| Zahava Gal-On | |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | 4 January 1956 |
| Place of birth | Vilnius, Soviet Union |
| Year of aliyah | 1960 |
| Knessets | 15, 16, 17, 18 |
| Party | New Movement-Meretz |
Zahava Gal-On (Hebrew: זהבה גלאון, born 4 January 1956 in Vilnius, Lithuania) is an Israeli politician. She is a member of the Knesset for Meretz, as a mid-term replacement after the retirement of the head of the party Haim Oron and is well-known for her outspokenness, opposition to Meretz's election strategy,[1] and very liberal and pluralist views.[2]
Gal-On was born in 1956 in Vilnius in the Soviet Union (today Lithuania) and immigrated to Israel in 1960. She is married with two children and lives in Petah Tikva. She is an MA student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[3]
She served as general secretary of the paper Politika, of the Human Rights organization B'Tselem, and of the Ratz party. She is a member of the general directorate of Meretz. Among her main activities: the struggle for human and civil rights,[4] women's rights and the fight for social justice.[3] In regards to IDF refuseniks, she has said that "Meretz should not go with the wind of refusal, but should not try to oppose it. We are a party that believes in ideological pluralism and should not bury our heads in the sand. Meretz must show empathy towards the refuseniks and must bring the matter up for public discussion and reveal the reasons why the officers are refusing to serve."[5]
She was elected to the Knesset in 1999, and served as chairwoman of the Knesset committee for the struggle against trafficking in women.[6] She was also a member of the Knesset law and constitution committee and the Knesset committee.[3]
In 2007, Gal-On launched an unsuccessful bid to become the leader of Meretz. She believed that Meretz must reinvent itself and promote a civilian agenda, which encompasses human rights and civil liberties in order to remain politically viable. Gal-On said that Meretz could not afford to complacently observe the proliferation of its long-time positions among other parties, and it must work to cement the principles of democracy and equality in Israeli society. She lost to Haim Oron, as the polls predicted.[7]
Gal-On volunteered her third spot on the New Movement-Meretz list for the 2009 elections as a gesture of respect for Nitzan Horowitz, but lost her seat when the party was reduced to three seats. She attributed the party's failure to its uncertain response to Israel's Operation Cast Lead, and said: "My opinion was different than that of most party members. Because Meretz is an ideological party, it must have a clear statement even in such a situation".[8] In March 2011 she returned to the Knesset after Haim Oron retired.
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