Meri (Political Party)

Meri was the name used for HaOlam HaZeh–Koah Hadash, the small radical-left political movement formed by Uri Avnery in 1965.[1] It brought the political outlook associated with Avnery and his magazine, HaOlam HaZeh, into parliamentary politics. A Jerusalem Post editorial reported that the party received one Knesset seat in that year's election.[2]

Meri was formed by Uri Avnery in 1965 under the name HaOlam HaZeh–Koah Hadash.[1] Avnery had acquired HaOlam HaZeh with associates in 1950 and served as its editor-in-chief for decades. The magazine combined sensational reporting and gossip with revelations that affected Israeli public and political life.[1]

After Israel passed the Law of Defamation in 1965, Avnery denounced it as an attempt to silence the publication and entered the Knesset for HaOlam HaZeh–Koah Hadash.[1] A Jerusalem Post editorial reported that his party secured one seat in the 1965 election, while Ynet characterized the movement as a small radical-left party.[1][2]

The available reporting connects Meri with the broader political line advanced by Avnery and HaOlam HaZeh, rather than quoting a separate party manifesto. Ynet links that political activity to calls for abolishing the military government imposed on Israeli Arabs and separating religion and state.[1] A Jerusalem Post editorial further attributed to Avnery's party proposals to end curfews and martial law in Arab communities, expand press freedom, reduce the powers of the security services, and withdraw from territories captured in 1967.[2]

The same editorial described a 1970s campaign poster for Avnery that promised civil marriage, legalized abortion, free university education, equal status for Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox rabbis, a five-day work week, and air conditioning in all buses and taxis.[2] Because the account presents these as proposals from Avnery's campaigning, they should not automatically be treated as a documented Meri manifesto.

Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Avnery became a leading advocate of Israeli withdrawal from captured territory and the establishment of a Palestinian state there.[1] These positions remained central to his subsequent public activity, although the source does not specify when or how each proposal was formally adopted by Meri.

Avnery served in the Sixth and Seventh Knessets for HaOlam HaZeh–Koah Hadash, also known as Meri. He later returned to parliament in the Ninth Knesset as a representative of the separate Left Camp of Israel.[1] Ynet describes these periods together as a ten-year political career.[1]

Meri's immediate electoral footprint was limited: Ynet calls it a small party, and a Jerusalem Post editorial reports that it won one seat in 1965.[1][2] Its parliamentary importance therefore rested primarily in giving Avnery a platform for views that stood well outside the Israeli political mainstream of the period.

The sources describe the duration and affiliation of Avnery's parliamentary service differently. The Times of Israel says that he represented Meri in the Knesset for ten years, whereas Ynet assigns his Meri service specifically to the Sixth and Seventh Knessets and identifies his Ninth Knesset affiliation as the Left Camp of Israel.[1][3] Ynet's account therefore distinguishes Avnery's overall political career from the period he served specifically for Meri.

Policy attribution also requires care. Ynet associates Meri with Avnery's political outlook but does not quote a separate party manifesto.[1] His advocacy of withdrawal from territory captured in 1967 and the establishment of a Palestinian state addressed issues that were politically contested and divisive in Israel.