Foundation and political dominance (1965–1977) First Alignment The foundations for the Israeli Labor Party were established shortly before the
1965 Knesset elections, when
Mapai—the largest political party in Israel and the dominant partner in every government since the state’s founding in 1948—and its affiliated
Arab satellite lists formed an alliance with
Ahdut HaAvoda, another Labor Zionist party. The alliance was intended to strengthen Mapai’s electoral position following the departure of eight Knesset members led by former prime minister
David Ben-Gurion, who established the new party
Rafi after disputes including Mapai’s refusal to support a change in the electoral system that he had favored. The alliance between Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda, known as the
Labor Alignment (or retrospectively the
First Alignment), won 45 seats in the 1965 elections. It formed a governing coalition with the
National Religious Party,
Mapam, the
Independent Liberals,
Poalei Agudat Yisrael,
Progress and Development and
Cooperation and Brotherhood. Following the
Six-Day War in 1967, Rafi and
Gahal also joined the coalition.
Merger and coalition with Mapam On 23 January 1968, Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda, and Rafi (excluding Ben-Gurion, who established the
National List in protest) merged to create the Israeli Labor Party. On 28 January 1969, the party entered into an alliance with Mapam, which also came to be known as the Alignment. As the larger faction in the second Alignment, Labor became the dominant partner. Although Mapam left the Alignment during the eighth Knesset, it later rejoined. During the 1970s, successive Alignment-led governments expanded the welfare state. This included increases in
pension benefits and the introduction of new social security schemes such as
disability insurance and
unemployment insurance (1970), children’s insurance (1975), and vacation pay for adopting parents (1976). Other initiatives included a Family Allowance for Veterans (1970), a benefit for Prisoners of Zion (1973), and mobility and volunteer benefits (1975). Between 1975 and 1976, a limited housing rehabilitation program was introduced in several older neighborhoods, and the Sick Leave Compensation Law of 1976 was enacted to provide compensation for employees absent from work due to illness.
Opposition and comeback (1977–2001) Following the
1977 Israeli legislative election, the Labor Party entered the opposition for the first time. After the
1984 election, in which the
Independent Liberals participated as part of the Alignment, the Alignment joined a national unity government with
Likud, the
National Religious Party,
Agudat Yisrael,
Shas,
Morasha,
Shinui, and
Ometz. Under the coalition agreement, the office of prime minister alternated between the Alignment and Likud. During the eleventh Knesset, Mapam left the Alignment in opposition to
Shimon Peres’s decision to join the unity government with Likud. On 7 October 1991, the Alignment formally dissolved, with all factions merged into the Labor Party. At this time, the Likud-led government elected in 1988 faced several challenges, including economic difficulties, the integration of large numbers of immigrants from the former
Soviet Union, strained relations with the administration of U.S. President
George H. W. Bush, and internal divisions. Led again by
Yitzhak Rabin, Labor won the
1992 elections and formed a government with
Meretz and Shas. The Labor-led government introduced a range of social policy measures. These included expanded provisions for
single parents and people with
disabilities, liberalization of income support entitlements, and the 1994 Law to Reduce Poverty and Income Inequality, extended a year later, which increased income maintenance grants to low-income families. In 1995, a national
health insurance policy was enacted. Other measures included reforms to make national insurance contributions more progressive, the introduction of a maternity grant for adopting mothers, old-age insurance for
housewives, a minimum unemployment allowance, and a partial injury allowance. Additional investments were made in development projects, while
affirmative action programs were implemented to increase the employment of Palestinian citizens in the public sector. The Ministry of Interior increased funding for Arab local councils, and the Ministry of Education expanded budgets for Arab education. The party’s subsequent role was closely linked to the
Oslo Accords. The accords were approved by the Knesset in a vote of confidence that passed 61–50, with eight abstentions. Several members of the governing coalition declined to support the agreement, but it was secured with the backing of Palestinian-Arab parties in the Knesset. The government proceeded to implement the accords. Rabin’s decision to advance negotiations with the Palestinians and sign the Oslo Accords led to
his assassination in 1995 by right-wing Jewish extremist
Yigal Amir. Following Rabin’s assassination,
Shimon Peres became prime minister and called
early elections in 1996 to seek a mandate for advancing the peace process. Although Labor won the most seats in the Knesset, Peres lost the direct election for prime minister to
Benjamin Netanyahu, after a series of
suicide bombings by
Hamas. Netanyahu and Likud subsequently formed the government.
One Israel In 1999, as his coalition weakened, Netanyahu called
early elections. Labor, now led by
Ehud Barak, formed an electoral alliance with
Meimad and
Gesher under the name
One Israel. Barak won the prime minister election, while One Israel won 26 Knesset seats. He established a coalition of 75 members with Shas, Meretz,
Yisrael BaAliyah, the National Religious Party, and
United Torah Judaism. The coalition with religious parties (NRP, Shas, and UTJ) caused tensions with the
secularist Meretz, who quit the coalition after a disagreement with Shas over the authority of the Deputy Education Minister. Other parties subsequently left before the
2000 Camp David summit.
Decline (2001–2018) Following the
October 2000 protests in Israel and the outbreak of the
Second Intifada, Prime Minister Barak resigned in December 2000. In a subsequent
special election for prime minister, he was defeated by Likud leader
Ariel Sharon. Labor remained in Sharon’s coalition, which included Likud, Shas, Yisrael BaAliyah, and United Torah Judaism, and received two key cabinet positions: Shimon Peres was appointed
Minister of Foreign Affairs and
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer became
Defense Minister. Labor supported
Operation Defensive Shield against Palestinians in the
West Bank in April 2002. Amid criticism that Peres and Ben-Eliezer were subordinate to Sharon and not advancing peace efforts, Labor withdrew from the government in 2003. List during the
2003 electionAhead of the
2003 elections,
Amram Mitzna led the party on a platform that included unilateral withdrawal from the
Gaza Strip. Labor won 19 seats, its lowest result to that point, while Likud won 38. Following internal opposition, Mitzna resigned as leader and was succeeded by Peres. Labor later joined Sharon’s coalition to support the plan for
Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip, after the
National Union and National Religious Party had left the government. On 8 November 2005, Shimon Peres was replaced as the leader of the Labor party by the election of left-wing Histadrut union leader
Amir Peretz in an internal Labor party ballot. Critics of Labor have argued that, over the years, the party had abandoned its
socialist heritage in favor of economic and business elites, and had passed the mantle of custodian of the underprivileged to right-wing and religious parties. Peretz stated his intention to reassert Labor's traditional socialist policies, and took the party out of the government. This prompted Sharon to resign and call for new
elections in March 2006. Prior to the election, the political map had been redrawn, as Sharon and the majority of Likud's MKs, together with a number of Labor MKs, including Shimon Peres, and some from other parties, had formed the new political party
Kadima. In the elections Labor won 19 seats, making it the second largest party after Kadima. It joined
Ehud Olmert's Kadima-led government, with Peretz appointed Defense Minister. Labor's main coalition demand and campaign promise was raising the minimum wage. On 28 May 2007, a
leadership election resulted in Ehud Barak and Ami Ayalon defeating Peretz who was pushed into third place. In the
run-off election (required as neither Barak nor Ayalon received over 40% of the vote), Barak was re-elected as party chairman. Despite stating that he would withdraw the party from the government unless Olmert resigned, Barak remained in government and took over as Defense Minister. Prior to the
2009 elections Labor and Meimad ended their alliance, with Meimad ultimately running a joint list with the
Green Movement (which did not pass the electoral threshold). Several prominent members left the party, including
Ami Ayalon, and
Efraim Sneh (who formed
Yisrael Hazaka). In the elections, Labor was reduced to just 13 seats, making it the fourth largest party behind Kadima, Likud and
Yisrael Beiteinu. Analysing the downfall of the once dominant political party in Israel, Efraim Inbar of the
Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies points to several factors. By forfeiting identification with the establishment and building of the State of Israel, symbolised by a predilection for military service and by the settling of the land of Israel, Labor lost its most important asset. Deserting the Zionist symbol of Jerusalem, by showing willingness to cede part of it to the Palestinians was an ill-fated move. Their association with the
Oslo Accords meant that they could not avoid being discredited by its failure. Demographic factors have worked against Labor, as the growing
Sefardi population, as well as the recent Russian-Jewish immigrants, have largely voted for other parties. Attempts to gain the support of the
Israeli Arab voters have damaged the image of the party, and yielded no harvest.
Shelly Yachimovich was
elected leader in 2011 saying "I promise that we will work together. This is just the beginning of a new start for Israeli society." She was congratulated by many in the party including her one-time rival Amir Peretz. Yachimovich was replaced as leader by
Isaac Herzog in
2013. In the
2013 legislative election held on 22 January 2013, Labor received 11.39% of the national vote, winning 15 seats.On 10 December 2014, party leader Isaac Herzog and
Tzipi Livni, leader and founder of the
Hatnuah party, announced an
electoral alliance to contest the upcoming legislative election. In the
2015 legislative election on 7 March 2015, the joint list
Zionist Union received 24 seats in the Knesset, of which 19 belong to the Labor Party. Both parties remained independent parties while both represented by the
Zionist Union faction in the Knesset. The partnership continued after Avi Gabbay was
elected chairman of the party on 10 July 2017, until 1 January 2019, when Gabbay announced the dissolution of the union unilaterally. On 10 July 2018, the Labor Party suspended its membership of the
Socialist International after the international adopted a policy of
BDS towards Israel.
Final years and merger with Meretz (2019–2024) Labor's support collapsed in the
April 2019 legislative election, being reduced to only 4.43% of votes and 6 seats, marking it as the worst result in the party's history. Anger at Gabbay intensified, with poor election results, and negotiating with the right to join a Netanyahu-led government. Longtime party member Peretz criticized Gabbay, tweeting "We will not enter or sit in his [Netanyahu] government. Every other option is a violation of everything we promised to the public". Gabbay resigned in June. In July 2019, Amir Peretz was
elected as the new leader of the Labor party. A few weeks later, on 18 July 2019, ahead of the
September 2019 election, Amir Peretz merged the party with the
Gesher party, giving Gesher multiple spots on Labor's candidate list. On 12 January 2020, Labor announced that it was negotiating a joint list with
Meretz to prevent the possibility of either party not making the electoral threshold and not entering the Knesset. Labor and Meretz announced a joint run on 13 January 2020, with the Labor party central committee voting in favor of ratification of the alliance the following day. Meretz approved the alliance on 14 January. The alliance submitted its list on 15 January under the name Labor-Gesher-Meretz. In March 2020, Gesher's only MK
Orly Levy announced that she was splitting from the union due to their support of
Benny Gantz's efforts to set up a
minority government with the
Joint List, with him as prime minister. Gantz later abandoned that effort and instead joined a "national unity
coronavirus government" headed by
Benjamin Netanyahu. After repeatedly promising not to join a government headed by Netanyahu, Peretz decided to bring Labor into that coalition headed by Netanyahu to "promote social justice" along with Gantz. On 22 April 2020, it was announced that Labor Party leader
Amir Peretz would serve as Israel's Economic Minister as a result of a coalition agreement which was made following the
2020 Israeli legislative election and will coordinate with Blue and White on parliamentary matters and policy issues. Despite agreeing to join the new government, Peretz also stated that he and other Labor MKs will still vote against a
proposed West Bank annexation plan. On 26 April 2020, 64.2% of the Labor Party's 3,840 central committee members approved of Peretz's decision to join the new government. During the coalition talks, the party was under negotiations with
Blue and White to implement a merger. On 17 May 2020, Peretz was officially sworn in at the new Israeli economic minister. Labor member
Itzik Shmuli also joined the Israeli government after being sworn in as Israel's Minister of Welfare. Michaeli was re-elected leader ahead of the
2022 election. This was the first time the party re-elected its leader since primaries were held starting in 1992. In the
2022 elections the party was reduced to four seats and winning 3.69% of the votes. In December 2023, Michaeli announced her intention to step down as Labor leader. The following February, a
leadership election was called for 28 May, which
Yair Golan won on a platform of merging the party with the rival
Meretz party. On 30 June 2024, an agreement between Labor and Meretz was signed to merge the parties and form
The Democrats, Despite the merger, members of The Democrats are identified in the 25th Knesset as members of the
Labor Party, following an unsuccessful attempt to rename the Knesset faction. ==Ideology and platform==