Eretz Hadasha

Eretz Hadasha
ארץ חדשה
Leader Eldad Yaniv
Founded 2012
Ideology Democratic socialism
Fighting corruption
Political position Left-wing
Knesset
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Election symbol
ז
Politics of Israel
Political parties
Elections
Eldad Yaniv

Eretz Hadasha (Hebrew: ארץ חדשה‎, lit. New Land) is a political party in Israel, founded in 2012 to run in the 2013 parliamentary elections. It is headed by the attorney Eldad Yaniv followed by journalist Merav David and television director Rani Blair. Its main stated goal is to fight corruption and crony capitalism.

Platform

The party's initial platform advocates redistributing land in Israel and drastic cuts in the defense budget. The party also seeks to end discrimination against Israeli Arabs and to implement the two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. While these views are generally associated with the left wing in Israel, the party's leadership states that the distinction between left and right belongs to "old politics", which they wish to re-define.[1]

The party's raison d'être is to expose corruption and, according to the party leader Eldad Yaniv, "fight the connections between wealth, power and the press in Israel". Yaniv also advocates holding hearings before appointments like in the United States.[2]

History

2013 Knesset elections

According to Eldad Yaniv, the party's election campaign would not utilize traditional advertisement such as printed posters and television ads. Instead, the campaign would be confined to the Internet, with an emphasis on social networks.[1] It was noted however that the party placed a large election poster on the Ayalon Highway, ran television ads and an ad in the Haaretz newspaper.[3] On the Internet, the party's article on the Hebrew Wikipedia was the second most viewed leading up to the elections, after the Jewish Home.[4][5]

According to Haaretz, Yaniv also broke a promise to quit the race should his party not pass the electoral threshold in opinion polls, however, according to Yaniv there were several polls guaranteeing that Eretz Hadasha would enter the Knesset.[3] In another interview Yaniv stated that the polls were unscientific.[2] Eretz Hadasha has also been criticized for not having democratic primaries, but Yaniv stated that this was due to technical considerations, and that there was not enough time to hold primaries.[3]

The campaign generated controversy when the party uploaded a video, the first of a planned 20-video series, featuring Eldad Yaniv and directed by Blair, claiming that Benjamin Netanyahu carried money in his socks so he could hand it to people when necessary. Netanyahu's bureau responded that it would file a libel lawsuit against Yaniv. Other people mentioned in the video also threatened to sue.[6] As of January 20, 2013, two days before the election, the 13 videos had garnered over one million views in total.[3]

The party won 26,331 votes in the election, failing to pass the electoral threshold and enter the Knesset.[7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lior, Ilan (October 15, 2012). "Over a Glass of Beer: Eldad Yaniv Announced New Political Party" (in Hebrew). Haaretz. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hoffman, Gil (January 8, 2013). "Eretz Chadasha Vows Weinstein Bombshell in Ads". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lior, Ilan (January 20, 2013). "Despite Promise and Polls, Eldad Yaniv Stays in Race" (in Hebrew). Haaretz. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  4. ↑ Haviv, Haim (January 21, 2013). "Wikipedia: 2013 Elections in Israel". TheCom (in Hebrew). Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  5. ↑ Fisher, Gabe (January 21, 2013). "And Naftali Bennett wins… on Wikipedia". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  6. ↑ Lior, Ilan (October 16, 2012). "Dollars in Socks Video: Netanyahu Threatens to Sue Eldad Yaniv for Libel" (in Hebrew). Haaretz. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  7. ↑ Druckman, Yaron (January 23, 2013). "2013 Elections: 250,000 Votes Wasted". Ynetnews. Retrieved January 23, 2013.

External links