Nationalist journalist Erel Segal on Friday informed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he would not run for the Knesset with the Likud.

Segal’s announcement came a day after reports surfaced that Netanyahu was considering placing the 45-year-old journalist in one of the spots on the Likud Knesset list that are reserved for a candidate of his choice.

Segal said that while he never hid his views as a rightist and a supporter of the Prime Minister, he felt that at this stage he can contribute more through the media.

“So, after two days of deliberation and a night of insomnia, I concluded that my contribution through the media exceeds what I can contribute through the Knesset,” Segal wrote Friday afternoon.

“It’s no secret that I support Netanyahu and the Likud, I have never hidden my views and yet, I think (subjectively of course) that I was able to be fair and reasoned as a journalist. Two days ago I was approached and asked about the process and, of course if the Prime Minister calls me to come to a meeting, I certainly consider a proposal that most likely will not be made again in this lifetime,” he continued.

“But as mentioned, after I thought about it over and over again, I knew that at this stage of my life, I have no desire for any parliamentary and political action and to go in just for the ego and the respect is stupid and rude. Maybe it will happen in the future, but in the meantime I will continue in the media, I will contribute from the outside,” wrote Segal, who added that he is also “not giving up on Nag Hammadi”, a reference to the rock and roll band he set up with four other journalists.

Segal hosts a television news talk show, Erev Hadash, on Channel 1, and a radio show on the Judea and Samaria-based Galey Israel radio.

An eighth generation Israeli, he lives in Modi’in, is married and a father of four.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)