Meretz

Meretz (Hebrew: מֶרֶצ, lit. 'Vigour'; Arabic: ميرتس) was a political party in Israel. It originated as an alliance of the Ratz, Mapam, and Shinui parties in 1992 and became a unified party in 1997. Meretz identified as a social democratic and secular party. Its platform emphasized support for a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, human rights (including those of religious, ethnic, and sexual minorities), religious freedom, and environmentalism. While Meretz’s three predecessor parties were Zionist, and it proclaimed itself as such in its earlier years, the party’s own position on Zionism has been disputed. Meretz was a member of the Progressive Alliance and Socialist International, and was an observer member of the Party of European Socialists. The party achieved its highest electoral result in the 1992 Israeli legislative election, winning 12 seats in the Knesset. During most of the early 21st century, it held between three and six seats. In the 2022 Israeli legislative election, it failed to pass the electoral threshold and did not gain representation in the Knesset, the only time this occurred in its history. In 2024, Meretz merged with the Israeli Labor Party to establish a new political party, The Democrats.