The Zionist Union (, translit. ''HaMaḥaneh HaẒiyoni'', lit. ''the Zionist Camp'') was a

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

political alliance A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

in Israel. It was established in December 2014 by the

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party (), commonly known in Israel as HaAvoda (), was a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Israel. The party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi (political party), Rafi. Unt ...

and Hatnuah to create a joint electoral list to contest the

2015 elections Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015 * 2015-16 Central African gene ...

with the hope of unseating Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

. It failed to do so but did come in second place with 24 seats in the Knesset, forming the official opposition. However, tension between the Union's competing factions resulted in its dissolution in early January 2019, ahead of that year's April election.

History

The Labor Party and Hatnuah agreed on 10 December 2014 to form a joint ticket. The list was established to create a large electoral list for the centre-left bloc, in the hope that it will lead the 34th government. Hatnuah leader

Tzipi Livni Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni (, ; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli politician, diplomat and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel), foreign mini ...

has said that other parties will also be part of the alliance. Livni and Labor leader Isaac Herzog initially said that if the alliance were to win enough seats to lead the next government, they would rotate in the post of Prime Minister, with Herzog serving for the first half of the Knesset's four-year term and Livni for the second half, though Livni announced on 16 March 2015 that only Herzog would serve as prime minister. Manuel Trajtenberg, number 11 on the list, was the list's candidate for finance minister. Amos Yadlin was the list's candidate for defense minister, though he was not a candidate for the Knesset. The

Green Movement Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It ...

also had representation on the list through the addition of Yael Cohen Paran, selected by Livni, on a spot (No. 25) reserved for Hatnuah members.

Composition

Ideology and platform

Main issues

Key issues for the Zionist Union included the following: *Solving economic woes and reducing the cost of living **Tackling the housing crisis by providing land for free in the public domain for housing developments and increasing overall government expenditure **Reducing the costs of health care, education, and basic goods **Closing the gap between rich and poor *Reigniting negotiations with the Palestinians **Initiating negotiations as part of a collective effort with regional allies

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, before presenting a peace initiative to the

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

**Shifting Israeli–Palestinian conflict resolution away from

unilateral __NOTOC__ Unilateralism is any doctrine or agenda that supports one-sided action. Such action may be in disregard for other parties, or as an expression of a commitment toward a direction which other parties may find disagreeable. As a word, ''un ...

action (including that by the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

at UN agencies and the ICC) and back to a bilateral process supported by the international community **Halting construction in isolated settlements *Repairing ties with the United States and the European Union

Other positions

In addition, the Zionist Union is in favor of the following: *The enactment of green legislation **Dismantlement of "the gas monopoly" **Implementation of Clean Air Law measures **Removal of environmental hazards from the

Haifa Bay The Bay of Haifa or Haifa Bay (, ''Mifratz Heifa''), formerly Bay of Acre, is a bay along the Mediterranean coast of Northern Israel. Haifa Bay is Israel's only natural harbor on the Mediterranean. ''Haifa Bay'' also refers one of Haifa's ni ...

by preventing the expansion of

Oil Refineries An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefied pet ...

Ltd. and evacuating the ammonia facility **Stronger protection for

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

*Greater progress and pluralism on religion-and-state issues ** Civil marriage in Israel, including for

same-sex couples A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries ...

**Legal standing to non-Orthodox streams of Judaism **Partial operation of

public transportation Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...

on Saturdays *The legalization of

medical marijuana Medical cannabis, medicinal cannabis or medical marijuana (MMJ) refers to Cannabis (drug), cannabis products and cannabinoid, cannabinoid molecules that are prescription drug, prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabi ...

2015 election

List of Knesset members

The following are the candidates elected to the 20th Knesset from the Zionist Union's party list. # Isaac Herzog #

# Shelly Yachimovich # Stav Shaffir # Itzik Shmuli #

Omer Bar-Lev Omer Israel Bar-Lev (; born 2 October 1953) is an Israeli politician who formerly served as Ministry of Public Security (Israel), Minister of Public Security. He was previously a member of the Knesset for the Israeli Labor Party. He was placed se ...

# Yehiel Bar #

Amir Peretz Amir Peretz (; born 9 March 1952) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party. A Knesset member almost continuously from 1988 to 2021, he has served as Ministry of Defense (Israel), ...

# Merav Michaeli # Eitan Cabel # Mickey Rosenthal # Revital Swid # Yoel Hasson # Zouheir Bahloul # Eitan Broshi # Michal Biran # Nachman Shai #

Ksenia Svetlova Ksenia Svetlova (, ; born 28 July 1977) is an Israeli politician, journalist, associate professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and policy fellow at the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies. She served as a member of the Knes ...

# Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin # Yossi Yona # Eyal Ben-Reuven # Yael Cohen-Paran # Saleh Saad # Leah Fadida

Election results

After the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

, the Zionist Union emerged as the second-largest party in the Knesset, with 24 seats. It triumphed in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

and its prosperous suburbs, as well as other liberal areas. Its success was mostly in affluent areas, and it won the highest number of votes in 28 of Israel's 33 wealthiest communities.

References

External links

* {{Israeli political parties 2014 establishments in Israel 2019 disestablishments in Israel Centre-left parties in Asia Defunct political party alliances in Israel Israeli Labor Party Political parties disestablished in 2019 Political parties established in 2014 Social democratic parties in Israel Zionist political parties in Israel Isaac Herzog Tzipi Livni