What is "shinui"

Shinui (, lit. Change) is a Zionist, secular and anti-clerical free market liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a split and collapse; in 1977 the party won 15 seats as part of the Democratic Movement for Change, but the alliance split in 1978 and Shinui was reduced to two seats at the next elections. In 2003 the party won 15 seats alone, but lost them all three years later after most of its MKs left to form new parties. The party was a member of Liberal International until 2009.

Though it had been the standard-bearer of liberal economic policy and secular values in Israel for 30 years, the formation of Kadima robbed Shinui of its natural constituency, and in January 2006 the party split into small factions, none of which managed to overcome the 2% threshold needed to enter the Knesset.