Who they are
Netaly Shem Tov is a television journalist who anchored the Friday evening news on Channel 13 and hosted the state's Independence Day torch-lighting and Israel Prize ceremonies in 2025.
She was born in 1983 and grew up in Metula, and went to school at the Danziger high school in Kiryat Shmona. She did her military service in the IDF spokesperson’s unit and was discharged as a captain, later making major in the reserves, where she trains senior officers to face a camera. She took a degree in communications at the Open University and a master’s in political communication at Tel Aviv University, both with distinction.
She started out presenting local news bulletins in the north and then in Tel Aviv, and read the news on Radio Tzafon. At the Channel 12 news company she moved from news flashes to the young edition and then the first and night editions, and revealed the police commissioner’s decision in 2016 to stop handling anonymous complaints and soldiers’ accounts of financial hardship after they were laid off. She moved to Channel 13 and anchored its Friday edition until she was dismissed. When the war began in October 2023 she was evacuated from Metula with her family and reported the northern front from the border communities. In 2025 she hosted the 77th torch-lighting ceremony with Lital Shemesh, and the Israel Prize ceremony with the actor Israel Atias.
Positions and record
The northern border: Calls the separation of Hezbollah from Iran a strategic achievement and says Israel must not withdraw from the new line it holds: "the story of the villages next to Israel is over, they are not going back there."
The periphery: Argues settling the periphery is the answer to the cost of living and overcrowding, and that "every party talks periphery, the problem is no party does periphery."
Her dismissal: She sued Channel 13 after her 2025 dismissal, alleging breach of contract, workplace abuse and political discrimination. They settled on 7 September 2026. The channel then said her public statement breached the agreement's confidentiality terms and threatened to cancel it; the report established no final cancellation or judicial finding on the allegations.
Where they stand
Holds the party line on every issue.