Meimad

History

The Meimad movement was founded on 1 June 1988 by Rabbi Yehuda Amital, and included former National Religious Party Knesset member Yehuda Ben-Meir. It emerged from Oz ve Shalom (Strength and Peace), an Orthodox Jewish peace movement. It contested the 1988 Knesset elections, receiving 0.7% of the vote and failing to cross the 1% electoral threshold. Following the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, his successor, Shimon Peres, invited Rabbi Amital to serve as a Minister without Portfolio. He held this position until 1996.

Eleven years later, a political party for the movement was established, and joined the One Israel alliance that won the Knesset elections that year. Meimad received one seat, taken by Michael Melchior. It gained a second when Yehuda Gilad replaced Maxim Levy in 2002. Tova Ilan also represented Meimad in the Knesset for a brief spell in 2006, after several other Labor MKs resigned. It attracted moderates among immigrants from the English-speaking world, including Shimon Glick.

In November 2008, minister and former Labor Party member Ami Ayalon joined Meimad. In the same month, the party ended its alliance with Labor after being told that 10th spot on the list would no longer be reserved for Meimad for the 2009 legislative elections.

Shortly afterwards, Ayalon announced his resignation from politics, and the party formed an umbrella alliance with the Green Movement.

In 2012, Melchior announced that he would not stand for election. The party was revived in 2018.

Ideology

The party emphasizes the values of many social democratic parties, except on religious issues. Meimad, like Labor, takes a centre-left approach to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. However, it supports religious studies in the main curriculum of Israel's public schools, and encourages the use of rabbinical courts in addition to civil courts.

Under Melchior, the party has taken an even more left-leaning approach—both in foreign and, especially, in domestic affairs. The party has run in municipal elections in 2003, winning a number of key seats in Tel Aviv. It also ran together with Meretz party in Haifa in which it shares a seat under a rotation agreement. Shlomo Yaakov Rapaport serves on the Haifa city council representing Meimad, and is the chairman of the Haifa Aliyah and absorption committee, and the chairman of the municipal committee against alcohol and drug abuse.

Election results

References

References

1. Ehud Zion Waldoks. (2009-01-20). "Green Movement-Meimad to stress environmental issues in elections". The Jerusalem Post.
2. (February 1993). "Jewish Fundamentalism in Comparative Perspective: Religion, Ideology, and the Crisis of Morality". NYU Press.
3. Kaplan, Robert D.. (January 2000). "Judaism's Challenge". The Atlantic.
4. (2007). "Can Faiths Make Peace?: Holy Wars and the Resolution of Religious Conflicts". I.B. Tauris.
5. Maltz, Judy. (9 June 2018). "Disgusted by Far-right Policies, Some Religious Zionists in Israel Look Left for New Leadership". Haaretz.
6. Bernard Reich. (2008). "Historical Dictionary of Israel". Scarecrow Press.
7. Tom Lansford. (2014). "Political Handbook of the World 2014". CQ Press.
8. Hoffman, Gil. (7 June 2018). "Religious-Zionist Meimad party reviving". The Jerusalem Post.
9. (2010-07-11). "PM: Rabbi Amital loved peace".
10. (2006). "World Encyclopedia of Political Systems and Parties". Facts on File.
11. (18 October 1988). "Keys to Israeli Vote: The Orthodox and the Arabs". The New York Times.
12. Somfalvi, Attila. (2008-11-17). "Ami Ayalon won't join Meretz". [[Ynet]].
13. Gil Hoffman. (14 December 2008). "Ayalon declares he is quitting politics". The Jerusalem Post.
14. Ehud Zion Waldoks. (18 December 2008). "Green Movement, Meimad run together". The Jerusalem Post.
15. (11 December 2012). "Pursuing the Meimad mission from beyond the political arena". The Times of Israel.
16. (June 2018). "Actors in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Interests, Narratives and the Reciprocal Effects of the Occupation". [[German Institute for International and Security Affairs]].