Fourth Quarter movement moves toward forming a new centrist party

The Fourth Quarter movement announced on Sunday evening that it is advancing toward creating a new political party, at a gathering of about 1,000 core activists at Expo Tel Aviv. The group’s chair, Dr. Yoav Heller, said the movement is entering the political arena alongside its civic פעילות and is aiming to bring “a new spirit” to Israeli politics.

Heller said the group wants to build “a broad Zionist government” and advance sweeping reforms in the justice system, education, public service and governance. He argued that Israel’s prolonged political crisis demands change, saying too many Israelis have come to accept polarization and politics that refuses cross-bloc alliances.

“We simply stopped imagining,” he said, adding that the country needs immediate change because the political system remains divided into two hostile camps, with non-Zionist forces acting as kingmakers and a system that fails to give citizens hope.

In recent months, the movement has been holding talks with political figures including Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel to assess its next steps in electoral politics. Even so, entering the Knesset remains a major challenge: a weekend Channel 13 poll gave the movement just 0.5 percent of the vote, far below the electoral threshold.