Meretz

• Formal commitment: Meretz's 2022 platform calls for "a broad and up-to-date welfare state", "a strong public sector", reducing inequality, "raising taxes on capital and high earners", "reducing indirect taxes", and "regulation and supervision" to prevent the exploitation of workers and public money ^[17].

• Formal commitment, taxes: the platform proposes:

  • exempting basic food products, medicines and medical services from VAT (the tax added to almost everything you buy) ^[17];
  • a reduced VAT rate on books, newspapers, and cultural and sports events ^[17];
  • a new 55% income-tax bracket for monthly earnings above NIS 60,000, and a top rate of 70% on income above 100 times the average income ^[17];
  • a progressive inheritance tax of 10–30% on estates above NIS 5 million, excluding the family home ^[17];
  • raising corporate tax to 30% for companies with taxable income above NIS 1.2 million a year ^[17].

• Formal commitment, market concentration: the platform calls for:

  • breaking up "control pyramids" (chains of holding companies through which a few groups control many firms) by limiting them to two layers ^[17];
  • regulatory limits on holdings in several sectors, and breaking up multi-sector business groups "for reasons of competition" ^[17];
  • requiring private monopolies to publish financial reports ^[17].

  It says concentration leads to excessive price rises ^[17].

• Formal commitment, privatization: the platform calls for a complete halt to privatization and a gradual return of public services to public ownership ^[17].

• Formal commitment, direct support: the platform calls for:

  • equalising the universal disability and old-age allowances with the minimum wage in the first budget year ^[17];
  • raising child allowances, and restoring allowances for single-parent families ^[17];
  • subsidising public transport by 80% for senior citizens, children, students and people with disabilities ^[17].

  The April 2019 platform already included raising child allowances and raising the disability allowance to the level of the minimum wage ^[49].

• Formal commitment (2024 union agreement): the agreement Meretz signed commits The Democrats to "social-democratic economic policy" and a strong welfare state that stresses universal social services under state responsibility, "as opposed to the trend of privatization" and of providing social services on a sectoral basis. It also calls for reducing social and economic gaps, including in the periphery ^[3].

• Action (bills): in 2022 Lasky initiated two bills to raise the minimum wage ^{[46, 47]}.

• Action: in November 2021 all six Meretz MKs voted for the 2021 and 2022 state budgets and the accompanying Economic Arrangements Law. The final votes passed 61–59 (2021 budget, 4 November 2021), 59–56 (2022 budget, early on 5 November 2021) and 61–57 (Arrangements Law, 4 November 2021) ^{[21, 22]}.

• Contradiction: Meretz's platform for the March 2021 election, the one in force when these votes were cast, pledged to raise child allowances, to raise the disability allowance to the level of the minimum wage and to expand the public-housing stock "massively" ^[62]. Its April 2019 platform had the same pledges, and its 2022 platform and website repeat these aims ^{[49, 16, 17]}. But while Meretz was in the governing coalition, all six of its MKs voted against two opposition private bills at their preliminary readings on 24 November 2021:

  • a bill to raise child allowances, sponsored by UTJ MK Yaakov Litzman, defeated 38–43;
  • a bill to increase the public-housing stock, sponsored by Likud MK Orly Levy-Abekasis, defeated 40–44 ^{[21, 22, 46, 47]}.

  On 1 December 2021, the four Meretz MKs who voted (Lasky, Rozin, Raz and Rinawie Zoabi) voted against a private bill by Joint List MKs Ahmad Tibi and Osama Saadi to equalise the disability allowance with the minimum wage, which was defeated 20–22 ^{[21, 22, 46, 47]}. In all three votes every coalition faction present voted against and the opposition factions present voted in favour, apart from one Yamina MK who voted for the disability bill ^{[20, 21, 22]}. No statement by Meretz explaining these votes was found.

Closest option(s): Active state regulation, with taxes on high incomes and action against concentration (active-state-regulation), combined with direct support for households through higher allowances and subsidies (direct-support-for-households). The formal commitments fit both. The evidence is mixed: as a coalition party in 2021, Meretz's MKs voted against opposition bills to raise allowances and expand public housing.

• Formal commitment: Meretz's 2022 platform says the causes of violence and crime in Arab society include a lack of policing and enforcement, poverty and unemployment, poor treatment of disconnected youth, and social alienation ^[17]. It says the government must give the problem "full attention and the resources required". This includes strengthening police presence in Arab communities "while fundamentally changing the ethos of police enforcement towards Arab citizens", alongside more resources for community programmes and welfare services in Arab society ^[17].
• Formal commitment: the platform also calls for:
  • a broad affirmative-action programme for Arab citizens "in all areas of life" ^[17];
  • better police services for all citizens, with clear targets to reduce violence and illegal weapons and raise the number of solved crimes ^[17];
  • a ban on using Arab nationality as a criterion for security checks ("profiling") ^[17].
• Formal commitment: the platform states that holding people without trial (administrative detention) violates the right to a fair trial ^[17].
• Action (government, 2021): while Meretz was in the coalition, the government adopted Government Decision 550 in October 2021. This is the "Takadum" five-year plan for the economic and social development of Arab society, worth about NIS 30 billion ^[40]. Government Decision 549 is a separate 2022–2026 plan to fight crime and violence in Arab society, with about NIS 1.5 billion for the police ^[40].
• Action (vote, 2021): in October 2021 the government approved a bill to widen the grounds on which police may search without a court warrant. The IDI described it as part of the government's push against serious crime in Arab society ^[38]. On 13 December 2021 all six Meretz MKs voted for this government bill in a plenum vote that passed 60–58 ^{[21, 22, 45]}.
• Action (vote, 2022): on 11 May 2022 all six Meretz MKs voted against a private bill by Likud MK Yoav Gallant setting minimum sentences for weapons offences. It was defeated 53–61 at its preliminary reading ^{[21, 22, 46, 47]}.
• Not found: no statement by Meretz or Lasky was found on bringing the Shin Bet (Israel's internal security service) into the fight against crime, or on the July 2026 proposal to move about NIS 532 million from the Takadum plan to the Shin Bet and the police ^[40]. Searches covered Hebrew and English news and Meretz's website.

Closest option(s): Invest in Arab communities first (invest-in-arab-communities-first). The platform links crime to long neglect, calls for development funding, and opposes holding people without trial. It also has elements of more police resources under normal law (more-police-resources-normal-law): stronger police presence and support for a temporary widening of search powers in 2021.

• Formal commitment (2024 union agreement, joint principles of The Democrats): the agreement Meretz signed in July 2024 says that rebuilding the Gaza Strip and its economy is an Israeli interest. It says Israel should work to hand control of Gaza "to moderate Palestinian actors" able to ensure stable government, "while preserving Israeli security interests" ^[3]. It also commits to "fight for the return of the hostages" and to restoring full security to residents of the south and north who were hit after the October 7 attack and the war ^[3].
• Formal commitment (2022 platform, before the war):
  • Gaza is part of the territory of a future Palestinian state ^[17].
  • Meretz will act to lift the closure of Gaza and ease restrictions on movement, goods and building materials, "while preserving the security of residents of the south" ^[17].
  • Israel should cooperate in practical ways with Gaza "regardless of who governs it", so that the Strip can develop ^[17].
  • Gradual rebuilding followed by a political arrangement is "the only way" to stop cycles of fighting ^[17].
• Statement (Gaby Lasky, undated video, reported October 2026): in a video from the past that circulated in October 2026, Lasky said that on International Women's Day "we must stand in solidarity with the women in Gaza, with the women in the West Bank, with the women in Iran", and that if the world were led by women "there would be fewer wars" ^{[11, 12]}.
• Statement (Gaby Lasky, September 2026): in a post about the makers of "Naza", a film about IDF activity in Gaza that presents allegations of war crimes, Lasky wrote that "the violent discourse against the creators must stop". She said such works "raise moral questions that, precisely out of the pain, must be asked". Ice reported that the post was later deleted ^{[11, 12]}.
• Not found: no Meretz statement was found on the October 2025 US-plan ceasefire or on its next stages, after searches of Hebrew and English news and Meretz's website.

Closest option(s): Tentative: advance an international arrangement with a Palestinian administration without Hamas and a gradual withdrawal (advance-international-arrangement). This is closest to the 2024 joint agreement's call to hand Gaza to moderate Palestinian actors while keeping Israeli security interests. The 2022 platform's call to lift the closure and treat Gaza as part of a future Palestinian state also has elements of end-war-full-withdrawal. The mapping is tentative because the evidence predates the October 2025 ceasefire and no Meretz statement on the US plan was found.

• Action (vote, January 2022): on 17 January 2022, five Meretz MKs voted for the government's Security Service Law (Amendment 25) on the integration of yeshiva students at its first reading. The bill was defeated in a 54–54 tie after Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi broke coalition discipline and voted against; Srugim reported that she did so in protest over the Citizenship Law ^{[21, 22, 41]}. According to Srugim, the bill was meant to:
  • set new enlistment targets for yeshiva students and graduates of Haredi schools, with a yearly increase target and financial consequences if targets were missed ^[41];
  • lower the age at which those who had deferred service become exempt ^[41];
  • allow shortened service combined with job training or civilian national service ^[41].
• Action (vote, January 2022): on 31 January 2022, all six Meretz MKs voted for the resubmitted version (Amendment 26). It passed its first reading 51–48 ^{[21, 22, 42]}.
• Action (votes):
  • On 22 December 2021, Meretz MKs Raz, Golan and Rozin voted against a private bill by UTJ MK Yisrael Eichler to abolish compulsory military service. It was defeated 18–32 ^{[21, 22, 46, 47]}. Raz had himself tabled a bill with the same title, which was not debated ^{[45, 46, 47, 48]}.
  • On 2 February 2022, all six Meretz MKs voted against a private bill by Likud MK David Amsalem to require the army to call up those obliged to serve. It was defeated 30–50 ^{[21, 22, 46, 47]}.
• Formal commitment: the 2022 platform calls for "conditioning all budgets for Haredi education on core studies" (mathematics, English and similar subjects) ^[17]. The platform has no section on Haredi enlistment as such ^[17].
• Statement (joint list leader, not Meretz): at The Democrats' convention on 31 May 2026, its leader Yair Golan promised to legislate an enlistment law. He said the party would not sit in government with parties he blamed for, among other things, large-scale non-enlistment of yeshiva students during the war ^[44].
• Not found: no Meretz-specific statement on Haredi enlistment after 2022 was found.

Closest option(s): Tentative: gradual enlistment targets with incentives and budget consequences (gradual-targets-by-agreement). This is the government bill Meretz's MKs voted for as coalition members in January 2022. The mapping is tentative because it rests on those votes alone: no later Meretz position was found, and the joint list leader's 2026 statements are not Meretz's own.

• Formal commitment: Meretz's 2022 platform says "every resident has a basic right to housing". It blames high prices on government policy that relied mainly on the free market ^[17]. It proposes a "national emergency plan" that includes:
  • publicly funded construction of "hundreds of thousands" of homes ^[17];
  • affordable-housing clauses in every new plan ^[17];
  • long-term rental models with "protection mechanisms for tenants and supervision of rent" ^[17];
  • leasing public land by tender and ending "maximum price" tenders ^[17];
  • government-financed long-term rental housing that the government builds and maintains ^[17];
  • making approval of new building conditional on a share of public and affordable housing ^[17].
• Formal commitment: the platform also proposes:
  • adding about 15,000 public-housing apartments within a decade, and ending the waiting list for public housing ^[17];
  • a "property tax" of 30% of the home's value on owners of second and further homes, unless the homes are placed under a "fair rent authority" that sets the rent ^[17];
  • a national urban-renewal plan for 100,000 homes in city centres ^[17];
  • removing barriers that cause inequality between Jews and Arabs in the allocation of land ^[17].
• Formal commitment (2024 union agreement): the agreement Meretz signed calls for "various solutions for affordable housing, including public housing" ^[3].
• Statement (party website and platform): Meretz says its MKs legislated the Public Housing Law ^{[16, 17]}.
• Action (vote): see the 24 November 2021 vote against an opposition bill to increase the public-housing stock, noted under Cost of living ^{[21, 22]}.

Closest option(s): State-led affordable rental with rent regulation (state-led-affordable-rental). The platform's urban-renewal and public-transport proposals also touch on develop-periphery-and-transport.

• Formal commitment (2022 platform): on Iran, the platform says Iran's nuclear ambitions threaten "the whole world". It says Israel should focus on the diplomatic path and a return to the 2015 nuclear agreement, which it says keeps Iran from nuclear weapons and "distances an unwanted war" ^[17]. On Lebanon, it says the threat from Hezbollah requires "a careful policy combining deterrence and restraint" until a basic change of government in Lebanon allows peace ^[17]. On security in general, it says Israel's security should not rest only on military deterrence, but also on regional and international political alliances and on taking up the Arab Peace Initiative ^[17].
• Formal commitment (2024 union agreement, joint principles of The Democrats): the agreement Meretz signed says:
  • Israel's security rests on "advanced security capabilities, political arrangements and regional alliances" ^[3];
  • a two-state resolution of the conflict with the Palestinians would help create "a strong regional and international front against the rising Iranian threat" ^[3];
  • Israel should work for a regional alliance including the moderate Arab states and Saudi Arabia "against the axis of evil led by Russia-Iran and China" ^[3].
• Statement (Gaby Lasky): see her undated remark about solidarity with women in Iran, reported in October 2026 ^{[11, 12]}.
• Not found: no Meretz or Lasky statement was found on the June 2025 or February 2026 wars with Iran, or on the 2026 fighting in Lebanon. Searches covered Hebrew and English news and Meretz's website.

Closest option(s): Tentative, because the evidence predates the 2025–2026 wars and is mixed. The 2024 joint agreement's emphasis on security capabilities, alliances and political arrangements is closest to force-plus-us-backed-agreements. The 2022 platform's preference for diplomacy and "restraint" leans towards prioritize-ending-multifront-war.

• Formal commitment (2022 platform): the platform supports a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria and Gaza, with these terms:

  • a border based on the pre-1967 line (the "Green Line"), with agreed land swaps at a 1:1 ratio ^[17];
  • shared sovereignty in Jerusalem so that it is the capital of both states. Jewish neighbourhoods would go to Israel and Palestinian neighbourhoods to Palestine, with special arrangements in the "Holy Basin" ^[17];
  • an agreed solution to the refugee question ^[17].

  It says that "most settlements will be evacuated, but most Israeli citizens living beyond the Green Line will be annexed to Israel within agreed land swaps" ^[17]. It also calls for:

  • stopping all settlement construction regardless of negotiations ^[17];
  • a law to compensate settlers who leave voluntarily before an agreement ^[17];
  • evacuating isolated settlements "with or without an agreement" ^[17];
  • repealing the 2017 Settlement Regularisation Law ^[17];
  • opposing any legislation that applies Israeli law in the territories ^[17].

  The security terms it describes include a demilitarised Palestinian state, IDF elements on the ground for an agreed period, international guarantees and a long-term international military presence ^[17]. The April 2019 platform contained the same pledge to oppose any legislation applying Israeli law in the territories ^[49].

• Formal commitment (2024 union agreement, joint principles of The Democrats): preserving Israel's "Jewish and democratic character requires a solid Jewish majority". The parties will "strive for separation between us and the Palestinians" and resolve the conflict "on the basis of two states for two peoples: the State of Israel and alongside it a demilitarised Palestinian state", with Israel's security "a condition for any arrangement" ^[3].

• Action (votes): all six Meretz MKs voted against bills to apply Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria:

  • 28 July 2021, in two votes defeated 50–64 and 47–63 ^{[21, 22]};
  • 22 June 2022, in two votes defeated 46–52 and 46–51 ^{[21, 22]}.

• Action (letter): in November 2021, Meretz MKs Mossi Raz and Gaby Lasky wrote to Housing Minister Ze'ev Elkin. They called on him to "immediately stop" his plan to double the Israeli population in the Jordan Valley, and the Times of Israel reported that they warned it would rupture the coalition ^[26].

• Contradiction: Meretz's platform for the March 2021 election said Meretz would oppose any legislation applying Israeli law in the territories; its April 2019 platform said the same and its 2022 platform repeated it ^{[62, 49, 17]}. But on 6 June 2022, five of Meretz's six MKs (Golan, Lasky, Salalha, Rozin and Raz) voted for the bill to extend the emergency regulations that apply Israeli criminal law, and in some cases civil law, to Israelis living in Judea and Samaria. Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi voted against, and the bill was defeated 52–58 ^{[21, 22, 43]}. The Media Line reported that the regulations were "part of the legal status quo the coalition agreed upon", and that the justice minister had called passing them vital to the government's survival ^[43]. No statement by Meretz explaining the vote was found.

• Statement (Gaby Lasky, July 2026): at a faction meeting of The Democrats, Lasky told Golan not to say "Judea and Samaria" but "the West Bank". Golan replied that he rejects the idea that "Judea and Samaria" is a right-wing term ^[13].

Closest option(s): Two states through a negotiated agreement with land swaps (separation-two-states). The platform keeps most settlers in Israel through swaps while evacuating most settlements. Its call for a shared Jerusalem capital and a full settlement freeze also contains elements of two-states-pre-1967-border.

• Formal commitment (2022 platform): Meretz "will fight to prevent unnecessary political interference in the legal system and political influence on judges", and will fight the politicisation of legal advice in government ministries and the Knesset ^[17]. It opposed a bill to change the status of ministries' legal advisers, and says that subordinating legal advisers to ministers harms citizens' freedom ^[17]. It calls for completing a constitution through Basic Laws, including a Basic Law on social rights, and opposes "any compromise on constitutional matters" that would weaken basic democratic values ^[17]. It says Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty and Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation were passed "at Meretz's initiative" ^[17].
• Formal commitment (2024 union agreement, joint principles of The Democrats): the agreement commits The Democrats to:
  • "full separation of powers" ^[3];
  • restraining government institutions from abusing their power ^[3];
  • the independence of the legal system and of official watchdogs, which it calls "gatekeepers" ^[3];
  • regulating government power, for example with a Basic Law: Legislation ^[3];
  • limits on power, such as limiting terms of office ^[3].
• Action (votes, 2021):
  • On 10 May 2021, all six Meretz MKs voted against referring proposed "override" Basic Law amendments to committee. They would let the Knesset re-pass laws struck down by the Supreme Court. The votes passed 41–30 and 40–30 ^{[21, 22]}.
  • On 14 July 2021, all six Meretz MKs voted against two opposition bills to amend Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty so that a law could stay valid despite a court ruling. They were defeated 50–62 and 50–64 ^{[21, 22]}.
• Action (legislation, 2022): in June 2022 the Ministerial Committee for Legislation backed a bill sponsored by Lasky, one of two versions of a bill to bar a person under indictment for a serious crime from serving as prime minister by amending a quasi-constitutional law. The Knesset's legal adviser called legislating it on the eve of elections "problematic" ^[27]. Knesset records show Lasky's Basic Law: The Government bills on this subject still tabled for a preliminary debate when the Knesset term ended ^{[45, 46, 47, 48]}.
• Action (protest legal aid, 2023–2024): Lasky co-founded the volunteer legal-aid network for those arrested at protests against the government's changes to the judicial system. She said organising began "the day after Yariv Levin's speech" announcing the plan in January 2023 ^[30].
• Statement (Gaby Lasky, March 2026): in an op-ed, Lasky said a police commissioner who breaches the attorney general's directives "is not a policeman but a politician in uniform". She called for the dismissal of Police Commissioner Danny Levy and the dismantling of a new police "incitement department", which she described as bypassing prosecutors ^[31].

Closest option(s): Reverse the recent changes and protect the independence of the courts and the attorney general in a basic law (repeal-changes-protect-independence).

• Statement (joint list leader, not Meretz, 20 July 2026): on the night of the primaries, Yair Golan said: "The first decision we will pass in the government, as soon as we sit around the table, will be establishing a state commission of inquiry" ^[8].
• Statement (Meretz secretary-general, February 2026): when the updated union agreement was signed, Reznik described the task ahead as "replacing the October 7 government headed by Netanyahu" ^[7]. He did not address the form of an inquiry.
• Action (related, 2022): in January 2022, Lasky submitted a bill to set up a state commission of inquiry into the submarines and naval vessels affair. Ice reported that she did so because not all ministers supported a government decision to set up such a commission ^{[29, 46]}. This shows a preference for the state-commission mechanism under existing law, but it concerns a different matter.
• Not found: no Meretz-specific statement or document on how the October 7 commission's members should be chosen was found. Searches covered Hebrew and English news, Meretz's website and the 2024 agreement.

Closest option(s): Tentative: a state commission whose members are chosen by the President of the Supreme Court under existing law (state-commission-under-existing-law). The mapping is tentative because it rests on indirect evidence: the joint list leader's statement and Lasky's 2022 use of the state-commission route for a different matter. No Meretz position on the October 7 inquiry itself was found.

• Formal commitment (2022 platform): Meretz supports "freedom of religion and freedom from religion". It says these "require separating religion from politics and religion from the state" ^[17]. It calls for:
  • marriage: civil marriage and divorce, including for same-sex couples, a state marriage registrar, and family courts with authority over all personal-status matters. Rabbinical and Sharia courts would hear such cases only if both sides agree ^[17];
  • conversion: freedom to choose Orthodox, Reform, Conservative or other conversion ^[17];
  • the Chief Rabbinate: it "will cease to exist as a state institution funded by the state", and religious councils will be abolished ^[17];
  • religious services: provided equally to all religions and all streams of Judaism according to their share of the population ^[17];
  • Shabbat: keeping Shabbat as the general day of rest, while running public transport on Shabbat, including intercity trains and buses, "taking into account the character of the local population" ^[17]. It also calls for allowing cultural and leisure activity on Shabbat and repealing the law against displaying leavened bread (hametz) in public on Passover ^[17];
  • women at the Western Wall: allowing women to pray at holy sites, including the Western Wall, on an equal basis ^[17].
• Formal commitment (coalition agreement, June 2021): Meretz's coalition agreement with Yesh Atid included a clause on promoting public transport on Shabbat. It also included a commitment to find a solution for the marital status of couples who cannot marry in Israel, "including same-sex couples, so that they are recognised as married" ^[24].
• Action (bills, 2022): Lasky initiated a Marriage and Divorce Bill and a bill to run public transport on the weekly day of rest; neither advanced beyond being tabled for a preliminary debate ^{[45, 46, 47, 48]}.
• Track record: Globes reported in November 2021 that Transport Minister Merav Michaeli's initiative to allow local Shabbat bus services lacked coalition consensus, and that Yamina could veto religion-and-state changes ^[37]. No law or government decision allowing Shabbat public transport, and no civil-marriage law, was found to have passed before the Knesset dissolved in June 2022 ^{[21, 22, 37, 45]}.

Closest option(s): Separate religion and state, with civil marriage and divorce, Shabbat transport and equal treatment of all streams (separate-religion-and-state).

• Formal commitment: the 2022 platform has a detailed chapter on LGBT rights. It includes:

  • equal recognition of same-sex partnerships and identical registration of parenthood for LGBT couples ^[17];
  • adoption rights in Israel and abroad ^[17];
  • amending the surrogacy law ^[17];
  • recognition of gender identity ^[17];
  • health-funding equality for transgender people ^[17];
  • educational content on LGBT history ^[17].

  Meretz's website also says it fights to end conversion therapy for LGBT people ^[16].

• Action (government): on taking office in June 2021, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) announced plans to remove the question that barred gay men who had had sex with men in the previous 12 months from donating blood ^[32]. The Times of Israel later reported that he had ruled all such restrictions would be lifted. In February 2022 he defended updated blood-donation forms that referred to "parent 1" and "parent 2" ^[33].

• Formal commitment (coalition agreement, 2021): see the clause on recognising same-sex couples as married, under Religion and state ^[24].

• Action (government):
  • On 1 December 2021, Health Minister Horowitz announced plans to ease Israel's abortion rules, calling the existing committee process "ridiculously outdated" and "chauvinistic" ^[34].
  • On 27 June 2022, the Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee approved his new regulations ^[35]. They allow early drug-induced abortions in clinics run by the health funds, remove intrusive questions, and end the requirement to appear in person before the committee ^[35].
• Formal commitment: the platform calls for criminal sanctions and civil compensation claims against excluding women from the public sphere, and for enforcing the ban on gender segregation on buses ^[17].

• Action (government): in November 2021, Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) introduced a tax on disposable plastic tableware. It raised the tax by NIS 11 per kilogram, which the ministry said would double consumer prices; it said purchases could fall by 40% ^[36]. In January 2023 the new finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, ordered the tax cancelled ^[39].
• Action (votes and bills): on 6 October 2021, all six Meretz MKs voted against a Climate Bill sponsored by Likud MK Gila Gamliel, which was defeated 47–55 ^{[21, 22, 46, 47]}. In 2022 Raz and Rozin were among the initiators of a Climate Bill ^[46]. On 28 June 2022, Meretz MKs Salalha, Rozin and Raz voted for a Climate Bill in a later vote, which passed 15–0 ^{[21, 22]}.
• Formal commitment: the platform calls for:
  • green taxation and incentives for cutting emissions ^[17];
  • expanding solar energy, including on the roofs of apartment buildings ^[17];
  • protecting open spaces, the coast and nature ^[17];
  • environmental-justice measures ^[17].

• Formal commitment: the 2022 platform calls for:
  • public transport "seven days a week, 24 hours a day", including intercity trains and buses ^[17];
  • at least 50 km of new public-transport lanes a year ^[17];
  • metropolitan transport authorities ^[17];
  • a government target for shifting travel from private cars to public transport ^[17].

• Formal commitment: the platform supports "full and supervised" legalisation of cannabis, including home growing, taxation and sale, and erasing criminal records for past personal use ^[17].
• Action (votes): on 13 October 2021, all six Meretz MKs voted for a bill regulating medical cannabis, sponsored by New Hope MK Sharren Haskel, which passed its preliminary reading 54–42 ^{[21, 22, 46, 47]}. On 22 June 2022, Lasky and Raz voted for a later version, Rozin was recorded as present without voting and Rinawie Zoabi voted against; it was defeated 20–29 ^{[21, 22]}.
• Action (bills): Lasky initiated several bills to change the treatment of cannabis under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, including one on possession for personal use ^{[45, 46]}.

• Formal commitment: the 2022 platform pledges to repeal Basic Law: Israel – the Nation State of the Jewish People (2018) ^[17]. It also pledges to:
  • restore Arabic as an official language ^[17];
  • recognise the Arab minority as a national minority with collective rights ^[17];
  • add Muslim, Christian and Druze holidays to the state calendar ^[17];
  • repeal the "Nakba Law", the "Boycott Law" and the "admissions committees law" ^[17].
• Formal commitment (2024 union agreement): "We will strive to repeal the Nation-State Law and anchor the principle of equality and social rights in basic legislation" ^[3].
• Action (bills, 2022): Lasky initiated a bill to repeal the Nation-State Law and a bill to make Arabic an official language; neither advanced beyond being tabled ^{[45, 46, 47, 48]}.

The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) restricts residency and citizenship for Palestinians from Judea and Samaria and Gaza who marry Israeli citizens.

• Change over time:

  • On 1 July 2021, the Times of Israel reported that Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz had told confidants that Meretz would not officially back extending the law ^[53]. This is a report of a private remark, not a public pledge, so the sequence is listed as a change over time. At the session of 5–6 July 2021, all six Meretz MKs voted for the government's request to extend the law. The motion was also declared a confidence vote and ended in a 59–59 tie, so the law expired ^{[21, 22, 52]}. The explanation on record is a compromise reached before the vote, which cut the extension to six months and gave residency visas to some 1,600 Palestinian families ^[52].
  • In 2022 a new version, a government bill, passed with the votes of coalition and right-wing opposition parties. On 7 February 2022, Meretz MKs voted against three private bills on the same subject at their preliminary readings, which passed 73–16, 73–32 and 74–17; at the government bill's first reading the same evening, which passed 44–5 with 43 MKs present but not voting, no Meretz MK was recorded as voting ^{[54, 55, 56, 57]}. On 10 March 2022, five Meretz MKs (Rozin, Salalha, Rinawie Zoabi, Lasky and Raz) voted against it at its final reading, where it passed 45–15 ^{[20, 21, 22, 45]}.
  • On 10 March 2022, Meretz's MKs also voted with the Joint List and Ra'am for all 39 reservations (proposed amendments) to the bill that were put to a vote. Six Meretz MKs voted for each of the first 27 and five for each of the last 12, and every reservation was defeated ^{[21, 22, 60, 61]}.
  • In 2022, five Meretz MKs (Raz, Salalha, Rinawie Zoabi, Lasky and Rozin) were among the initiators of a bill to repeal the law, which was not debated ^{[45, 46, 47, 48]}.

  Meretz's 2019 and 2022 platforms say Israel is also responsible for the rights of "Palestinians married to Israelis" ^{[17, 49]}.

• Action: Lasky co-initiated, with two Shas MKs, the Detainee and Prisoner Shackling (Duty to Inform) Law, and voted for it when the Knesset passed it on 31 May 2022. It requires police and prison guards to tell a judge when a shackled detainee or prisoner is in the courtroom. It was published on 1 June 2022 ^{[21, 22, 45, 46, 47]}.
• Action (votes and bills): Lasky initiated a bill requiring video documentation of police use of water-cannon vehicles, which was merged into a joint bill ^{[45, 46, 47, 48]}. Meretz MKs voted for the bill in May and July 2022 ^{[21, 22]}.
• Action: see Lasky's legal-aid network for arrested protesters ^[30].
• Statement: see her March 2026 op-ed calling for the police commissioner's dismissal ^[31].
• Formal commitment: the platform has a section on police violence and freedom of expression, and calls for abolishing the biometric database ^[17].

• Formal commitment: the 2022 platform calls for:
  • ending the policy of deporting and detaining asylum seekers ^[17];
  • a "fair and functioning" refugee-status process ^[17];
  • work permits until status is decided ^[17];
  • access to health and welfare services ^[17];
  • promoting the UN-brokered outline for resettling half of the asylum seekers in Western countries and giving humanitarian status to the rest ^[17].

• Formal commitment: the platform says the Equal Rights for People with Disabilities Law was passed at Meretz's initiative. It calls for:

  • applying that law to all ministries, including Education and Defence ^[17];
  • a rehabilitation law and a national rehabilitation authority ^[17];
  • raising the disability allowance to the level of the minimum wage ^[17];
  • subsidising public transport by 80% for people with disabilities, among other groups ^[17];
  • a Basic Law: Social Rights covering health, education, housing, employment, dignified subsistence, organising and striking ^[17].

  Meretz's website says it is at the forefront of the struggle to raise disability allowances ^[16].

• Contradiction: see the 1 December 2021 vote against an opposition bill to equalise the disability allowance with the minimum wage, under Cost of living; Meretz's 2021 platform, like its April 2019 platform, had pledged to raise the allowance to that level ^{[21, 22, 62, 49]}.

• Contradiction: Meretz's 2021 platform said that public-transport fares "will be subsidised" at a set rate "for senior citizens, children, students and people with disabilities" ^[62]; its April 2019 platform had called for the same ^[49]. On 15 June 2022, all six Meretz MKs voted against a private bill on public-transport discounts for people with disabilities, sponsored by Likud MK May Golan and other opposition MKs, which was defeated 47–52 at its preliminary reading ^{[21, 22, 45, 46, 47]}. It was an opposition bill: as in the 2021 votes, every coalition faction voted against and the opposition factions present voted in favour ^{[20, 21, 22]}. No statement by Meretz explaining these votes was found.

• Formal commitment: the platform calls for:

  • "a revolution in the labour market" to secure fair wages and job security ^[17];
  • ending indirect employment of workers in the civil service, including through contractors in the welfare and education ministries ^[17];
  • state guarantees for pension savings ^[17].

  The 2024 union agreement commits The Democrats to protecting workers' rights, strengthening enforcement of labour laws and strengthening workers' organisations ^[3].

• Formal commitment: the 2022 platform calls for:
  • moving all animal-protection powers to the Environmental Protection Ministry ^[17];
  • funding enforcement of the Animal Welfare Law ^[17];
  • a ban on the fur trade ^[17];
  • stricter criteria and outside representation on committees that approve animal experiments ^[17].

• Statement (Gaby Lasky, April 2022): the day after the 7 April 2022 shooting attack in Tel Aviv, Lasky was asked in a radio interview about Palestinian Authority payments to the families of attackers. Walla reported that she declined to condemn them. She said some children "are left without a livelihood", that to prevent them being exploited or turning to terror "the children need a livelihood", and that there should be no collective punishment of families, such as house demolitions or administrative detention ^[28]. Coalition partners criticised the remarks; Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar called them "grave, irresponsible and entirely contrary to the government's position" ^[28]. Hours later Lasky apologised: "my statement was out of place and did not for a moment justify the criminal terror". She said she unequivocally condemns the attack and that terror must be fought ^[28].
• Formal commitment: the 2022 platform calls for:
  • bringing protections for minors in the military court system into line with Israeli juvenile law ^[17];
  • ending the eviction of Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem ^[17];
  • offering Israeli citizenship to East Jerusalem residents who want it ^[17];
  • cancelling or tightly supervising arms exports to regimes that violate human rights ^[17].