In 2009, Ibtisam was nominated as a political candidate for the Meretz Party for the Israeli parliamentary elections, obtaining the 12th position on the candidate list.
Meretz were invited into Ehud Barak's coalition, with Sarid becoming Education Minister, Ran Cohen Minister of Industry and Trade, and Haim Oron Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Meretz |
The party competed for votes with the supporters of the Democratic Choice (which later stepped down from running in the election) and with Meretz-Yachad, which had also promised to act for the decriminalization of soft drugs; another competitor was the Green Party with a strong ecological platform.
Isaac ha-Levi Hurwitz; David, rabbi at Meretz; Zevulun ben Lipman, rabbi at Plungian; and Rabbi Jacob Joseph, who died in New York in 1902, likewise were natives of Krozh.
Max Leopold Margolis (born at Meretz (present-day Merkinė), district (guberniya) of Wilna, Russia (now Vilnius, Lithuania), October 15, 1866–1932) was a Russian Empire-born American philologist.
In 2003, Beilin along with MK Yael Dayan, left the Labour Party due to its decision to join Prime Minister Sharon's coalition and joined the Meretz Party, which he headed from 2004-2008, when he retired from political life.