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{{Infobox political party
| name = Democratic Movement for Change
| native_name = {{nobold|תנועה דמוקרטית לשינוי}}
| logo = Dash1977.png
| logo_size = 250
| colorcode = {{party color|Democratic Movement for Change}}|
| leader = [[Yigael Yadin]]
| founded = 2 November 1976
| dissolved = 14 September 1978
| merger = 
| split = 
| merged = 
| headquarters = 
| newspaper = 
| youth_wing = 
| membership_year = 
| membership = 
| ideology = [[Liberalism]]{{refn|<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://docplayer.net/120438069-Sil-si-o-translations-on-near-east-and-north-africa-no-t-9-u-s-joint-publications-research-service-sag.html|title=Translations on Near East and North Africa, No. 1635: Background to May 1977 Israeli General Elections (JPRS 68874)|publisher=[[United States Joint Publications Research Service]]|issue=68874|date=4 April 1977|pages=6–7|quote=This is a total contrast between the classic liberal concept of the Democratic Movement for Change (reduction of government interference in economic and social life) and the viewpoint of Dr Katz. ... The liberalism of the Democratic Movement for Change is according to the classic model of free competition, as formulated by Adam Smith in the 18th Century, and it is difficult to find ideology as remote from Israel Katz as the neo-liberalism embodied by the Democratic Movement for Change.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UiViDwAAQBAJ&q=independent+liberals|title=The Handbook of Israel's Political System|author=Itzhak Galnoor and Dana Blander|year=2018|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=335|isbn=9781108548151|quote=Figure 9.5 Map of the parties in the late 1970s – positions on the territories and socioeconomic ideology}}</ref>}}<br>[[Reformism]]<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6s2rogqCgMC&pg=PA270|title=Israel After Begin|first=Myron J.|last=Aronoff|chapter=Better Late Than Never|editor-first=Gregory S.|editor-last=Mahler|year=1990|page=270|isbn=9781438411699}}</ref><br>[[Zionism]]
| position = [[Centrism|Centre]]
| seats1_title = Most MKs
| seats1 = 15 (1977)
| symbol = {{Script/Hebrew|יש}}
| country = Israel
}}

The '''Democratic Movement for Change''' ({{Langx|he|תְּנוּעָה דֶּמוֹקְרָטִית לְשִׁינּוּי}}, ''Tnu'a Demokratit LeShinui''), commonly known by its [[Hebrew abbreviation]] '''Dash''' ({{Langx|he|ד״ש}}), was a short-lived and initially highly successful centrist [[political party in Israel]]. Formed in 1976 by numerous well-known non-politicians, it ceased to exist two years later.

==Background==
Dash was formed on 2 November 1976 by the merger of several liberal movements (including [[Shinui]]), together with numerous public figures, including [[Yigael Yadin]], [[Amnon Rubinstein]], [[Shmuel Tamir]], [[Meir Amit]], [[Meir Zorea]] and several other business leaders and academics, as well as some [[Israeli Arab]]s.

The party's formation was the result of a growing dissatisfaction with the mainstream parties, particularly the ruling [[Alignment (political party)|Alignment]], which, including its predecessors, had ruled Israel since independence in 1948. Starting with the [[Yom Kippur War]], the Alignment had been hit with numerous scandals during the mid-1970s, including:
*The suicide of Housing Minister, [[Avraham Ofer]], after a police investigation began into allegations he used party funds illegally.
*[[Asher Yadlin]], the governor-designate of the [[Bank of Israel]] was found guilty of accepting bribes and sentenced to five years in prison (the [[Yadlin affair]]).
*[[Leah Rabin]], wife of [[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]] [[Yitzhak Rabin]] was found to have an overseas bank account, illegal in Israel at the time (the [[Dollar Account affair]]).

Initially the party was called '''Democrats–Shinui''' (דֵּמוֹקְרָטִים־שִׁינּוּי, ''Demokratim–Shinui''), but was soon changed to the ''Democratic Movement for Change'' and, as with many parties in Israel, became popularly known by its acronym, ''Dash''. The new party caught the public's imagination, with over 37,000 people signing up as members within a few weeks of its foundation. It also pioneered the use of [[Partisan primary|primaries]] to choose its electoral list, something that was intended to show its democratic credentials and prevent cronyism. Previously in Israel, party lists had been decided upon by the parties' committees, but since the late 1970s, almost every party in Israel (with the exception of the [[Haredi]] ones, [[Shas]] and [[United Torah Judaism]]) has followed Dash's lead and adopted the primaries system.

[[File:Dash_acronym_logo.png|200px|thumb|right|Alternative party symbol]]
Dash did surprisingly well in its first electoral test, picking up 15 of the 120 seats in the [[Knesset]], the best performance by a third party since the [[1961 Israeli legislative election|1961 elections]]. This made it the third largest party after [[Menachem Begin]]'s [[Likud]] and the Alignment, which had shrunk from 51 to 32 seats. However, Begin was still able to form a narrow 61-seat right-wing coalition with [[Shlomtzion (political party)|Shlomtzion]] ([[Ariel Sharon]]'s party), the [[National Religious Party]] and [[Agudat Israel]].

Much of Dash's success came at the expense of the Labor Party, with which it competed for the votes of mainly Ashkenazi higher-income and better-educated citizens.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7VBoVr089GwC&pg=PA1|title=The Land Beyond Promise|author=Colin Shindler|page=1|year=2002|isbn=9781860647741}}</ref> This had the effect of guaranteeing [[Likud]]'s first victory.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Oko_CcbdXgC&pg=PA220|title=Israel: An Introduction|last=Rubin|first=Barry|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2012|page=220|isbn=978-0300162301}}</ref>

The party was invited into the coalition in November 1977, five months after the Knesset term had started. The party picked up several ministerial portfolios - [[Meir Amit]] was made [[Transportation Minister of Israel|Minister of Transportation]] and Minister of Communications, [[Shmuel Tamir]] became [[Minister of Justice]] and Yadin was named as Deputy Prime Minister.

However, the fact that the party did not control the balance of power led to internal disagreements over its role. The party began to disintegrate, finally splitting in three on 14 September 1978, with seven MKs breaking away to reform [[Shinui]], another seven founding the [[Democratic Movement (Israel)|Democratic Movement]] and [[Assaf Yaguri]] creating [[Ya'ad (political party)|Ya'ad]]. Shinui (including Amit) and Ya'ad left the coalition, whilst the Democratic Movement, which included Tamir and Yadin, remained in the government.

Nonetheless, even the new parties were not stable, with the Democratic Movement also crumbling. In 1980, three of its seven members left to found [[Ahva (political party)|Ahva]] and [[Mordechai Elgrably]] quit the party to sit as an independent (he later joined ''Equality in Israel – Panthers'' to create the [[Unity Party (Israel)|Unity Party]]). Four months before the 1981 elections the party folded, with Tamir, Yadin, and [[Binyamin Halevi]] sitting as independents for the rest of the Knesset term. Tamir lost his ministerial position in 1980, though Yadin remained Deputy PM. Ahva also followed the breakup pattern, losing two of its three MKs before the Knesset term ended.

Further changes occurred when two Shinui MKs defected to the Alignment and two of the three Ahva MKs left the party.

==Aftermath==
The only long-lasting faction of the collapse was [[Shinui]], which won seats in the [[1981 Israeli legislative election|1981 elections]], the only party emerging from Dash to do so. It merged with [[Mapam]] and [[Ratz (political party)|Ratz]] to form [[Meretz-Yachad|Meretz]] in 1992, before breaking away again under [[Avraham Poraz]] in the mid-1990s during the [[1996 Israeli legislative election|14th Knesset]].

Shinui met a similar fate to its predecessor. In the [[2003 Israeli legislative election|2003 elections]] it won 15 seats, making it the third-largest party after [[Likud]] and [[Labor (Israel)|Labour]]. The party joined Ariel Sharon's coalition, but left in late 2005 after disagreements over the budget. Before the [[2006 Israeli legislative election|2006 elections]] it split into three after most of its MKs were defeated in internal party elections, and none of them won a seat in the elections. Shinui was subsequently succeeded as the main centrist party by [[Kadima]] and later [[Yesh Atid]], led by [[Tommy Lapid]]'s son [[Yair Lapid|Yair]].

==Leaders==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! colspan="3" |Leader
! Took office
! Left office
|-
| style="background: #253EFE; color: white" |
|[[File:Yigael Yadin 1960.jpg|alt=|93x93px]]
| [[Yigael Yadin]]
| 1976
| 1978
|-
|}

==Election results==
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
!Election
!Votes
!%
!Seats
!+/–
!Leader
!Status
|-
|[[1977 Israeli legislative election|1977]]
|202,265 (#3)
|11.6
|{{Composition bar|15|120|hex={{party color|Democratic Movement for Change}}}}
|New party
|[[Yigael Yadin]]
|{{yes|Government}}
|}

==Knesset members==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!Knesset<br />(MKs)
!Knesset Members
|-
|[[1977 Israeli legislative election|9th]]<br />(15)
|style="text-align:left"|[[Meir Amit]], [[Shafik Asaad]], [[Zeidan Atashi]], [[Mordechai Elgrably]], [[David Golomb]], [[Binyamin Halevi]], [[Akiva Nof]], [[Amnon Rubinstein]], [[Shmuel Tamir]], [[Shmuel Toledano]], [[Mordechai Virshubski]], [[Stef Wertheimer]], [[Yigael Yadin]], [[Assaf Yaguri]], [[Meir Zorea]] (replaced by [[Shlomo Eliyahu]])
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.knesset.gov.il/faction/eng/FactionPage_eng.asp?PG=47 Democratic Movement for Change (DMC)] Knesset website

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

[[Category:Defunct political parties in Israel]]
[[Category:Defunct liberal political parties]]
[[Category:Liberal parties in Israel]]
[[Category:Centrist parties in Israel]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1976]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1978]]
[[Category:1976 establishments in Israel]]
[[Category:1978 disestablishments in Israel]]