One Israel (, ''Yisrael Ahat'') was an alliance of the Labor Party, Meimad and Gesher created to run for the 1999 Knesset elections.

Background

One Israel was formed by Labor leader

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...

in the run-up to the 1999 elections with the aim of making Labor appear more centrist and to reduce its secularist and elitist reputation amongst Mizrahi voters (Gesher was led by prominent Mizrahi politician and former Likud MK David Levy whilst Meimad is a religious party) modelled on

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

's transformation of the British Labour Party into New Labour. The coalition agreement gave Gesher the number three spot on the list (behind Barak and

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

), two other safe positions and a promise that Levy would get a ministerial position. Meimad were promised one safe spot on the list and a ministerial position for a member who did not make it into the Knesset. In the run-up to the election, surveys predicted the party would win 33 seats. However, although One Israel did emerge as the largest faction in the Knesset, its 26 seats was the lowest ever by a winning party (Labor's 34 in the 1996 elections whilst running alone had been the previous low). Of the 26 seats, Labor took 22, Gesher three and Meimad one. As per the pre-election agreement, Levy was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

and Meimad's Michael Melchior was made Minister of Social and Diaspora Affairs. Barak, who had beaten Binyamin Netanyahu in the election for Prime Minister, had to form an unstable coalition government with six other parties:

Shas Shas () is a Haredi Judaism, Haredi religious List of political parties in Israel, political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardic Jews, Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until ...

, Meretz, Yisrael BaAliyah, the Centre Party, the National Religious Party and United Torah Judaism. Barak's participation in the Camp David Summit with

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

in summer 2000 led to Gesher pulling out of the alliance on 7 March 2001. On 7 May the alliance was joined by the single member New Way faction, but on 15 May 2001 it ceased to exist, as the parliamentary group was renamed Labor-Meimad. After the party's collapse, Barak was investigated following allegations that the One Israel had broken the party funding law by allowing money from abroad to be directed into campaign funds through non-profit groups in order to get around spending limits. State Comptroller Eliezer Goldberg had already fined the party 13 million shekels for breaking fund-raising laws.Barak party faces criminal probe
BBC News, 27 January 2000 It later became known as the "Barak Organisation Affair".

Composition

Election results

References

External links

One Israel
Knesset website {{Israeli political parties Defunct political party alliances in Israel Political parties established in 1999 Political parties disestablished in 2001 1999 establishments in Israel 2001 disestablishments in Israel Israeli Labor Party Zionist political parties in Israel Ehud Barak David Levy (Israeli politician)