Editing General Zionists

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{{use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Infobox political party
| colorcode     = {{party color|General Zionists}}
| name          = General Zionists
| native_name   = {{Script/Hebrew|ציונים כלליים}}
| logo          = General Zionists.svg
| logo_size     = 100px
| leader        = {{ubli|[[Meir Dizengoff]]|[[Israel Rokach]]|[[Peretz Bernstein]]|[[Yosef Sapir]]|[[Shoshana Persitz]]}}
| founder       = Yehoshua Sofersky
| founded       = 1922
| dissolved     = 8 May 1961
| merged        = [[Liberal Party (Israel)|Liberal Party]]
| headquarters  = [[Tel Aviv]], Israel
| newspaper     = ''[[HaBoker]]''
| ideology      = {{ubli|[[Zionism]]|[[Liberalism]]|[[Classical liberalism]]|[[Economic liberalism]]}}
| position      = {{ubli|Pre-1948: [[Centrism|Centre]]|1948–1961: [[Centre-right politics|Centre-right]]<ref name="EngermanEngerman2004">{{cite book|first=Jacob|last=Metzer|chapter=Jewish land – Israel lands|editor1-first=John H. |editor1-last=Munro|editor2-first=Stanley |editor2-last=Engerman|editor3-first=Jacob |editor3-last=Metzer|editor3-link=Jacob Metzer|title=Land Rights, Ethno-nationality and Sovereignty in History|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iEn6wGv1PbcC&pg=PA101|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-35746-8|page=101}}</ref>}}
| international = 
| seats1_title  = Most MKs
| seats1        = {{nowrap|23 (1951)}}
| seats2_title  = 
| seats2        = 
| colors        = 
| symbol        = [[file:TZADIK_Hebrew_Letter.png|20px]]
| country       = Israel
}}

The '''General Zionists''' ({{langx|he|הַצִיּוֹנִים הַכְּלָלִיים|translit=HaTzionim HaKlaliym}}) were a centrist [[Zionist]] movement and a [[political party in Israel]]. The General Zionists supported the leadership of [[Chaim Weizmann]] and their views were largely colored by central European culture.<ref name="Sofer p272">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=svvM3MxwtloC&q=general+zionists+aleph&pg=PA272 |title=Zionism and the Foundations of Israeli Diplomacy |first=Sasson |last=Sofer |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |page=272 |isbn= 9780521038270 |access-date=21 June 2015}}</ref> The party was considered to have both [[conservatism|conservative]] and [[liberalism|liberal]] wings,<ref name="Sternhell1998">{{cite book|first=Zeev |last=Sternhell|title=The Founding Myths of Israel: Nationalism, Socialism, and the Making of the Jewish State|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-1-400-82236-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LwBtJ1U5vc0C&pg=PA241|page=241}}</ref><ref name=“Kruk2002”>{{cite book|first=Herman |last=Kruk|title=The Last Days of the Jerusalem of Lithuania: Chronicles from the Vilna Ghetto and the Camps, 1939–1944|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2002|isbn= 978-0-300-04494-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vqeMLSlqkU8C&pg=PR36|page=XXXVI}}</ref><ref name=“Shindler2015”>{{cite book|first=Colin|last=Shindler|title=The Rise of the Israeli Right|publisher= Cambridge University Press|year=2015|isbn= 978-0-521-19378-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vjAZCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA262|page=262}}</ref> and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day [[Likud]].

== History ==
The term "General Zionism" initially referred to the beliefs of the majority of members of the [[World Zionist Organization|Zionist Organization]] (ZO) who had not joined a specific [[Political faction|faction]] or party and belonged to their countrywide Zionist organizations only.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/General_Zionism.html |title=General Zionism |encyclopedia=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=21 June 2015}}</ref> The term was first used at the 1907 [[Zionist Congress]] to describe the delegates who were affiliated with neither [[Labor Zionism]] nor [[religious Zionism]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ty0uAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT362|title=A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Middle East|first=Dilip|last=Hiro|publisher=[[Interlink Publishing]]|year=2013|pages=361–62|isbn=9781623710330 }}</ref>

In 1922, various non-aligned groups and individuals established the Organization of General Zionists as a non-ideological party within the Zionist Organization (later the World Zionist Organization) at a time when the Zionist movement was becoming polarized between [[Labour Zionism|Labour Zionists]] and [[Revisionist Zionism]]. Eventually the General Zionists became identified with European [[liberalism|liberal]] and [[middle class]] beliefs in [[private property]] and [[capitalism]].

In 1929, the General Zionists established a world organization, holding their first conference in 1931. At this conference, rifts opened up between the conservative right wing and those who held more moderate views.<ref name="Sofer p272"/> They were divided over social issues, economics and [[labour (economics)|labour]] issues (e.g. the [[Histadrut]]). The "General Zionists A" favored the economic policies of Labour Zionism and were supportive of [[Chaim Weizmann]]'s compromising approach to relations with the British. The "General Zionists B" were skeptical of socialism and more outspoken against British policy in Palestine.<ref name=Medoff>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYW0AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 |title=Historical Dictionary of Zionism |first1=Rafael |last1=Medoff |first2=Chaim I. |last2=Waxman |publisher=Routledge |date=2013 |page=62 |isbn=9781135966423 |access-date=21 June 2015}}</ref>

After the independence of the State of Israel, the gap between the two groups widened. The General Zionists A helped form the [[Progressive Party (Israel)|Progressive Party]], which won five seats in 1949 Knesset elections and entered the Mapai-led governing coalition. The General Zionists B, running as the General Zionists, won seven seats and chose to remain in the opposition.<ref name=Medoff/> In the years following the establishment of the state of [[Israel]] in 1948, the General Zionists moved towards the right in opposition to the hegemony of [[Mapai]] and other Labour Zionist movements in Israeli politics.

The General Zionist party supported private enterprise, the suspension of state support to collective institutions, and the termination of the [[Histadrut]]'s control of the economy. However, it favored leaving the Histadrut with state control over several aspects of economy and welfare. It also supported a unified system of education (as it contributed to the passage of the 1953 State Education Law) and a written constitution to enshrine democratic freedom and civil rights. It was [[secularist]], though not as vocally so as the Progressive Party.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofcompro0000birn |url-access=registration |title=The Politics of Compromise: State and Religion in Israel |first=Ervin |last=Birnbaum |year= 1970 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |isbn=08386-7567-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/politicsofcompro0000birn/page/64 64] |access-date=21 June 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Peretz Bernstein.jpg|thumb|Peretz Bernstein]]
In 1936 the General Zionists established a daily newspaper, {{lang|he-Latn|[[HaBoker]]}}, which was edited for the first ten years of its existence by [[Peretz Bernstein]]. It ceased publication in 1965.

==Political activity in Israel==
[[File:General Zionists.png|thumb|Another logo of the party]]
[[File:Tel Aviv-Yafo (997008136330405171).jpg|thumb|General Zionists party convention in 1949]]
The General Zionists entered the [[1949 Israeli legislative election|elections for the first Knesset]] in 1949. They won 5.2% of the vote and seven seats, and were not included in either of [[David Ben-Gurion]]'s coalition governments.

The [[1951 Israeli legislative election|1951 elections]] were a huge success, with the party winning 20 seats, making it the second largest in the [[Knesset]]. The party was enlarged soon after the elections when the [[Sephardim and Oriental Communities]] party and the [[Yemenite Association]] merged into it (though the one Yemenite Association MK left the party again before the end of the session). Although it was not included in the coalition for the third government, it was brought into the fourth government after Ben-Gurion had sacked the [[Haredi Judaism|Ultra-orthodox]] parties, [[Agudat Yisrael]] and [[Poalei Agudat Yisrael]], over the [[religious education]] dispute that had brought down the previous government. It was also included in [[Moshe Sharett]]'s fifth government, but not the sixth.

In the [[1955 Israeli legislative election|1955 elections]] the party slumped to 13 seats, and were not included in either of the third Knesset's coalition governments.

A further slump to eight seats in the [[1959 Israeli legislative election|1959 elections]] and exclusion from the coalition made the party rethink its strategy. Eventually the party decided to merge with the 6-seat [[Progressive Party (Israel)|Progressive Party]] to form the [[Liberal Party (Israel)|Liberal Party]]. Nevertheless, the party helped bring down the government in 1961 when it and [[Herut]] tabled a [[Motion of no-confidence|motion of no confidence]] in the government over the [[Lavon Affair]].

In the [[1961 Israeli legislative election|1961 elections]] the new [[Liberal Party (Israel)|Israel Liberal Party]] won 17 seats, making it the third largest in the Knesset. During the session, ten MKs (mostly former General Zionists) merged with the [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]] [[Herut]] to form [[Gahal]] while the other seven (most from the Progressive Party) set up the [[Independent Liberals (Israel)|Independent Liberals]]. Gahal later became [[Likud]].

==Leaders==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! colspan="3" |Leader
! Took office
! Left office
|-
| style="background: {{party color|General Zionists}}; color: white" | '''1'''
|[[File:Peretz Bernstein.jpg|alt=|93x93px]]
| [[Peretz Bernstein]]
| 1949
| 1961
|-
| style="background: {{party color|General Zionists}}; color: white" | '''2'''
|[[File:Israel Rokach 1950.jpg|alt=|93x93px]]
| [[Israel Rokach]]
| 1949
| 1955
|-
| style="background: {{party color|General Zionists}}; color: white" | '''3'''
|[[File:Yosef Sapir 1946 D841-096.jpg|alt=|99x99px]]
| [[Yosef Sapir]] 
| 1955
| 1961
|-
|}

==Election results==

===Assembly of Representatives elections===
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
!Election
!Leader
!Votes
!%
!Place
!Seats won
!+/−
|-
|[[1931 Assembly of Representatives election|1931]]
|rowspan=2|[[Peretz Bernstein]]
|2,841
|5.74
|4th
|{{Composition bar|5|71|hex={{party color|General Zionists}}}}
|new
|-
|[[1944 Assembly of Representatives election|1944]]
|4,704
|2.37
|7th
|{{Composition bar|4|173|hex={{party color|General Zionists}}}}
|
|-
|}

===Knesset elections===
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
!Election
!Leader
!Votes
!%
!Place
!Seats won
!+/−
|-
|[[1949 Israeli legislative election|1949]]
|rowspan=3|[[Peretz Bernstein]]<br>[[Israel Rokach]]
|22,661
|5.2
|5th
|{{Composition bar|7|120|hex={{party color|General Zionists}}}}
|
|-
|[[1951 Israeli legislative election|1951]]
|111,394
|16.2
|2nd
|{{Composition bar|20|120|hex={{party color|General Zionists}}}}
|{{increase}} 13
|-
|[[1955 Israeli legislative election|1955]]
|87,099
|10.2
|3rd
|{{Composition bar|13|120|hex={{party color|General Zionists}}}}
|{{decrease}} 7
|-
|[[1959 Israeli legislative election|1959]]
|rowspan=2|[[Peretz Bernstein]]<br>[[Yosef Sapir]]
|59,700
|6.2
|5th
|{{Composition bar|8|120|hex={{party color|General Zionists}}}}
|{{decrease}} 5
|-
|[[1961 Israeli legislative election|1961]]
|colspan=3|''Part of the [[Israeli Liberal Party|Liberal Party]]''
|{{Composition bar|7|120|hex={{party color|General Zionists}}}}
|{{decrease}} 1
|}

==See also==
*[[Liberalism in Israel]]
*[[Liberal Zionism]]
*[[Likud]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.knesset.gov.il/faction/eng/FactionPage_eng.asp?PG=81 General Zionists] Knesset website

{{Israeli political parties}}
{{Zionism}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:General Zionism]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Israel]]
[[Category:Political parties in Mandatory Palestine]]
[[Category:Liberal parties in Israel]]
[[Category:Zionist political parties in Israel]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1922]]
[[Category:1922 establishments in Mandatory Palestine]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1961]]
[[Category:1961 disestablishments in Israel]]