Francais | English | Espanõl

List of political parties in Israel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Israel
Image:Coat of arms of Israel.png

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Israel

Other countries • Politics Portal

view • talk • edit</div>

Political parties in Israel: Israel's political system is based on proportional representation which allows for a multi-party system with numerous parties, in which a single party usually has no chance of gaining power by itself, forcing the parties to cooperate and form coalition governments. This article lists the political parties in Israel.

There is an old saying that, "if you have three Jews in a room, you have five opinions." This seems to hold true, because Israel, a nation of less than 10 million people, has more than 20 major political parties.

Contents

[edit] Naming convention

It may seem confusing that in the English-speaking media some parties are known by their Hebrew name, whilst others have their names translated into English. However, there is some method behind the madness, and naming conventions can be broken into three groups.

[edit] Parties known by their English name

In general, Israeli political parties are known by their English name when there is an equivalent in the English-speaking world. This is the case for the Israeli Labour Party, which is a sister party of the British Labour Party. Other parties known by their English names include the National Union, the Jewish National Front and the Green Party. This explains why One Nation is known by its English name, whilst Atid Ekhad (One Future) is known by its Hebrew name.

Names are also generally translated when the party's origin or concept is explained in its name. This includes the United Arab List, the National Religious Party or United Torah Judaism. The latter two are also known by their English initials, NRP and UTJ.

Occasionally names are translated when the Hebrew is too unwieldy for English speakers to manage, such as the Alignment (HaMa'arakh).

[edit] Parties known by their Hebrew name

Israeli political parties that do not have an equivalent in the English-speaking world are usually known by their Hebrew name. This includes parties such as Kadima (Forward), Likud (Consolidation), Meretz (Energy) and Israel Beytenu (Israel Our Home).

[edit] Parties known by their Hebrew/Arabic acronym

It is very common in Israel for parties to be known by acronyms of their name. This is at least partially caused by Hebrew and Arabic's capacity for acronym forming, due to the fact that vowels are not written in words. For instance, the Hebrew word degel (flag) would be written dgl (Hebrew: דגל) with the gaps filled by unwritten vowels. Thus whilst the Scottish National Party is known as the SNP, in Israel the Democratic Front for Peace (haHazit haDemokratit leSHalom) is known as Hadash.

When written in English, rather than translating the acronym, the Hebrew is used but with the vowels added. Other contemporary parties known by their acronyms include Balad (an Arabic acronym), Gil, Hetz, Meimad and Shas. Historical parties named in such a way incude Mapai, Mapam, Maki, Gahal, Mizrakhi and Rafi.

[edit] Exceptions

As with many rules, there are always a few exceptions. Shinui (Reform) is known by its Hebrew name despite Reform Parties being common internationally

[edit] The parties

[edit] Parties with representation in the 17th Knesset (הכנסת ה-17)

Main article: Knesset
Common name Hebrew name
(in Hebrew) 		English name
(acronym) 		Leader
Kadima(קדימה)ForwardEhud Olmert
Labour-MeimadHaAvoda-Meimad (העבודה-מימד)-Amir Peretz
Shas(ש"ס)(The International World Sephardic Association of Torah Keepers)Eli Yishai
Likud(ליכוד)ConsolidationBinyamin Netanyahu
Israel Beytenu(ישראל ביתנו)Israel Our HomeAvigdor Lieberman
National Union-National Religious PartyIkhud Leumi-Mafdal (יחוד לאומי-מפד"ל)-Binyamin Elon
Gil(גיל)Age (Pensioners of Israel to the Knesset)Raphael Eitan
United Torah JudaismYehudot HaTorah HaMeukhedet (יהדית התורה המאוחדת)-Meir Porush
Meretz-Yachad(מרצ-יחד)Energy-Together (Social Democratic Israel)Yossi Beilin
United Arab ListReshima Aravit Meukhedet (רשימה ערבית מאוחדת)-Ibrahim Sarsur
Hadash(חד"ש)New (The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality)Mohammad Barakeh
Balad(בל"ד)(National Democratic Alliance)Azmi Bishara

[edit] Other parties

Some of the following parties ran for the 17th Knesset elections, but did not manage to pass the minimum vote share of 2% required to be represented:

[edit] Former parties

[edit] Zionist youth movement

Main article: Zionist youth movement
  • Betar בית"ר (associated with Likud)
  • Bnei Akiva בני עקיבא (associated with Mafdal)
  • Habonim Dror הבונים דרור ("The builders - Freedom") (Zionist socialist youth movement)
  • Hashomer Hatzair השומר הצעיר ("The Young Guard") (Zionist socialist youth movement associated with Mapam, Meretz and Yachad)
  • Magshimey Herut מגשימי חרות (associated with Herut)
  • HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed הנוער העובד והלומד (Zionist socialist youth movement)
  • Noar Avoda (Labor Youth") נוער עבודה (associated with Labour)
  • Noar Moledet נוער מולדת ("Moledet Youth") (associated with Moledet)
  • Noar Meretz נוער מרצ ("Meretz Youth") (associated with Meretz-Yachad)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

de:Liste israelischer Parteien he:פוליטיקה בישראל ru:Политические партии Израиля

Retrieved from "http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/List_of_political_parties_in_Israel"
Personal tools