Hadash

Foundation and original program

Hadash was formally established on 7 March 1977 in Tel Aviv, following a resolution by the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of Israel (Rakah) held in December 1976, 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. The coalition adopted the Hebrew letter "Vav" (ו) as its electoral sign.

The founding member organizations and adhering groups included:

• 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)
• 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.
• A circle of academics, including Daniel Amit and other public figures.

The coalition was organized under a central directing board representing all component parts to manage the election campaign and ensure ongoing cooperation. The founding declaration established a "minimum program" consisting of six core principles:

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. 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.
• Tandi (Movement of Democratic Women in Israel), an affiliated socialist feminist organization.
• The Druze Initiative Committee, a leftist Druze organization, opposed the conscription of Druze into the Israel Defense Force and actively assists conscientious objectors.
• Independent non-partisan Jewish and Arab public figures, academics, activists and municipal leaders who run on the Hadash list, or support its aims, but are not formal card-carrying members of the Communist Party.

From 2008 to 2017, the joint Arab-Jewish social movement Tarabut Hithabrut operated as a faction within Hadash. The organization aimed to bridge the divide in Israeli oppositional politics by connecting campaigns against the occupation with domestic struggles for social justice and equality.

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

Electoral history

In its first electoral test in 1977, Hadash won five seats, an increase of one from Rakah's four. But in the next elections in 1981 the party was reduced to four seats.

Hadash's 'monopoly' as the only Arab-focused party was ended by the formation of the Progressive List for Peace in 1984. The two parties had a bitter rivalry. Hadash called for voters to 'eliminate' the Progressives. The Progressives claimed that the actions of Hadash were akin to 'fascism, Nazism, and the Gush Emunim'. Hadash accused the Progressives of being set up on the command of the PLO, as well as being CIA agents. Hadash quoted members of the Progressives as to why they refused to sign a surplus-vote agreement with them. Uri Avnery said that "the Progressive List was formed to rescue the Arabs from the Rakah prison”.

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.

In the 1996 elections the party ran a joint list with Balad. Together they won five seats, but split during the Knesset term, 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.

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

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.

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

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.

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. 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.

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.

For the 2026 elections, Hadash agreed to run on a joint slate with Ta'al and Balad, reviving the Joint List after the parties reached an agreement in August 2026, which is pending approval by their respective parties. Under the agreement, Yousef Jabareen will be placed first on the list, followed by Ahmad Tibi of Ta'al and Sami Abou Shehadeh of Balad.

Hadash is a left-wing party that has supported a socialist economy and workers' rights. It emphasizes Jewish-Arab cooperation, and its leaders were among the first to support a two-state solution. Its voters are principally middle-class and secular Arabs, many from the north and Christian communities. It also drew 6,000-10,000 far-left Jewish voters during national elections in the 2010s.

The party supports evacuation of all Israeli settlements, a complete withdrawal by Israel from all territories occupied as a result of the Six-Day War, and the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It also supports the right of return or compensation for Palestinian refugees. In addition to issues of peace and security, Hadash is known for being active on social and environmental issues. In keeping with socialist ideals, Hadash's environmental platform, led in the 2010s by Maki official Dov Khenin, calls for the nationalization of Israel's gas, mineral, and oil reserves.

Hadash has called for the recognition of Palestinian Arabs as a national minority within Israel. It has in recent times included elements of Arab nationalism in its platform.

Hadash shifted to a more Arab nationalist appeal after running on a joint list with Ta'al in 2003.

In 2015, Hadash declared its support for international campaigns against companies operating in the occupied Palestinian territories.

On 1 November 2009, then party leader Mohammad Barakeh was indicted on four counts for events that occurred between April 2005 and July 2007: assault and interfering with a policeman in the line of duty, assault on a photographer, insulting a public servant, and attacking an official who was discharging his legal duty. The charges related to his role in a protest against Israeli government policy, and were considered controversial mainly by those who opposed such protests.

Hadash’s leadership structure includes both a chairperson, who serves as the coalition’s political head, and a secretary-general, who is responsible for organizational and operational leadership.

Chairpersons

Secretaries-general