Frequently Asked Questions

On December 1, 2003 the Meretz party in Israel decided to merge with Shahar - the faction led by Yossi Beilin and Yael Dayan that broke away from the Israel Labor Party before the 2003 Knesset elections. This union formed the basis of the new social-democratic party named "Yahad" - the Hebrew acronym for "Social Democratic Israel" (also meaning "together"). On March 16, 2004 registered Yahad members in Israel elected Yossi Beilin as the leader of the new party.

But the Yahad party was not very successful in drawing other elements to its banner, and the name never quite caught on with the Israeli public. Consequently, on June 26, 2005, the Yahad party's central committee voted to re-adopt the name "Meretz" and change the official name to "Meretz-Yahad".

These developments do not directly affect Meretz USA which, like other Meretz groups around the world, is an independent entity of the Israeli political party. However, since we are all allied with each other ideologically, it helps to keep our names similar. The leadership of Meretz USA is therefore pleased with the June 26 decision of the Yahad Central Committee.

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Meretz USA is fully independent of the Israeli political party Meretz-Yahad (Social Democratic Israel). (Click here for the party's English-language site.) Meretz USA has never sent funds to, nor received funds from, any Israeli political organization. The reason we shared the name "Meretz" is because we, like the other national Meretz groups throughout the world, share a common vision for Israel and a common philosophy - that of a liberal humanistic Zionism that strongly seeks peace and encourages human and civil rights. Because of our shared philosophy and background, Meretz USA generally finds itself in agreement with positions adopted by Meretz/Yahad in Israel.

You can read more about Meretz USA and what we believe on our "About Meretz USA" page.

The World Union of Meretz, to which Meretz USA belongs, is an alliance of similarly-minded groups throughout the world. It is particularly effective as a tool for the Meretz groups to work together within the World Zionist Organization and other world-wide Zionist bodies.

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Meretz USA enthusiastically endorses the Geneva Initiative (also known as the "Geneva Accords"). What is so exceptional about this draft final-status peace agreement is that it not only indicates that there is a partner on the Palestinian side with whom there is room to negotiate, but even details what a final peace agreement could look like. The Geneva Initiative includes some serious compromises, and is therefore rejected by the more hardline elements on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides, but Meretz USA (together with a very substantial section of Israeli and American Jewry) believe that these compromises are well worth it to achieve the goal of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

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Meretz USA supports the disengagement plan from Gaza and four West Bank settlements, as proposed by Ariel Sharon. Meretz USA believes that the plan leaves much to be desired, particularly in that it was advanced unilaterally by Israel without consulting the Palestinian leaders. Nonetheless, it is a critically important first step that will hopefully lead toward a full and negotiated withdrawal from the West Bank as well as Gaza, and to the creation of a viable, sovereign and peaceful Palestinian State alongside an Israel secure within its agreed-upon borders.

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Meretz USA supports Israel's right to defend itself by building a security barrier (also known as a security fence or a security wall) between Israel and the West Bank, as it has along the Gaza border. No less significant, the barrier should be built in a way that would ensure the greatest amount of security to Israeli citizens without causing undue hardship to Palestinian residents of the West Bank.

Unfortunately, the barrier that the current Israeli government is building does not fulfill these criteria. Large parts of the barrier encroach deep into the West Bank, and a major consideration in its design - beyond safety and security - seems to be an effort to grab as much Palestinian land as is reasonably feasible, without adequately addressing the needs of tens of thousands of Palestinians whose homes and livelihood are put in jeopardy by the barrier. Meretz USA would endorse the security barrier if it were built more or less along the Green Line. And in any case, as with any unilateral measure, such a barrier should only be seen as a stop-gap security measure until a full peace agreement can be reached.

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Meretz USA has not adopted a position either in favor of or against the US involvement in Iraq. The question of endorsing or criticizing the US administration's policy was hotly debated by the Meretz USA Executive Committee before, and again shortly after, hostilities in Iraq commenced. It was decided that individual Board members are free to advocate for or against the Administration's actions, but it is beyond the mandate of the organization to do so.

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Meretz has sometimes been described as "militantly secular" or "anti-religious". This description does not do us justice. Meretz is neither pro- nor anti-religious. We believe in freedom of religion and conscience -- that faith is a matter which should be freely determined by each individual as he or she sees fit. Accordingly, Meretz USA brings together people from all streams of American Judaism, secular as well as religious (although, admittedly, we don't attract many Orthodox). Meretz USA's "Rabbinic Council", which includes several prominent clergy who support our goals, is testament to that.

One reason Meretz is sometimes perceived as being anti-religious is that that many Israelis confuse "religion" with "Orthodoxy", and anything which threatens Orthodoxy's position in Israel is viewed as being "anti-religious". Hence when Meretz, in the interest of religious pluralism, defends non-Orthodox religious streams (and Meretz is the only party in Israel to do so consistently), this is considered proof positive of Meretz' anti-religious stance (and also explains why so many Conservative and Reform Jews in Israel support Meretz). In other words, Meretz' identification as "anti-religious" is reasonable only to the extent that one considers Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Judaism to be inherently "anti-Jewish" (which many Israelis do). Most American Jews, on the other hand, view Orthodoxy as only one strand in the rich weave of religious Judaism.

But it would even be unfair to describe Meretz as "anti-Orthodox". Rather, Meretz is against religious coercion, which is a phenomenon that Americans rarely encounter. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon in Israel, where there is no full separation of religion and state. It is Meretz' positions on these matters that often bring it into conflict with the Orthodox religious establishment.

In Israel, unlike the US, religion and religious observance affect many matters of personal conscience and lifestyle, including education, marriage and divorce, burial, employment, housing, public services, entertainment and dietary regulations. Orthodoxy influences government policy not only through legislation (Orthodox parties often control the swing votes that make or break parliamentary coalitions) but also through control of government agencies. Among these are the rabbinical courts - which have jurisdiction over matters of personal status such as marriage, divorce, adoption, conversion - that apply the Orthodox view of hallachah (religious law); the local religious councils that are overwhelmingly Orthodox; and the state-run rabbinate that is completely Orthodox.

While this influence should not be overstated (Israel is not a theocracy, and the vast majority of its citizens do not consider themselves religious), it is nonetheless much greater than most Americans realize. A few examples: (1) Through its control of kashrut certificates, the rabbinate exerts control over entertainment in hotels and banquet halls (e.g. its successful quashing of the local belly-dancing industry) as well as employment practices in the food industry (e.g. forcing food consortium Vita to fire a Jehovah's Witness employee). (2) Rabbinic courts have made it virtually impossible for non-Orthodox couples to adopt children. (3) State-mandated Hevra Kadisha burial societies have made it impossible for many immigrant couples to be buried in adjoining plots, and some IDF soldiers are buried "outside the fence". (4) Municipal funds are set aside for synagogues, mikva'ot and other religious services on an unequal basis, regardless of the needs of the local population. (5) Women are prohibited from praying communally at the Western Wall. (6) There is no public transportation on the Sabbath. (7) The Chief Rabbinate (a government body) regularly denounces non-Orthodox prayer services.

Meretz supports a policy of religious pluralism, in which individuals are free to choose among competing forms of religious observance (or reject all of them) and the state does not champion any one. Ultimately, Meretz strives for the separation of religion and state, but what this exactly entails is not something all Meretz members are in agreement about; some prefer a radical U.S.-style full separation, while others (probably most) feel that Israel should always remain a Jewish state with all the symbolism that this entails. But where all Meretz members agree is that Israel should remove all vestiges of state-enforced religion, and expunge the corrupting influence of religious policy from the political arena. It is this liberal point of view that makes Meretz so despised by many.

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Meretz is not socialist in the American sense of the term. In the past, Mapam - one of the two-and-a-half parties that coalesced to create Meretz - was the leading socialist party of Israel. But the socialist origins of one of Meretz' forebears are about as relevant to Israeli political life today as are the fascist origins of the Likud.

Mapam is still the preeminent force on many Israeli kibbutzim (collective settlements), but the socialism it espouses today is a far cry from the socialism of the early twentieth century. If it were otherwise, then Mapam would not have been able to join forces with the a largely-urban human-rights-oriented Ratz party and the liberal/free-market Shinui party. (This refers to the old Shinui under Amnon Rubinstein and Mordechai Virshuvski, not to its current metamorphosis under Tommy Lapid).

It should be remembered that many, if not most, of the pioneering settlers were socialist, and to a large extent Israel owes its existence to their idealism and self-sacrificing spirit. But since the mid-1950's, as socialism has gradually become less relevant to Israeli society, Israeli political groups have increasingly defined themselves by other criteria, such as their platform on peace and security. That is why, for instance, nobody raised an eyebrow when a Minister of Communication from Meretz opened up the Israeli telecommunications market in the early 90's and ushered in the first big wave of privatizations of government companies.

Nonetheless, Meretz considers itself a leading voice for the rights of workers, which is one aspect of its tradition of championing the rights of the oppressed. Meretz' social platform emphasizes not only economic well-being of the country at large but also social justice, which is why it has traditionally defended poor and politically-weak sectors (Israeli Arabs, women, gays, new immigrants, foreign workers, non-Orthodox religious Jews, Christians, etc.) against the prevailing political and economic powers of the day. In that sense Meretz has retained the social-action zeal of some of its predecessors, and Meretz today fits nicely into the European model of a social democratic party.

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Please click on one of the links below for an email or web link to Yahad/Meretz groups in other countries.

• Argentina
• Brazil: click here or here
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Chile
• Denmark
• France: Hashomer Hatzair or Le Cercle Bernard Lazare
• Hungary
• Israel: website (Hebrew) or email
• Italy: Sinistra per Israele (send email click here or here)
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• Russia
• Switzerland
• Uruguay

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