Maki (political party)

For the historical party, see Maki (historical political party).

Communist Party of Israel המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית الحزب الشيوعي الاسرائيلي
Leadership	Central committee
Founder	Meir Vilner Tawfik Toubi
Founded	1 September 1965 (1965-09-01)
Split from	Maki
Headquarters	Nazareth, Tel Aviv
Newspaper	Al-Ittihad
Youth wing	Young Communist League of Israel
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism[1]
Political position	Far-left
National affiliation	Hadash
International affiliation	IMCWP
Colours	Red
Knesset	2 / 120
Election symbol
ו‎
Website
maki.org.il
Politics of Israel Political parties Elections

The Communist Party of Israel, commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Maki (Hebrew: מק״י), is a far-left communist political party in Israel that forms part of the political alliance known as Hadash. It was originally known as Rakah (רק"ח), an acronym for Reshima Komunistit Hadasha ("New Communist List"), after breaking away from the original Maki in the 1960s.

History

Original logo of the party when it was named Rakah, or the New Communist List, in 1965

Rakah members in 1969

Rakah was formed on 1 September 1965 due to internal disagreements in Maki, the original Communist Party of Israel, which was split between a largely Jewish and Zionist faction led by Moshe Sneh that was critical of the Soviet Union's anti-Zionist stance, and a largely Arab faction that was increasingly anti-Zionist.

As a result, the pro-Arab/pro-Soviet faction (including Emile Habibi, Tawfik Toubi and Meir Vilner) left Maki to form a new party, Rakah, which the Soviet Union recognised as the "official" Communist Party. Shlomo Sand and Mahmoud Darwish were also Rakah activists.^[2]

The Eurocommunist faction, led by Sneh, remained in Maki.^[3] It was reported in the Soviet media that the Mikunis–Sneh group defected to the bourgeois-nationalist camp.^[4]

The 1965 Israeli legislative election saw Rakah party win three seats, comprehensively beating Maki as it slumped to just one. Rakah's opposition to Zionism and the Six-Day War meant that they were excluded from the national unity governments of the sixth Knesset. In the 1969 Israeli legislative election Rakah again won three seats. During the 1973 Israeli legislative election Rakah saw a rise in support as the party picked up four seats.

Before the 1977 elections the party joined with some other small left-wing and Arab parties, including some members of the Israeli Black Panthers to form Hadash. After the original Maki had disappeared after merging into Ratz in 1981, members of Rakah decided to change the party's name to Maki in 1989.^[5] The party remains the leading force in Hadash, and owns the Al-Ittihad newspaper.

Election results

Election	Lead candidate	Votes	%	Position	Seats	+/–	Status
1965	Meir Vilner	27,413	2.27	New	3 / 120	3	opposition
1969		38,827	2.84	7th	3 / 120		opposition
1973		53,353	3.41	6th	4 / 120	1	opposition
1977		Part of Hadash		5th	4 / 120		opposition
1981				5th	3 / 120	1	opposition
1984				5th	3 / 120		opposition
1988				7th	3 / 120		opposition
1992	Tawfiq Ziad			8th	2 / 120	1	support
1996	Ahmad Sa'd	Part of Hadash–Balad		7th	2 / 120		opposition
1999	Mohammad Barakeh	Part of Hadash		12th	3 / 120	1	opposition
2003		Part of Hadash–Ta'al		9th	2 / 120	1	opposition
2006		Part of Hadash		11th	2 / 120		opposition
2009				9th	3 / 120	1	opposition
2013				10th	3 / 120		opposition
2015	Aida Touma-Suleiman	Part of the Joint List		3rd	4 / 120	1	opposition
April 2019		Part of Hadash–Ta'al		5th	3 / 120	1	opposition
September 2019		Part of the Joint List		3rd	4 / 120	1	opposition
2020				3rd	4 / 120		opposition
2021				10th	2 / 120	2	opposition
2022		Part of Hadash–Ta'al		12th	2 / 120		opposition

References

1. Ilan Lior (16 January 2013). "MK Dov Khenin: Netanyahu government is dangerous for Israel". Haaretz. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
2. Bartal, Shaul (1 January 2015). "Shlomo Sand, The Arabs' Darling". Middle East Quarterly.
3. Colin Shindler (2013). A History of Modern Israel. Cambridge University Press. p. 182. ISBN 9781107311213.
4. "Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizn", cited in edition "Välispanoraam 1972", Tallinn, 1973, lk 147 (Foreign Panorama 1972)
5. New Communist List (Rakach) Knesset website

External links

• Official website