The Communist Party of Israel, commonly known by its

Hebrew abbreviation Abbreviations () are a common part of the Hebrew language, with many organizations, places, people and concepts known by their abbreviations. Typography Acronyms in Hebrew use a special punctuation mark called gershayim (). This mark is placed be ...

Maki (), is a

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

political party in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

that forms part of the political alliance known as

Hadash Hadash is a left-wing to far-left political coalition in Israel formed by the Israeli Communist Party and other leftist groups. History The party was formed on 15 March 1977 when the Rakah and Non-Partisans parliamentary group changed its ...

. It was founded in 1965 as the New Communist List, or Rakah (), after a split in the original Maki.

History

Rakah was formed on 1 September 1965 due to internal disagreements in the original Maki, which was split between a largely

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

faction led by

Moshe Sneh Moshe Sneh (; 6 January 1909 – 1 March 1972) was a Haganah commander and an Israeli politician. One of the founders of Mapam, he later joined the Israeli Communist Party (Maki). Biography Mosze Klaynboym (later Sneh) attended high scho ...

that was critical of the Soviet Union's anti-Zionist stance, and a largely

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

faction that was increasingly

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...

. As a result, the pro-Arab/pro-Soviet faction (including Emile Habibi,

Tawfik Toubi Tawfik Toubi (, ; 11 May 1922 – 12 March 2011) was a Mandatory Palestine-born Israeli Arab communist politician. He was the last surviving member of the first Knesset. Tawfik Toubi was married to Olga Touma and one of his sons, Elias Toubi ...

and Meir Vilner) left Maki to form a new party, Rakah, which the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

recognised as the "official" Communist Party.

Shlomo Sand Shlomo Sand (pronounced ''Zand''; ; born 10 September 1946) is an Austrian-born Israeli post-Zionist historian and socialist. He has served as an emeritus Professor of History at Tel Aviv University since 2014.

and

Mahmoud Darwish Mahmoud Darwish (; 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinians, Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as Palestine's national poet. In 1988 Darwish wrote the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, which was the formal declarat ...

were also Rakah activists. The

Eurocommunist Eurocommunism was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties, which said they had developed a theory and practice of social transformation more relevant for Western Europe. During the Cold War, they sough ...

faction, led by Sneh, remained in Maki. It was reported in the Soviet media that the Mikunis–Sneh group defected to the bourgeois-nationalist camp. The

1965 Israeli legislative election Elections for the sixth Knesset were held in Israel on 2 November 1965. Voter turnout was 85.9%.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I'', p124 Background Prior to the elections, ...

saw Rakah party win three seats, comprehensively beating Maki as it slumped to just one. Rakah's opposition to

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

and the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

meant that they were excluded from the

national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other na ...

s of the sixth Knesset. In the

1969 Israeli legislative election Legislative elections were held in Israel on 28 October 1969 to elect members of the seventh Knesset. The ruling Alignment coalition was returned to power with the largest number of seats ever won in an Israeli election (56 out of 120). This w ...

Rakah again won three seats. During the

1973 Israeli legislative election Legislative elections were held in Israel on 31 December 1973. Voter turnout was 79%.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I'', p125 The election was postponed for two months because ...

Rakah saw a rise in support as the party picked up four seats. Before the

1977 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1977. Africa * 1977 Afars and Issas Constituent Assembly election * 1977 Algerian legislative election * 1977 Gambian general election * 1976–1977 Guinea-Bissau legislative election * 1977 Malagasy ...

the party joined with some other small left-wing and Arab parties, including some members of the Israeli Black Panthers to form

. After the original Maki had disappeared after merging into Ratz in 1981, members of Rakah decided to change the party's name to Maki in 1989. The party remains the leading force in Hadash, and owns the ''Al-Ittihad'' newspaper.

Ideology and positions

Maki is an

, Marxist–Leninist communist party. In an interview with American socialist magazine ''

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

'' on 17 November 2023, Eli Gozansky, a Jewish member of the party leadership, opined on whether the creation of a

binational state The one-state solution is a proposed approach to the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. It stipulates the establishment of a single state within the boundaries of what was Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and 1948, today consisting of the co ...

was possible:

Election results

Gallery

References

External links

* {{Authority control Arab political parties in Israel Political parties in Israel Communist parties in Israel Anti-Zionism in Israel Anti-Zionist political parties Political parties established in 1965 1965 establishments in Israel International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew