Dor (political party)

{{About|the Israeli political party|the defunct Spanish political party established by convicted fraudster Jesús Gil|Liberal Independent Group}}

{{Infobox political party

|name = Dor

|native_name = {{Script/Hebrew|דור}}

|leader = Efraim Lapid
Rafi Eitan
Nava Arad

|founded = 1990s

|headquarters = Tel Aviv

|ideology = Pensioners' interests

|colorcode = {{party color|Dor (political party)}}

|seats1_title = Most MKs

|seats1 = 7 (2006–2008)

|seats2_title = Fewest MKs

|seats2 = 4 (2008)

|seats3_title = Current MKs

|seats3 = 0

|symbol = {{Script/Hebrew|זך}}

|website = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20090219074619/http://www.gimlaim.org.il/|gimlaim.org.il}}

|country = Israel

|position = Center

}}Image:rafi eitan big.jpg, former party leader]]

Dor ({{langx|he|דור בונה הארץ||Generation who Built the Land}}), known as Gil ({{lit|Age}}, an abbreviation of Gimla'ey Yisrael LaKnesset (Hebrew: גימלאי ישראל לכנסת), {{lit|Pensioners of Israel to the Knesset}}) until 2012,{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315065642/http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/410/725.html|title=הגמלאים שבים: "ציבור שלם נותר ללא מענה"|website=NRG|date=23 October 2012}} is a centrist political party in Israel and was part of the governing coalition in the seventeenth Knesset. In the 2009 elections, Gil did not receive sufficient votes for representation in the Knesset. In preparation for the 2013 elections, the party was renamed Dor.

Background

The party has been in existence in some form since the 1990s. It ran in the 1996 elections under the name Pensioners of Israel ({{langx|he|גימלאי ישראל}}, Gimla'ey Israel), led by former Labor MK Nava Arad and including modern-day Gil MK Moshe Sharoni on its list. However, the party failed to cross the electoral threshold and did not win a seat. It did not contest the 1999 or January 2003 elections, though an unrelated party, Power for Pensioners did run in the 1999 elections, failing to win a seat. Later in 2003, Power for Pensioners won a surprise victory in the municipal elections in Tel Aviv, defeating the party of mayor Ron Huldai.{{cite news |author=Avirama Golan |date=30 March 2006 |title=The Pensioners Party / Compassion Inc. |newspaper=Haaretz |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/the-pensioners-party-compassion-inc-1.184183 |access-date=23 June 2015}}

The party announced that it would compete in the 2006 elections, and although opinion polls suggested that it might break the 2% threshold, it was not considered a serious contender for a significant number of seats. However, the party was the surprise package of the elections, and managed to win almost 186,000 votes and seven seats.

Much of the party's support came in the way of a protest vote among the young, particularly in Tel Aviv where nearly one in ten voters voted for the party. The party had actually encouraged voters to vote for their party rather than submit a blank ballot.{{cite news |url=http://www.economist.com/node/6754231 |title=Kadima's indecisive victory |newspaper=The Economist |date=30 March 2006 |access-date=23 June 2015}} Elderly Ashkenazi voters switching from the Labor after Amir Peretz's victory in the leadership contest may also have been a factor. The party was later fined 62,000 shekels for violating campaign financing laws.{{cite news |author=Zvi Zrahiya |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/819476.html |title=Pensioners Party fined for illegal campaign contributions |newspaper=Haaretz |date=30 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001043717/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/819476.html |archive-date=1 October 2007}}

As a result of the coalition talks with Kadima, Gil agreed to become a division of the Kadima party in return for the Health ministry and the newly created Ministry of Pensioners Affairs. Party leader Rafi Eitan became Minister of Pensioners Affairs, and Yaakov Ben-Yezri became Health Minister. Ben-Yezri, a confessed smoker, later caused controversy when he lit up during a television interview.{{cite news |author=Judy Siegel-Itzkovich |title=Pack-a-day health minister puffs on idea to quit smoking |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |date=18 May 2006 |url=http://www.jpost.com/Health-and-Sci-Tech/Health/Pack-a-day-health-minister-puffs-on-idea-to-quit-smoking |access-date=23 June 2015}}

On 2 July 2008 three MKs (Moshe Sharoni, Elhanan Glazer and Sarah Marom-Shalev) left the party to establish the Justice for the Elderly faction.[https://www.knesset.gov.il/faction/eng/FactionHistoryAll_eng.asp Mergers and Splits Among Parliamentary Groups] Knesset website The new faction merged back into Gil on 27 October 2008, though Elhanan Glazer established another new faction, The Right Way instead of rejoining Gil.

In the 2009 election, as Gil, the party received 17,571 votes (0.52%) losing all of its seats in the Knesset. The party ran as Dor in the 2013 election and fell to 5,975 votes (0.16%).