Gesher ( he, גשר, lit. ''Bridge'') was a liberal Zionist,

social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

, and

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 ...

political party in Israel Israel's political system is based on proportional representation and allows for a multi-party system with numerous parties represented in the 120-seat Knesset. A typical Knesset includes many factions represented. This is because of the low el ...

, established in December 2018 by former

Yisrael Beitenu Yisrael Beiteinu ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵל בֵּיתֵנוּ, russian: Наш Дом Израиль, lit. ''Israel Our Home'') is a secularist, nationalist right-wing political party in Israel. The party's base was originally secular Russia ...

MK Orly Levy. The party focuses primarily on economic and cost-of-living issues. The name of the party is a reference to the party founded by Orly's father, David Levy.

History

Levy served on behalf of the

Yisrael Beiteinu Yisrael Beiteinu ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵל בֵּיתֵנוּ, russian: Наш Дом Израиль, lit. ''Israel Our Home'') is a secularist, nationalist right-wing political party in Israel. The party's base was originally secular Russia ...

party during the

20th Knesset The members of the 20th Knesset were 2015 Israeli legislative election, elected on 17 March 2015 and sworn in on 31 March 2015. Members of the Knesset Replacements The twentieth Knesset had the highest number of replacements in Israeli histo ...

, but withdrew from the party after it joined the 34th government, due to the fact that she did not receive a ministerial position despite her high ranking on Yisrael Beitenu's list. At first, she remained officially a part of the party, but later was removed from the party and remained a member of the Knesset. Levy was recognized as an independent member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

, not a member of the coalition, but in the opposition. In March 2017 Levy announced her intention to establish a new party for the elections. Gesher was founded in December 2018, a few days after the April 2019 election was called. The party attempted to run on a joint list with

Benny Gantz Benjamin Gantz ( he, בִּנְיָמִין "בֵּנִי" גַּנְץ, Transliterated: ; born 9 June 1959) is an Israeli politician and retired army general serving as the minister of Defense since 2020 and deputy prime minister of Israel si ...

Israel Resilience Party The Israel Resilience Party ( he, חוסן לישראל, Hosen LeYisrael, Resilience for Israel), is a liberal political party in Israel founded in December 2018 by Benny Gantz, former Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. T ...

but after negotiations failed, the party declared it would run alone. On 18 July 2019, ahead of the September 2019 election, the party agreed to form an electoral alliance with the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

party. For the 2020 March elections, Gesher-Labor unified with Meretz in light of worries that neither party would pass the 3.25% threshold needed to enter the Knesset. Many Gesher voters were surprised at this merger, because when it comes to the politics of the

Arab–Israeli conflict The Arab–Israeli conflict is an ongoing intercommunal phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century, but had mostly faded out by the ...

, Gesher was seen as more of a centre-right party, while Meretz is a left wing party. On 17 March 2020, Levy requested that she be allowed to withdraw her party from its alliance with Labor and Meretz. The Arrangements Committee approved the split on 23 March. In the following election in 2021, Orly Levy ran as part of the

Likud Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sha ...

list after the party gave her the 26th spot and went on to retain a seat in the Knesset.

Leaders

Election results

References

External links

* Defunct political parties in Israel Zionist political parties in Israel 2018 establishments in Israel Political parties established in 2018 {{Israel-party-stub