“A woman leading a party in Israel… this is a tremendous thing, irregardless of what party the woman is coming from… I personally believe that the core of social change in any society are women,” he said Sept. 18 at Agudath Israel Congregation.

Stating that the left-leaning NIF has “become more a movement that tries to influence the government,” Yaari said he had spoken to Livni a couple of weeks prior to her victory in party primaries.

“We decided that we have to talk to all the candidates. It was an interesting meeting, because she [was] foreign minister. She met us in her small office in Tel Aviv rather than in her new office in Jerusalem. I told her that as foreign minister, she should be meeting people in Jerusalem,” he said.

Explaining that the NIF is an organization that seeks to bring justice and equality to all in Israel, and to bring together Jews and Arabs in a quest for peace and equal citizenship, Yaari said, “We were the first to use the word ‘empowerment’ in Israel. There was no Hebrew word for it before us. We were the first to preserve the environment as a methodology for living.”

The NIF seeks partnerships with groups whose ideologies are in synch with its own.

“Everyone can be a partner with NIF, as long as you respect pluralism, as long as you respect equality in gender and as long as you accept that Israel is a sovereign, Jewish country, but we have people who are minorities. We are all about values, values that guide us,” Yaari said.

The NIF has recently been approached to help with a plan to build communities for former Russians in Israel. “They approached NIF because we will do the work by asking what they want rather than telling them what we want. This is another partnership with another segment of society that was not being heard and we are empowering them,” he said.

“We are investing in start-up grants to groups of people and we are also training them [almost 600 different groups every year] in finance, training and building coalitions,” he added.

Yaari, a well-known media personality in Israel, worked for many years at the Israeli Broadcast Authority as a reporter, editor, anchorperson, producer and programs director. He is also a published author.

“In Jerusalem, I continue to write, to do radio, but 16 hours a day I am doing [work for the NIF]. This is exciting, and I think it is a huge contribution to the State of Israel,” he said.