Government and Law

Government

The President occupies the highest office in the land and is elected for a seven-year term by the Knesset. It is his duty to give one member of Knesset, normally but not always the leader of the largest party, the responsibility to form a government. Bestowed the power to grant pardons and charged with assenting to legislation, the President appoints officials and judges in addition to his ceremonial roles.

The executive comprises a cabinet, formed mostly of members of Knesset and headed by the Prime Minister. Whilst this body governs, it is the Knesset which writes laws and its many committees are instrumental in forming legislation and both supporting and opposing the government’s agenda. All ministers are accountable to the Knesset for the departments which they head, in which they may be supported by a deputy minister.

Given that no party has ever won a parliamentary majority, Israel has always been governed by coalitions, which means that ministers are invariably drawn from different parties with often quite different ideologies.

The Knesset is elected by universal suffrage for four-year terms but may, as it has on many occasions in the past, be shortened by the resignation, impeachment, incapacitation or death of the Prime Minister, or by a vote of no-confidence from the Knesset.

Law

Israel is different from all other democratic states, apart from the UK and New Zealand, insofar as it does not have a written constitution. Instead, Israeli society is governed by a series of Basic Laws, which the courts hold to be superior over ordinary legislation. These cover a wide variety of topics, ranging from the organisation of government, to the duties of the army and chapters guaranteeing the civil rights of Israeli citizens, upholding individual freedoms and the sanctity of life.

The legal system is thus a remarkable hybrid that includes vestiges of Ottoman law, which was in force until 1917, British Mandate laws, which incorporates a large body of the English Common Law, elements of Jewish religious law, as well as the Knesset’s regular statutory law. Although Israeli law holds that all laws prevailing before statehood stand unless contradictory to the Declaration of Independence or subsequent acts, the system is mostly defined by the huge corpus of laws passed by the Knesset, as well as case law evolving from Supreme Court rulings. The Supreme Court acts as the High Court of Justice, and in hearing petitions from individuals against government bodies, it fiercely upholds citizens’ civil liberties, including freedoms of speech, assembly and religion.