Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter Five
Israel is defined in its laws as a Jewish and democratic state. It has a parliamentary system
in which the executive is subject to the legislature and the judiciary is independent. The
parliamentary, judicial, and electoral systems are adapted from the British model in place
before the state was established. As in other democracies, members of the legislature are freely
elected, and citizens live under the rule of law and enjoy many freedoms. As in the United
Kingdom, Israel has no written constitution. Instead, the political structure and fundamen-
tal rights are set out in a series of Basic Laws that are interpreted by the judiciary. Unlike the
United States, Israel has no clear separation of religion and state.
The head of state is the president, elected by the Knesset, but the president's role is mainly
symbolic and ceremonial. The national legislative body, the Knesset, is composed of 120 mem-
bers elected on party lists, rather than individually, and all chosen on a national level, not as
representatives of local districts. The prime minister heads the government. Given the large
number of political parties in Israel, the government has always been a coalition, and the
prime minister is the head of the party with the most seats in the Knesset or the leader of a
party who, in the president's judgment, has the best chance to form a majority coalition. The
prime minister forms a cabinet composed of ministers who come from the coalition parties
and who are almost always also Knesset members.
Every government in Israel has been based on multiparty coalitions because both the num-
ber of political parties and the highly proportional election regulations favor coalition build-
ing. The system was deliberately designed to allow for maximum pluralism among communi-
ties. No party has come close to gaining a majority in its own right.
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH: THE KNESSET
The Knesset, Israel's legislative body, is similar to European parliaments. Its name — taken
from the Knesset Hagedola (Great Assembly), the representative body of ancient Israel—
harks back to Israel's Jewish and democratic roots. Like its predecessor, the Knesset has 120
members.
The modern Knesset was established in 1949, replacing the temporary Representative
Council created at the time of Israel's independence. There was an attempt to prepare a consti-
