Hetz (, lit. "Arrow", also an acronym for ''Hilonit Tzionit'', , "Secular Zionist") was a

secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

History

Hetz was formed in the aftermath of the breakup of

Shinui Shinui ( he, שִׁינּוּי, lit. ''Change'') was a Zionist, secular, and anti-clerical free market liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third-largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a ...

towards the end of the 16th Knesset.

Avraham Poraz Avraham Poraz ( he, אברהם פורז, born 9 August 1945) is an Israeli lawyer and former politician. Biography Poraz was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1945 and immigrated to Israel in 1950. He served in the Military Police Corps of the ...

, Shinui's second-in-command after

Tommy Lapid Yosef "Tommy" Lapid ( he, יוסף "טומי" לפיד, born as Tomislav Lampel, sr-cyr, Томислав Лампел; 27 December 1931 – 1 June 2008) was a Yugoslav-born Israeli radio and television presenter, playwright, journalist, politi ...

was unexpectedly beaten in the race to head the party's list for the

2006 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2006. * Elections in 2006 * Electoral calendar 2006 * 2006 Acehnese regional election * 2006 American Samoan legislative election * 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2006 Costa Rican president ...

by Ron Levintal. In response to the result, Poraz decided to break away from Shinui. He was joined by ten other Shinui MKs (out of a total of 15), including Lapid. They formed the Secular Faction on 26 January 2006, though on 5 February,

Hemi Doron Hemi Doron ( he, חמי דורון, born 16 October 1956) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Shinui, the Secular Faction and National Home between 2003 and 2006, and is currently mayor of Tayibe. Biography Born ...

and

Eliezer Sandberg Eliezer Sandberg (, born 21 February 1962) is a former Israeli politician who served as a government minister between 2003 and 2004. Biography Born in Haifa, Sandberg studied law at Tel Aviv University, gaining an LLB. He joined the Tzomet part ...

left the new party to establish National Home. 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. He tried to form a union with Tafnit, which rejected it. Eventually the party ran with the minor Citizen and State party, which was re-branded as Hetz for the elections. Lapid was presented as the honorary leader. However, a combination of the split with Shinui (who also ran in the elections with Levintal as head), the founding of centrist party

Kadima Kadima ( he, קדימה, lit=''Forward'') was a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely following the implementation of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement pl ...

and Shinui'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) 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 The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

. Their only consolation was beating Shinui, who received only 4,675 votes (0.16%). Prior to the 2009 elections it was announced that the party would be running a joint list with

the Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' *Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina *Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *Gree ...

, with Poraz receiving one of the top five places on the list. However, the agreement was later cancelled and Hetz did not run. In 2012 Hetz was taken over by

Tzipi Livni Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni ( he, ציפי (ציפורה) מלכה לבני, ; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli politician, diplomat, and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former for ...

to form the basis of the

Hatnua Hatnua ( he, הַתְּנוּעָה, lit=''The Movement'') was a liberal political party in Israel formed by former Israeli Foreign Minister and Vice Prime Minister Tzipi Livni to present an alternative to voters frustrated by the stalemate in th ...

party, also inheriting the

NIS Nis, Niš, NiS or NIS may refer to: Places * Niš, a city in Serbia * Nis, Iran, a village * Ness, Lewis ( gd, Nis, links=no), a village in the Outer Hebrides islands Businesses and organizations * Naftna Industrija Srbije, Petroleum Industry o ...

1.8 million in the party's bank account. Once seven MKs defected from Kadima and joined the party, Poraz announced that they now "represent Hetz in the Knesset". Hetz ran independently as a minor party in the 2021 election, bringing back the original name but keeping Hatnua's ballot letters (צף). It did not win any seats.Here we go again: ToI’s guide to the 37 parties still seeking your vote
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Ideology

Hetz's policies mirrored those of Shinui in being

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...

and

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

with a strong

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

leaning. The party promised to introduce a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

, separate religion and state, allow

civil marriage A civil marriage is a marriage performed, recorded, and recognized by a government official. Such a marriage may be performed by a religious body and recognized by the state, or it may be entirely secular. History Every country maintaining a pop ...

and repeal many of the country's arrangements that they claim strongly benefit the

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

population (such as large

child benefit Child benefit or children's allowance is a social security payment which is distributed to the parents or guardians of children, teenagers and in some cases, young adult (psychology), young adults. A number of countries operate different versions o ...

s (many Orthodox having 10 or more children), exemption from

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job ( volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require ...

and payments to

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are st ...

s).

References

External links

Secular Faction
Knesset website {{Israeli political parties Political parties established in 2006 Political parties disestablished in 2012 Defunct political parties in Israel Zionist political parties in Israel Liberal parties in Israel 2006 establishments in Israel 2012 disestablishments in Israel

History

Ideology

See also

References

External links