Meretz in Israel

Meretz speaks out against deportation of children of foreign workers

editor — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:42:06 -0700

The Israeli Cabinet's decision to deport 400 children of foreign workers, many of them born in Israel, has caused a stir in the country, and beyond, including criticism from Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel.

Although the decision represents a reduction from the 1,200 originally slated for expulsion, opponents of the move, such as Meretz chair, Haim Oron, argue that the number is still 400 too many:

Meretz to JNF: Stop the racist policy at Al-Arakib!

editor — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:24:07 -0800

The Meretz party this week condemned the actions of the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet l'Yisrael) at the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Arakib, north of Beersheva, branding them a "racist policy, arising from a viewpoint that regards the Bedouin in the Negev as a nuisance, rather than as citizens with equal rights."

Meretz called for the recognition of al-Arakib and for the provision of basic infrastructure there, and demanded that the JNF immediately suspend its plans to plant a forest at al-Arakib that would deny the villagers any chance of return.

Meretz in Bil'in

editor — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 10:43:25 -0800

Earlier this month, a large group of Meretz activists from the party's "Forum to Fight the Occupation" took part in the weekly demonstration in the Palestinian village of Bil'in against the route of the security barrier. This demonstration took place a week after the death of Jawaher Abu Rahmah, who became seriously ill after inhaling tear gas fired by IDF forces at a Bil'in protest. The village, supported by Palestinian, Israeli and international activists, is protesting the construction of an Israeli settlement, Mattityahu East, on part of Bil'in's land, and the route of the barrier, which separates the village from a majority of its farmland.

Attorney and senior Meretz activist, Yifat Solel, reports: "A large number of Meretz members, led by Mossi Raz, the chair of the party Executive, came to Bil'in - most of them for the first time - to take part in the weekly demonstration, which was larger than usual. Taking part, in addition to ‘Anarchists against the Wall' who have been in Bil'in each week for the past six years, were ‘Combatants for Peace' and ‘Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity'.

Nitzan Horowitz: Our Home is in Flames - The Assault on Israeli Democracy

editor — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:34:51 -0800

(a compilation of urgent messages issued this week by Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz)

Dear Friends,

Our home is in flames.

They won't relent, and they won't slow down. They're already preparing their next steps. It's only going to intensify.

The current Knesset is marked by a terrifying mix of religious coercion and nationalist extremism.

And the most frightening change is the complete loss of shame.

The members of this hardhearted coalition and their helpers are no longer even trying to cover their fist in a thin glove of decency - even if just for the sake of appearance. They admit, and some even boast, that their legislation is discriminatory, seeping with racism, and inimical to the values of equality and social justice.

Meretz chair: Ariel boycotters are worthy of support; Yisrael Beiteinu are a “bunch of thugs”

editor — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:54:31 -0800

Meretz party chair, Haim Oron, this week lashed out at the anti-democratic voices in the Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu parties who have called for action against the performing artists who refuse to appear in the West Bank.

Meretz’s Summer of Renewal

editor — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:37:46 -0700

Still smarting from the drubbing it received at the polls in the February 2009 elections, Israel's New Movement-Meretz party has marked the summer of 2010 as its time of renewal.

Spearheading a membership drive that ends on August 30, Meretz leaders - including MKs Chaim Oron, Nitzan Horowitz and Ilan Gilon, and former MKs Naomi Chazan, Abu Vilan and Mossi Raz - have been crisscrossing the country, addressing crowds large and small, seeking to solidify the party's base and re-grow its rank and file.

It won't be easy, but it's crucial that the party succeed, since Meretz today represents the last true bastion of progressive Zionism in Israel's Knesset (notwithstanding the smattering of progressives in Labor and Kadima).

Meretz demands pluralism and equality at the Western Wall

editor — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:08:16 -0700

New Movement-Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz has presented a new bill that would amend the "Holy Places Law" and allow for tolerance and pluralism at the Kotel, the Western Wall, among all streams of Jewish practice.

MK Nitzan Horowitz: Knesset violence undermines Israeli democracy

editor — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 07:46:05 -0700

June 2, 2010

Today the Knesset plenum witnessed an embarrassing display. The most important arena for public debate in Israel became an arena for brawling and verbal abuse.

New Israel Fund witch-hunt continues in Knesset. Meretz MK to the defense

editor — Fri, 07 May 2010 08:48:06 -0700

Last week, Kadima MK Yulia Shamalov Berkovich introduced an urgent motion to the Knesset plenum, accusing "organizations supported by the New Israel Fund" of, "treasonous behavior", "involvement in subversive activity against ... officers in the Israel Defense Forces," and, "making common cause with our greatest enemies to realize their goal - the obliteration of Zionism". The Kadima MK compared the NIF to the Nazis ("we won't go like sheep to the slaughter").

Knesset members from the Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu, National Union, and United Torah Judaism parties joined the ominous chorus.

New Movement-Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz rose to an impassioned defense of the New Israel Fund. Comparing the Knesset members' attacks to a "witch hunt", he said:

Meretz: East Jerusalem construction makes a mockery of Netanyahu’s professed desire for peace

editor — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:33:00 -0800

The Meretz party's Knesset faction will be submitting a motion of no-confidence in the Netanyahu government over its ongoing massive construction in East Jerusalem. This week, Israel authorized the construction of 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, creating a diplomatic crisis during the visit of US Vice President Biden. The Meretz faction termed the Netanyahu government's moves, "the policy of a pyromaniac".

Meretz chair, MK Haim Oron, attacked the government in a press release: "This is an inebriated government ["Adloyada government", in Hebrew], which, by its own hand, is making a dangerous mockery of its professed desire to renew diplomacy."