*tap-tap* is this thing on?

[eumelia]

Meretz is a liberal-Left wing Israeli party, which in the 90's was quite popular among the Intellectual Elite, The Student Body and in fact the majority of Jewish (and also some non-Jewish) people under the age of 35.
I dunno what happened, but the party lost it's luster and has been the political equivalent of a yapping Chiwawa. Makes a lot of noise, doesn't get much done with the saving grace of Zehava Galon* the only Meretz Memeber of Knesset with an actual social and feminist agenda.

Well, no more Chiwawa yapping for Meretz!
There's going to be a New Left in Israel!
Voices from different Labour and others from the Israeli Literati are putting their voices in for a stronger Meretz.
What a lovely, lovely thing it is to see all these former Labourists see the light of the "Real Left" in Israel.
This light is so bright, that they've completely blinded by the fact that all these Labourists and Literati are men.
White men.
Upper-middle class, intellectual, white men.

I love the smell of exclusion in the morning.
It smells like liberal bullshit!

Seriously now, did no one notice? Are Zehava Galon and Tsiva Greenfeld the only worthy women on the Meretz platform.
What there aren't any intellectuals and Literati women in this country? Don't tell me they're all flocking to Tzipi Livni?!
*gasp*
Could, could it be that you're taking the women's vote for granted?
MK Haim Oron, your sexism is showing, your racism too!

Adios, I'll find someone else who actually holds the values I believe in. You know, those values of social justice, representation, diversity and yes, bloody inclusiveness!.

Labor figureheads to support Meretz in upcoming elections
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent

Central figures on the Israeli left, including former Labor party ministers, writers, spiritual leaders and academics are expected in the coming days to announce their support of Meretz in February's national elections. Some of them will even join the party and contend in the upcoming primary.

Meretz Chairman Haim Oron has held meetings in recent weeks with dozens of prominent figures to strengthen the party, which took 12 Knesset seats in the 1992 election but was reduced to five by the 2006 vote.

Among those who met with Oron and are expected to back Meretz are former labor ministers Shlomo Ben-Ami and Uzi Baram, and former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg. All three have left political life in favor of writing or private business.
Novelists Amos Oz and David Grossman are also expected to support the party, as well as attorney Tzali Reshef, a Peace Now founder who served briefly as former prime minister Ehud Barak's chief of staff and ran for a Knesset seat with Labor

Gilad Sher, who headed Barak's team in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority between 1999 and 2001, is also likely to join the party ranks, along with Yossi Kuchik, director-general of the Prime Minister's Office during the Barak administration, as well as professors Yossi Yonah and Yossi Dahan.

Current Meretz MKs were assured by the party's leaders in a recent meeting that the newly recruited members would not be guaranteed spots on the party's list. Instead, a handful of them are expected to contend for places among the bottom five candidates.

Due to the recent resignations of MKs Yossi Beilin and Ran Cohen, the second through fifth positions on the party list are likely to be filled by current MKs Zahava Gal-On and Avshalom Vilan, and former MKs Ilan Gilon and Mosi Raz.

The initiative to broaden Meretz's representation was launched after party leaders realized that despite Labor's falling numbers at the ballot box, Meretz has failed to attract voters disappointed with the party, or even those who had voted for the Pensioners Party.

Polls show most such voters prefer Tzipi Livni's Kadima party, which is widely viewed as committed to pursuing peace with the Palestinians.

In talks over assembling a government under her leadership, Livni arrived at terms of an agreement with Meretz, and even promised the party it could count on fielding two ministers.

After the decision to hold early elections, Meretz leaders concluded that to rise above the five or six mandates it expected to receive, it must bolster its forces from beyond the party.

Notes:
*Tsiva Greenfeld was sworn in just before the Knesset liquidated itself for the elections in February, so I really have no opinion on her.