Hetz (political party)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hetz (Hebrew: חץ, lit. Arrow, also an acronym for Hilonit Tzionit (Hebrew: חילונית ציונית), Secular Zionist) is a secularist political party in Israel.
Contents |
[edit] Background and ideology
Hetz was formed in the aftermath of the messy breakup of Shinui towards the end of the 16th Knesset. Avraham Poraz, Shinui's second-in-command after Yosef "Tommy" Lapid was unexpectedly beaten in the race to head the party's list for the 2006 elections by Ron Levintal.
Very unhappy at the result, Poraz decided to break away from Shinui. He was joined by eight other Shinui MKs (out of a total of 15), including Lapid. They formed the Secular Faction for the final few weeks of the Knesset term. Poraz tried to set up Hetz as a new party in January 2006, however it was too late to register a new party for the election. Poraz tried to form a union with Tafnit, who rejected it. Eventually the breakaway Shinui MKs ran with the minor Citizen and State party, which was re-branded as Hetz for the elections. Lapid was presented as the honorary leader.
Hetz's policies mirror those of Shinui in being centrist and liberal with a strong secular leaning. The party promised to introduce a constitution, separate church and state, allow civil marriage and repeal many of the country's arrangements that they claim strongly benefit the orthodox population (such as large child benefits (many orthodox having 10 or more children), exemption from military service and payments to yeshivas).
[edit] Elections
Hetz's strong secular leanings were emphasised in their campaign adverts, which often portrayed secular Israelis getting a raw deal compared to their Haredi counterparts.
However, a combination of the split with Shinui (who also ran in the elections with Levintal as head), the founding of centrists Kadima and Shiunui's lack of progress in implementing their agenda in the previous Knesset (despite being the second largest party in the coalition, hardly any of their campaign pledges had been realised, though arguably Poraz was one of the most effective Interior Ministers Israel had seen) meant that the party had lost much of its supporter base.
Ultimately the party won only 10,113 votes (0.33%), far below the 2% electoral threshold. Their only consolation was beating the remains of Shinui, who received only 4,675 votes (0.16%).
