten backed regulation of platform work to protect workers’ employment and social rights.
Children: In May 2023 she called for youth-village funding to become a budget priority, citing an annual need of NIS 56 million.
Judiciary: Her June 2026 programme would protect equality and free expression in constitutional law and expressly authorise High Court review of legislation.
Government: Her June 2026 programme proposes an eight-year limit for prime ministers and barring them from serving under indictment.
Parliamentary ethics: In July 2026 she proposed considering an ethics committee with members from outside parliament and attendance quorums for legislative committee votes.
Where they stand
Holds the party line on every issue.