Hadash

Foundation and original program

Hadash was formally established on 7 March 1977 in Tel Aviv,^{[11][12][13][14]} following a resolution by the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of Israel (Rakah) held in December 1976,^[12][15] in preparation for the 1977 elections. The congress called for a "broad front of all peace-loving and democratic forces" to provide a political alternative to the ruling Labor and Likud blocs.^[15] The coalition adopted the Hebrew letter "Vav" (ו‎) as its electoral sign.^[12][11]

The founding member organizations and adhering groups included:^{[12][16][17][14]}

• The Communist Party of Israel (Rakah)
• The Black Panthers of Charlie Biton's faction (several others in Saadia Marciano's faction joined the Left Camp of Israel)
• Elected local officials from Arab towns and villages
• The Israeli Left Socialists (Shasi)^[18][19]
• Members of various kibbutzim
• The Israeli Communist Opposition (Aki), which had been founded by former Maki leader Esther Vilenska prior to her death in 1975, and was later joined by Shmuel Mikunis.^[14][20][21]
• A circle of academics, including Daniel Amit and other public figures.^[12][22][14]

The coalition was organized under a central directing board representing all component parts to manage the election campaign and ensure ongoing cooperation.^[12][11][13] The founding declaration established a "minimum program" consisting of six core principles:^{[11][12][16][13]}

1. Just and stable peace: A settlement based on the total withdrawal of Israel from territories occupied in 1967, recognition of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and an independent state alongside Israel, and the participation of the PLO as the recognized representative of the Palestinian people in the Geneva Peace Conference.
2. Workers' rights: Defense of the interests of workers in production and services, and the rights of residents in impoverished urban neighborhoods.
3. Equality for Arab citizens: The elimination of all forms of national discrimination and the recognition of the Arab population in Israel as a national minority with secure equal rights.
4. Elimination of ethnic discrimination: An end to communal discrimination against Mizrahi Jews, supported by the allocation of special funds to raise their socio-economic and cultural status.
5. Democratic freedoms: The protection and expansion of democratic freedoms against the threat of right-wing or fascist forces.
6. Women's rights and secularism: Securing full equal rights for women, the cancellation of discriminatory legislation, and the prevention of religious coercion to ensure freedom of opinion and faith.

Current formation

While Hadash was founded as a broad political alliance, most of its original non-communist constituent groups eventually left the coalition or fizzled out over time. The Black Panthers faction led by Charlie Biton, for example, broke away from Hadash during the 12th Knesset on 25 December 1990 to establish an independent parliamentary faction.^[23] Similarly, the Israeli Communist Opposition (Aki) gradually waned following the deaths of its principal leaders, Esther Vilenska (d. 1975) and Shmuel Mikunis (d. 1982).

Today, the structure of the Hadash coalition revolves mainly around the Communist Party of Israel and its affiliated mass organizations, alongside independent left-wing activists. The current constituent groups comprising the Front are:

• Maki (The Communist Party of Israel)
• Banki / YCLI (The Young Communist League of Israel), which serves as the youth wing of Maki.^[24][25]
• Tandi (Movement of Democratic Women in Israel), an affiliated socialist feminist organization.^[24][26][27]
• The Druze Initiative Committee, a leftist Druze organization, opposed the conscription of Druze into the Israel Defense Force and actively assists conscientious objectors.^{[28][29][30][31][32]}
• Independent non-partisan Jewish and Arab public figures, academics, activists and municipal leaders who run on the Hadash list, or support it's aims, but are not formal card-carrying members of the Communist Party.^{[24][33][34][35]}

In January 2015, former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg joined Hadash.^[36]

In 2018, Hadash activists were involved in creating joint Jewish-Arab anti-occupation movement Standing Together.^[37]

Electoral history

In its first electoral test, Hadash won five seats, an increase of one from Rakah's four.^[38] But in the next elections in 1981 the party was reduced to four seats. It maintained its four seats in the 1984 elections, gaining another MK when Muhammed Wattad defected from Mapam in 1988. The 1988 election resulted in another four-seat haul, though the party lost a seat when Charlie Biton broke away to establish Black Panthers as an independent faction on 25 December 1990. The 1992 elections saw the party remain at three seats.^[38]

In the 1996 elections the party ran a joint list with Balad. Together they won five seats, but split during the Knesset term,^[39][23] with Hadash reduced to three seats. The 1999 elections saw them maintain three seats, with Barakeh and Issam Makhoul replacing Ahmad Sa'd and Saleh Saleem.^[38]

In the 2003 elections Hadash ran on another joint list, this time with Ahmed Tibi's Ta'al. The list won three seats,^[40] but again split during the parliamentary session, leaving Hadash with two MKs, Barakeh and Makhoul.^[23]

In the 2006 elections Hadash won three seats, with Hana Sweid and Dov Khenin entering the Knesset alongside Barakeh. The party won an additional seat in the 2009 elections, taken by Afu Agbaria.^[38]

In the 2013 elections, Hadash maintained its four seats, with Barakeh, Khenin, Sweid, and Agbaria all returning to the Knesset.^[38]

Ahead of the 2015 elections, Hadash joined forces with Balad, Ta'al, and the United Arab List to form the Joint List. As part of this broader alliance, Hadash increased its representation to five seats, introducing new MKs such as Ayman Odeh, Aida Touma-Suleiman, and Yousef Jabareen, alongside veteran Dov Khenin.^[41]

The Joint List temporarily fractured prior to the April 2019 elections, leading Hadash to run on a joint ticket with Ta'al. This alliance secured Hadash four seats, with Ofer Cassif entering the Knesset.^[40] The Joint List was subsequently re-established for the September 2019 and 2020 elections, yielding five seats for Hadash in both rounds. In the 2021 elections, Hadash's representation within the Joint List was reduced to three seats, held by Odeh, Touma-Suleiman, and Cassif.^[41]

For the 2022 elections, Hadash once again ran on a unified list with Ta'al, winning four seats. On 23 June 2025, Hadash MK Youssef Atauna resigned from the Knesset as part of a rotation agreement and was replaced by Ta'al MK Samir Bin Said.^[40][42]