Gesher (, lit. ''Bridge'') was a liberal Zionist,

social liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...

, and

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

political party in Israel, established in December 2018 by former Yisrael Beitenu MK Orly Levy. The party focused primarily on economic and cost-of-living issues. The name of the party is a reference to the party founded by Orly's father, David Levy.

History

Levy served on behalf of the

Yisrael Beiteinu Yisrael Beiteinu (, ) is a conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may ...

party during the

20th Knesset The members of the 20th Knesset were elected on 17 March 2015 and sworn in on 31 March 2015. Members of the Knesset Replacements The twentieth Knesset had the highest number of replacements in Israeli history, with at least 27 members leavi ...

, but withdrew from the party after it joined the 34th government, because she did not receive a ministerial position despite her high ranking on Yisrael Beitenu's list. At first, she remained officially a part of the party, but later was removed from the party and remained a member of the Knesset. Levy was recognized as an independent member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

, not a member of the coalition, but in the opposition. In March 2017 Levy announced her intention to establish a new party for the elections. Gesher was founded in December 2018, a few days after the April 2019 election was called. The party attempted to run on a joint list with

Benny Gantz Benjamin Gantz ( ; born 9 June 1959) is an Israeli politician and retired army general. He served as a Minister without portfolio#Israel, minister without portfolio from 2023 to 2024, as the Ministry of Defense (Israel), minister of defense bet ...

's Israel Resilience Party, but after negotiations failed, the party declared it would run alone. On 18 July 2019, ahead of the September 2019 election, the party agreed to form an electoral alliance with the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

party. For the 2020 March elections, Gesher-Labor unified with Meretz in light of worries that neither party would pass the 3.25% threshold needed to enter the Knesset. Many Gesher voters were surprised at this merger, because when it came to the politics of the

Arab–Israeli conflict The Arab–Israeli conflict is a geopolitical phenomenon involving military conflicts and a variety of disputes between Israel and many Arab world, Arab countries. It is largely rooted in the historically supportive stance of the Arab League ...

, Gesher was seen as more of a centre-right party, while Meretz is a left-wing party. On 17 March 2020, Levy requested that she be allowed to withdraw her party from its alliance with Labor and Meretz. The Arrangements Committee approved the split on 23 March. In the following election in 2021, Orly Levy ran as part of the

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

list after the party gave her the 26th spot and went on to retain a seat in the Knesset.

Leaders

Election results

References

External links

* Defunct political parties in Israel Zionist political parties in Israel 2018 establishments in Israel Political parties established in 2018 Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew {{Israel-party-stub