From a Catwalk to Knesset
Never mind the two front runners for prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni. Israelis are chattering about Orly Levy, 35, a former fashion model running for Parliament from the state's hard-right Israel Beitenu Party. Wags have made quick work of her campaign; Israel's version of "Saturday Night Live" mocked her as a dilettante, and even Levy admits her résumé is thin. "I have no political experience at all," she told NEWSWEEK. "This would be like Paris Hilton going to the Senate," says author and filmmaker Etgar Keret. "You could make a reality show about this."
According to the latest polls, Levy's ultranationalist party is surging, and could win as many as 18 seats in Israel's Knesset on Tuesday. Led by Russian émigré Avigdor Lieberman, the party has capitalized on Israel's bellicose postwar mood, snatching votes away from both hawks like Netanyahu and doves like Livni. Lieberman probably won't get enough votes to be prime minister. But he may well be a kingmaker—good news for Levy. In Israel, voters cast their ballots for parties, not candidates; because Levy is high on Lieberman's list (No. 6), she's all but certain to get a Parliament spot.
Levy isn't a political neophyte. Her father, David, is a former Israeli foreign minister. "I grew up in a political household," she says. "I know how politics works." She also studied law as an undergraduate and has hosted local TV shows. And for what it's worth, she gets good marks from her job references at the Hagara fashion house, where she spent the last two seasons posing for catalogs and magazine ads. "Orly has a nice face, she's beautiful, she's happy all the time," says Malci Yazdi, the company's marketing manager. What about political experience? "Sometimes experience isn't the most important thing," Yazdi says.
For dovish Israelis, Levy's résumé isn't the problem—it's her party's hard-line views. Lieberman, 50, a former nightclub bouncer, regularly rails against coexistence with Israel's Arab population. "He's like our own Cossack," says Keret. "He's the guy who comes to town, burns it down and rapes the women." The party boss "is not a racist," says Levy. Still, "I think some of the population is not loyal to the Israeli flag." The polls suggest more and more Israelis agree—a troubling fashion trend, indeed.
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Kevin Peraino has been the Jerusalem bureau chief at Newsweek since January 2005. He reports from throughout the Middle East, filing regularly from Israel, the Palestinian territories, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq. His tenure has coincided with one of the region's most tumultuous periods in recent history; stories have included Lebanon's "Cedar Revolution," Israel's historic withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the incapacitation of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the rise of the Islamist group Hamas, civil war and revolution in Gaza, and Israel's summer conflict with Lebanon's Hizbullah organization.
In 2003, Peraino covered the American invasion of Iraq, where he was embedded with the U.S. Army's Third Infantry Division. He rode in a Bradley fighting vehicle from the first thrust across the Kuwaiti border to the division's arrival, under fire, at Saddam International Airport. His dispatches contributed to Newsweek's being honored with the most prestigious award in magazine journalism -- the 2004 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. He also filed regular reports from the front for National Public Radio.
The following year, Peraino was a member of Newsweek's Campaign 2004 Special Project Team, based in Washington, D.C. In that position he followed the campaign of President George W. Bush, reporting for more than a year from behind the scenes for the special issue that Newsweek published two days after Election Day. The project won a 2005 National Magazine Award for Single-Topic Issue. It was later published as a book titled Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future, by Public Affairs press. It became a national bestseller.
Peraino appears regularly as a guest commentator on television and radio programs to discuss his stories, including: CNN's "Larry King Live," NBC's "Today," MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews," MSNBC's "The News with Brian Williams," Fox News's "O'Reilly Factor," C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" and many others.
A 1998 graduate Northwestern University, Peraino has also written for the Wall Street Journal Europe, New York magazine and Hamptons magazine. He is a native of Ridgefield, Conn.
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