Green Party (Israel)

The Green Party (Hebrew: המפלגה הירוקה‎, Miflega HaYeruka), formerly the Green Movement, is a social-environmental movement and political party in Israel.[10][11] After briefly considering running independently in the 2020 Israeli legislative election, the party decided against it, realizing they had little to no chance of passing the 3.25% to enter the Knesset. Stav Shaffir, the party's leader, urged supporters to vote for a left leaning party to help defeat Netanyahu.[12]

Not to be confused with The Greens (Israel).
The Green Party

המפלגה הירוקה‎
LeaderStav Shaffir[1]
ChairpersonYael Cohen Paran
FoundersEran Ben-Yemini, Alon Tal
Founded2008 (2008)
IdeologyGreen politics[2][3]
Green Zionism[4][5]
Green liberalism[6]
Animal rights[6]
Environmentalism[6]
Political positionCentre-left[7][8] to left-wing[9]
National affiliationZionist Union (2014–2019)
Democratic Union (2019-2020)
SloganChoosing Life
Seats in Knesset
0 / 120
Most MKs1 (2015)
Election symbol
ה‎
Website
hayeruka.org.il

History

The Green Movement (Hebrew: התנועה הירוקה‎, HaTnuʿa HaYeruka) was founded in the summer 2008 by environmental activists and led by Eran Ben-Yemini and Alon Tal.[11] It soon formed a political party, and ran a joint list with Meimad, a dovish religious party, for the 2009 elections, after Meimad had ended its alliance with the Labor Party.[13] Meimad leader Michael Melchior headed its list, and Ben-Yemini and Tal came in second and third place; former Shinui MK Meli Polishook-Bloch was also on its list, in eleventh place.[14] In addition to the environment, the electoral slate's platform addressed issues of education, social democracy, religious pluralism, and co-existence.[11] The campaign downplayed religious issues, and emphasized environmental questions.[15] The alliance failed to win any seats in the Knesset after failing to pass the election threshold, receiving the largest number of votes of any party not to do so.

It contested the 2013 elections in an alliance with Tzipi Livni's party, Hatnua. Party leader Alon Tal was given the 13th spot on the party list. However, Hatnua only won 6 mandates. Following the election, there was a new leadership elected, with Yael Cohen Paran replacing Tal as co-chair.

It ran in the 2015 elections on a joint Zionist Union list with Hatnua and the Labor Party. Tzipi Livni chose Green Movement co-chair Yael Cohen Paran for the 25th spot (reserved for Hatnuah members) on the list.[16] Paran missed out on election, but got in following the resignation of another list member in November 2015.

Within the Knesset, the Movement's main focus is on toxic pollution in Haifa Bay and the effects on nearby neighbourhoods. Another focus is on air pollution. Paran is heading a parliamentary inquiry on renewable energy, pioneered a study on Israel becoming carbon-free, and is introducing legislation to require solar systems in high-rise buildings.

Prior to the September 2019 elections Stav Shaffir left the Israeli Labor Party after losing the leadership election to Amir Peretz. She joined the Green Movement, becoming its new leader. The party subsequently joined the Democratic Union alliance for the elections, receiving the 2nd and 8th spots on its list.[17] Shaffir was elected to the Knesset as the alliance won four seats.

After a 2020 snap election was announced, Meretz decided to create an electoral pact with the Labor Party without the Greens.

In the build-up to the 2020 elections, the party was renamed the Green Party.[18]

Principles

The party's principles, as laid out by its website, are:[6][19]

  • Action for improving the lives, health, welfare, education, and prosperity of Israeli citizens.
  • Responsibility and concern for the welfare, happiness, and prosperity of mankind, who shall live in a healthy, sustainable, and respectful environment in the present and in the future.
  • Support for a pluralistic lifestyle, and respect for every human being, regardless of their religion, race, gender, or sexual orientation.
  • Protection of the rights of animals and the helpless.
  • Action with a firm belief in the ability to bring about real change for the benefit of each and every one of us.
  • Implementing the Green New Deal.

Election results
Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– Status
2009 Eran Ben-Yemini 27,737 (#13)
In alliance with Meimad)		 0.82
0 / 120
 New Extraparliamentary
2013 Alon Tal Ran on the Hatnua list
0 / 120
 0 Extraparliamentary
2015 Yael Cohen Paran Part of the Zionist Union
1 / 120
 1 opposition
April 2019 Yael Cohen Paran Ran on the Labor Party list
0 / 120
 1 Extraparliamentary
September 2019 Stav Shaffir Part of the Democratic Union
1 / 120
 1 Snap election
2020 Stav Shaffir Did not contest Extraparliamentary

Leaders
Leader Took office Left office
1 Eran Ben-Yemini 2008 2010
2 Alon Tal 2010 2013
3 Yael Cohen Paran 2013 2019
4 Stav Shaffir 2019 Incumbent

References
  1. Hoffman, Gil (30 January 2021). "Israel elections: Dozens running for four seats in Labor". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  2. Zafrir Rinat (19 May 2008). "Weapons can't be green". Haaretz. Retrieved 23 June 2015. Green party representatives from 88 countries, including three from Israel, gathered this month in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the Second Global Greens Congress.... Hadas Shachnai of the Green Party, who represented Israel along with Mosi Raz of Meretz and environmental activist Eran Binyamini.
  3. Zafrir Rinat (2 December 2012). "Israel's Green party primary descends into farce as rivals see red". Haaretz. Retrieved 23 June 2015. The Green Movement has sought to represent a deep commitment to clean politics, direct democracy, and social justice. It had created a precedent by electing two co-chairs, a man and a woman, as is the practice in the German Green Party.
  4. Alon Tal (2002). Pollution in a Promised Land: An Environmental History of Israel. University of California Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 9780520936492. One must also be familiar with the many efforts and organizations that sought to make the Zionist pursuit a more gentle one for the land, resources, and creatures of Israel... If the ingenuity, determination, and emotional power of the Zionist dream is at the heart of Israeli environmental problems, it is also true that a newly modernized, environmentally sensitive Zionism has the power to solve them. The Zionist view of the natural world and how it was manifested in pre-State Israel, therefore, offers a natural starting point to begin Israel's environmental history.
  5. Alon Tal (2013). All the Trees of the Forest: Israel's Woodlands from the Bible to the Present. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300189506.
  6. "הירוקה". hayeruka (in Hebrew).
  7. Ehud Zion Waldoks (20 January 2009). "Green Movement-Meimad to stress environmental issues in elections". The Jerusalem Post.
  8. Tal Alon (24 December 2012). "Four steps for rescuing Judaism and justice in Israel". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  9. Gil Hoffman (25 July 2019). "Polls Find New Democratic Union Party Won't Impact Elections". The Jerusalem Post.
  10. Tom Lansford (20 March 2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014. CQ Press. p. 702. ISBN 9781483333274. Meimad contested the 2009 poll in alliance with the new Green Movement, a social-environmental party recently established under the leadership of Eran BEN-YAMINI and Al TAL.
  11. "Vision for Israel". An Unofficial Blog of the Israel Green Movement. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  12. Hoffman, Gil (15 January 2020). "Stav Shaffir, once a star MK, announces break from politics". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  13. Waldoks, Ehud Zion (18 December 2008). "Green Movement, Meimad run together". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  14. "התנועה הירוקה מימד בראשות הרב מלכיאור וערן בן ימיני" [The Green Movement Meimad headed by Rabbi Michael Melchior and Eren Ben Yemini] (in Hebrew). Knesset. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  15. Kalman Neuman (17 December 2008). "New Politics, No Politics, and Antipolitics: The Dilemma of the Religious Right in Israel" (PDF). Israel Democracy Institute. Cite journal requires |journal= (help) Presented at the workshop Anti-Politics: Citizens, Politics and the Political Profession, Jerusalem, 17–19 December 2008.
  16. Sharon Udasin (25 January 2015). "Environmentalist Yael Cohen Paran chosen for 24th spot on Labor-Hatnua list". The Jerusalem Post.
  17. @YaelCohenParan (25 July 2015). "המפלגה הירוקה שמחה להיות חלק מהמחנה הדמוקרטי שיעשה מהפך במפה הפוליטית בישראל" (Tweet) – via Twitter. |date= mismatches calculated date from |number= by two or more days (help)
  18. Judy Maltz (28 February 2020). "Defying Global Trend, No Green Party Will Be Running in Israel's Election. Here's Why". Haaretz. Shaffir came in on the Green Party ticket (which until then was known as the Green Movement) and brought Cohen Paran with her.
  19. "The Green Movement Vision". The Green Movement (in Hebrew). Retrieved 26 July 2019.
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