Adopt-a-Country: Unit Three: Power

The Type of Government

Israel is a democratic republic with universal suffrage that operates under a parliamentary system. This means that the people of Israel have the right to vote freely for the party that they choose. There are three branches of government in Israel: legislative, executive and judicial. There is no definite distinction between the legislative and executive branches of government, since the executive branch depends on the support of the legislative branch. Israel also has both a Prime Minister and a President, each of which has a different job.

Israel’s rules and regulations come from their set of Basic Laws. There are eleven of them, and they lay down the order and structure of how the Israeli government functions.

Leaders

Israel’s current President is Dalia Itzik, who is the acting President after Moshe Katsav was suspended from office. The current Prime Minister is Ehud Olmert, who is the acting Prime Minister after Ariel Sharon fell into a coma, in which he still remains.

The President is the Head of State in Israel. The President works in the highest office and is not part of the three branches of government. The Prime Minister is the leader of the government. He chooses the ministers in the government, like the Minister of Finance.

The Knesset

The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, is comprised of 120 members, who are elected in four-year terms through proportional representation, as stated by the 1958 Basic Law: The Knesset. The Knesset is Israel’s legislative branch of government, so it makes laws, supervises government activities, and it also can elect or remove the President of State from office. The Knesset operates in sessions where all members are present in their committees in which they belong. Another thing the Knesset can do is call a motion of confidence, to counter a motion of non-confidence, made by the opposing parties.


The results of the March 2006 election show five major political parties: Kadima, Labor, Shas, Lukud and Israel Beytenu. These five parties each have more than ten seats in the Knesset. There has only been one Knesset where one party held the 61 seats needed to have a majority, in the 1969 election, since the first Knesset in 1948. At other times, parties join together to create the needed majority. After the last election, there are twelve different political parties in the Knesset.

Committees Within the Knesset

The Knesset’s committees deal with bills, supervises the work of the Government Ministries, and they hold debates on issues that are related to the committees. Committees maintain direct contact with the Government Ministries, and the public. The committees receive information from Ministers or their representatives as to what the public wants.

The Knesset has 15 committees:
• The House Committee
• The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
• The Economic Affairs Committee
• The Finance Committee
• The Internal Affairs and Environment Committee
• The Education and Culture Committee
• The Labor, Social Welfare and Health Committee
• The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee
• The Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee
• The State Control Committee
• The Anti-Drug Abuse Committee
• The Committee on the Status of Women
• The Committee on Science and Technology
• The Committee on the Status of the Child
• The Committee on Foreign Workers

How They Acquire Power - The Electoral System

Israel’s leaders gain power through democratic elections. The elections are general, equal, and secret. Elections are held at least once every four years on the national level (the Knesset), and at least once every five years on the municipal level. These governments may call an election before the end of their term if they choose. Israel has a system of equal representation, so every area in the country is treated the same, and the whole country is considered to be a single constituency.
Voters do not vote for a person, in particular, but rather a party list. After the election, if a party won a seat in the Knesset, the first people on the party’s list get those seats. For example, if a party won ten seats, the first ten people on the list would be members of the Knesset. Every citizen of Israel over the age of 18 has the right to vote, but voting is optional. After tallying the ballots, a party receives one seat in the Knesset for every one in 120 votes, but they must have at least two percent of the total votes to claim their first seat.

After the elections, the President chooses a member of the Knesset, and makes it the person’s duty to form a government. This chosen person becomes the Prime Minister. The President can choose whichever member of the Knesset that he thinks has the best chance at forming a successful government.

Making New Laws

When a Ministry brings forth a bill, a memorandum on the bill is passed to the Ministry of Justice, to examine the legal aspects of it, and to all of the other Ministries for their say in the matter. If the memo is approved by the Ministries, the bill is passed onto the Knesset.