Shinui
Shinui (Hebrew for "Change") was formed in
1974, a few months after the Yom
Kippur (October) War, as one of the protest movements. Its original
name was "Shinui - The political and social revival movement."
As it was formed, Shinui decided to run for the Knesset.
In 1976, the late professor Yigael
Yadin, who was IDF's second chief of staff, formed a political party
which was destined to run for the Knesset - "The Democratic Movement."
Shinui and The Democratic Movement began negotiation to form a united
party, and indeed in the beginning of 1977 it was born as "Dash
- The Democratic Movement For Change." After Dash was formed, a
group from "Hamrkaz Hahofshi" ("The Free Center"),
led by the late MK Shmuel Tamir, and a group from the Israeli Labor
Party, led by Meir Amit, joined it.
In the 1977 general elections Dash got 15 seats. At
first, Dash did not join the Likud government, led by the late Menachem
Begin, and so Begin formed a coalition which only had a 61 majority
in the Knesset. When the late Moshe
Dayan joined the government as Foreign Minister, the majority went
up to 62.
In Dash, a fierce inner struggle about joining the
Begin government took place. Finally, after a few months, the Dash council
decided, on a small majority, to join the coalition. The Shinui members
inside Dash opposed this move.
About a year after it was formed, Dash split into two
parties - Shinui, and The Democratic Party.
In the 1981 general elections, Shinui got two seats
- MK Amnon Rubinstein and MK Mordechai Virshuvski.
In the 1984 general elections, Shinui got three seats,
this time Rubinstein and Virshuvski were joined by MK Zeidan Atshi.
After the elections, Shinui joined the national unity government led
by Shimon Peres, and Amnon
Rubinstein became Minister of Communication. In the beginning of
1987 Shinui left the government as a reaction to Yitzhak
Shamir opposing "The London Agreement."
The 1988 general elections saw Shinui joining the "Independent
Liberals" (Lamed Ayin) and the "Liberal Center" (Hamerkaz
Haliberali), getting two seats - MK Amnon
Rubinstein and MK Avraham Poraz.
In the 1992 general elections, Shinui joined Ratz and Mapam to form the Meretz alignment, and got two seats as part of it. Amnon
Rubinstein served as Minister of Energy and Infrastructure for about
a year, and later became Minister of Education and Culture for three
years.
In the 1996 general elections Shinui ran once again
with Meretz and Rubinstein
and Poraz were elected again.
In the beginning of 1997, Ratz and Mapam decided to
unite Meretz into one political
party. A group of Shinui members led by Amnon
Rubinstein left Shinui and joined Meretz.
In the 1999 election, Shinui increased its representation in the Knesset from one
seat to six. The party attributed its success to the fact that it was
the first party ever to refuse to join a government that included the
ultra-Orthodox parties.
In the 2003 election, Shinui showed surprising strength, and catapulted to the third
largest faction in the Knesset with 15 seats.
Sources: Shinui |