[6][7] In 1965, Aloni was elected to the Knesset on the list of the Alignment, an alliance of Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda, and subsequently founded the Israel Consumers Council, which she chaired for four years.

The party advocated electoral reform, separation of religion and state and human rights and won three seats in the 1973 Knesset elections.

Ratz briefly became Ya'ad – Civil Rights Movement when independent MK Aryeh Eliav joined the party, but returned to its original status soon after.

[citation needed] Throughout the 1970s Aloni attempted to initiate an ongoing dialogue with Palestinians in hopes of achieving a lasting peace settlement.

In 1992, she led Ratz into an alliance with Shinui and Mapam to form the new Meretz party,[8] which won 12 seats under her leadership in the elections that year.

Aloni became Minister of Education under Yitzhak Rabin but was forced to resign after a year due to her outspoken statements on matters of religion.

In a 2002 interview on Democracy Now!, American journalist Amy Goodman asked Aloni, "Often when there is dissent expressed in the United States against policies of the Israeli government, people here are called anti-Semitic.

"[12] Aloni was a board member of Yesh Din, an organisation founded in 2005 which focuses on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.

[19] Additional prize recipients include Ayat Abou Shmeiss for Arabic Culture, and Achinoam Nini for Lifetime Achievement.