Likud appoints activist Rachel Broyde to reach out to English-speaking voters
Broyde grew up in Atlanta, before coming to Israel to study in seminary in 2011 and has lived here ever since.
By LAHAV HARKOVRachel Broyde (L) and Likud MK Sharren Haskel (R)(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Likud put activist Rachel Broyde in charge of its Anglo campaign starting on Wednesday.Broyde’s focus will be on planning events in English and helping English-speaking activists understand and relay campaign messages, which come from the general Hebrew campaign. She will also coordinate with French-speaking activists for the party.“I’m planning parlor meetings in English with our 80 activists around the country,” Broyde told The Jerusalem Post.Broyde was proud that the Likud has many candidates who have a realistic chance of getting into the next Knesset and speak English well enough to hold their own in events, like Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, former Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat, and MKs Yoav Kisch, Sharren Haskel and Amir Ohana.“We hope to bring the big hitters to events in larger cities,” she said.As for coordinating other Anglo activists in the party, Broyde said that “training is a big aspect of what I’m doing. I write talking points and people come to me for information.”In her experience, “people don’t want to be involved until you find them something they identify with,” so Broyde considers part of her job to help activists find what part of the Likud’s platform they connect with best so that they can talk about it most.Broyde has been an activist in the Likud and the Young Likud for five years. Her work in this campaign began on Whatsapp, when she voluntarily opened a group for people seeking information and allowing candidates in the primaries to talk to party members in English. At its height, the group had about 100 people, and Broyde conducted interviews with primaries candidates in the group.At only 25 years old, Broyde is not far in age from the staffers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's close circle who play a key role in the Likud campaign – party spokesman Jonatan Urich and new-media manager Topaz Luk, who served in the IDF with 27-year-old Yair Netanyahu. She has her own office at the Likud headquarters in Metsudat Ze’ev in Tel Aviv, and brings experience in public relations to the job.“It’s a good thing for young Likud members to take leadership roles,” she said. “It’s very important.”
Broyde grew up in Atlanta, Georgia before coming to Israel to study in seminary in 2011, and has lived here ever since. She has a BA from Bar-Ilan University and is currently pursuing an MA in public policy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is taking time off from working as a press and government relations associate at a think tank.“My goal is to turn us into an official caucus within the Likud and keep up this momentum after the elections, so that we can work to develop the policies we favor to help olim and make the party more accessible, so there is more information available in English,” Broyde said.
