Political system of Israel

The political system of Israel is that of a parliamentary , representative democracy . The state organs are separated from one another according to the principles of the separation of powers . The executive power is represented by the government and the legislative power by the unicameral parliament - the Knesset . At the head of the judiciary is the Supreme Court in Jerusalem .

The Constitution

The state of Israel does not yet have a final constitution . On June 13, 1950, the Knesset passed the Hariri Resolution , according to which a constitution in the form of individual basic laws should be established. Each Basic Law is to be presented to the Knesset individually. The declaration of independence of May 14, 1948 and the twelve basic laws that have been enacted so far replace a constitution.

The nine basic laws passed between 1958 and 1988 all deal with the institutions of the State of Israel. On March 17, 1992, the first two basic laws were passed, which deal with the basic rights of its people .

date	Basic Law	comment
February 12, 1958	The Knesset
June 25, 1960	The land ownership	Land ownership is national property, regulates ownership and transfer of land.
June 16, 1964	The President
August 13, 1968	The government
July 21, 1975	The state budget
March 31, 1976	The armed forces
December 13, 1980	Jerusalem capital of Israel	Jerusalem is the undivided capital of the State of Israel
February 28, 1984	The judiciary	The judiciary
February 15, 1988	The state controller	Also ombudsman as an external monitoring institution and contact person
March 17, 1992	The freedom to choose a career
March 17, 1992	Human dignity and freedom
18th July 2018	Nation state law	Israel - nation-state of the Jewish people ( calendar , holidays , official language )

Important changes to existing basic laws

date	Basic Law	modification
July 31, 1985	The Knesset	A party can be excluded from the elections if it denies the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state, rejects its democratic character or incites racism .
March 18, 1992	The government	Introduction of direct election of the Prime Minister
March 7, 2001	The government	Abolition of the direct election of the Prime Minister

The President

Office of the President 2007.

The President ( Hebrew נשיא ישראל Nasi Jisra'el ) is elected by the Knesset in a secret ballot by an absolute majority for a seven-year term. Re-election is not possible. The office of president symbolizes the unity of the state across party-political boundaries. Its duties are representative and formal.

Legislature - The Knesset

The 120 members of the Knesset are elected for four years by secret ballot. The last elections to the Knesset took place on March 23, 2021 . The general elections provide for closed lists , which means that voters only vote for party lists and cannot influence the order within the lists. There are no different constituencies ; all voters vote for the same party lists. The Knesset elects the president and passes the laws. The highest court can only repeal a law if it violates the constitution.

Executive - The government

The Prime Minister ( Head of Government ), ( Hebrew ראש הממשלה Rosh HaMemschala , "head of the government") and his cabinet exercise executive power .

The president instructs the party leader who must be a member of the Knesset to form a new government who is most capable of doing so. After the election of the president, the elected prime minister has 45 days to form a government, which then has to be approved collectively by the Knesset. The Prime Minister also presents the basic lines of his government policy.

The government is responsible for the conduct of internal and foreign affairs. The possibilities of setting the guidelines of the policy are very extensive, and the Prime Minister is authorized to take action on any subject unless this has been delegated to another authority by law.

The ministers are responsible to the Prime Minister for the performance of their duties and are obliged to report to the Knesset for their actions. Most ministers have a portfolio and head a ministry; others work without a division, but can be assigned special tasks.

At least half of the ministers must be members of the Knesset, although all ministers must be suitable candidates for the Knesset. The Prime Minister, or any other minister with the Prime Minister's approval, appoints a maximum of six Deputy Ministers, all of whom must be members of the Knesset.

So far, all governments in Israel have been formed on the basis of a coalition of different parties, since no party could unite a sufficient number of mandates in the Knesset to form a government on its own.

The government usually remains in office for four years. The prime minister and ministers of an outgoing government continue to perform their duties until a new government takes up its work. If the prime minister can no longer fulfill his duties, in the event of his resignation, an indictment brought against him, a successful Knesset vote of no confidence, or his death, the government assigns office to one of its members, who is also a member of the Knesset. This incumbent Prime Minister has all the authority; an exception, however, is the possibility of dissolving the Knesset.

During his reign, the Prime Minister lived in Jerusalem. Beit Aghion has been his residence since 1972.

The judiciary - the judiciary

The Supreme Court building

The independence of the judiciary, divided into secular and religious courts, is guaranteed by the basic laws.

The judges of the secular courts are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a special nomination committee composed of the judges of the Supreme Court, members of the bar and public figures. Judges are appointed for life and are required to retire at the age of 70.

The secular jurisdiction is divided into three levels: on the first and second level there are magistrate and district courts for processes in civil and criminal law as well as youth, traffic, military, labor and municipal appeals courts.

At the head of the judiciary, as the highest appellate body, is the Supreme Court with its seat in Jerusalem . The “High Court for Justice” (“Beit-Din Gawoah LeTzedek” = “BaGaTz”) is formed from the judges of the Supreme Court and is made up of three, five or seven judges, depending on the importance of the case. This court is the only and highest appellate instance in matters of principle and offers (similar to the German Federal Constitutional Court) the possibility to sue the government as well as all representatives and institutions of the state and to have their measures checked for legality, possibly even to suspend them.

Civil status issues such as marriage and divorce, alimony, guardianship and adoption of minors fall under the jurisdiction of the respective religious community. These religious courts are the rabbinical courts for the Jewish denominations, the Muslim religious courts (Sharia courts), the religious courts of the Druze, and the legal institutions of the ten recognized Christian communities in Israel.

Although the legislature lies exclusively within the competence of the Knesset, the Supreme Court has the possibility to draw attention to desired changes in the law; As the Supreme Court, the court has the authority to decide whether a law complies with the basic laws of the state.

The State Controller (Ombudsman)

The state controller is elected by the Knesset in a secret ballot for a term of five years.

He carries out the external financial audit of the public administration and examines the legality, regularity, economy, efficiency and moral integrity of all activities of the state authorities, state enterprises and other institutions assigned to the state controller.

The state controller works independently from the government and is accountable to the Knesset. He has free access to all account books, files and personnel from all assigned institutions. The state controller works in cooperation with the Knesset committee responsible for the control of state institutions. In addition, it is empowered by law to review the spending and financial situation of the political parties .

Israel recognized the importance of the control of the state and its institutions by an independent body early on and created the office of state controller by law as early as 1949. The control of the state by an independent institution is extremely extensive in a worldwide comparison.

Since 1971, the state controller has also performed the role of an ombudsman or ombudsman. This means that he is also the point of contact for every citizen who wants to lodge a complaint against state and public institutions.

Since February 15, 1988, there has been a separate Basic Law with constitutional status on the state controller.

List of State Controllers:

1949–1961: Siegfried Moses
1961–1981: Yitzhak minor number
1982–1987: Yitzhak tunic
1987–1988: Yaakov Malz
1988-1998: Miriam Ben-Porat
1998-2005: Eliezer Goldberg
2005–2012: Micha Lindenstrauss
2012–2019: Yosef Shapira
since 2019: Matanyahu Englman

Legal system

The Israeli legal system consists of the laws that the Knesset enacts and, in part, of the ordinances that the British mandate passed until 1948, which in turn have been adopted by the Knesset and individually revised. The Israeli legal system can best be characterized as a "mixed" system, because it belongs to the Western legal systems, was heavily influenced by Anglo-American law , but also contains aspects that are typical of Roman-style civil law. In addition, certain features of the legal system are influenced by the fact that Israel is a Jewish state. The Supreme Court's rights to judge Knesset laws are limited. Legal interpretation is limited to formal issues such as the execution of laws and the validity of subordinate legislation.

In December 1985, Israel informed the UN Secretariat that the compelling case law of the International Court of Justice would no longer be accepted. The UN Committee on Human Rights regularly criticizes the systematic discrimination against Palestinians in Israel.

Administrative structure

Districts

The state of Israel is divided into six districts ( Hebrew מחוזות mechozot , singular machoz ). Almost all the districts are divided into a total of 15 subdistricts, ( Hebrew נפות nafot , singular nafa ).

In addition, the military district of Judea and Samaria is included in the official statistics. This includes the occupied areas of the West Bank. This area does not belong to the State of Israel .

The local government

Local government consists of three different types: city government, municipal government and regional government.

The city administration

A city government, in Hebrew Iriyah, is the largest form of local government in Israel. City administration status is granted by the Israeli Minister of the Interior to applying localities, which normally have more than 20,000 inhabitants. Exceptions are possible in isolated cases. In 2008 there were 71 city administrations.

The municipality

A local government, in Hebrew מועצה מקומית Mo'atzah Mekomit , English local council , hence also local association, is an administrative unit for the smaller urban settlements and the larger agricultural towns. A local government has between 2000 and 20,000 inhabitants and is therefore part of the administrative structure of Israel between cities and rural regional associations. In 2007 there were a total of 141 local governments in Israel.

The regional administration

The Menashe Regional Association Office

Regional administrations, Hebrew אזורית Mo'atza Azorit , are the third type of local government in Israel. This is often a two-level administration.

The regional administration is responsible for several smaller settlements in rural areas, which often have their own community committee. The settlements are usually spread over a larger area, but in geographical proximity to each other. The individual settlements within a regional association have fewer than 2000 inhabitants.

The community committee of a settlement sends delegates to the regional administration, who are appointed directly or by election, in proportion to the number of inhabitants. Many kibbutzim and moshavim are part of a regional administration. In 2003 there were 53 regional associations in Israel.

Political environment

Political pressure groups

Gush Emunim , Jewish religious nationalists who advocate Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and oppose the evacuation of this settlement.
The Israeli Peace Camp is a coalition of parties and extra-parliamentary groups that want to advance the peace process between Israel and its neighboring Arab states. Many of these groups are heavily dependent on foreign funding and therefore only to a limited extent purely domestic organizations. One of the largest groups in the peace camp is Shalom Achshaw (see below).
Shalom Achshaw supports territorial concessions in the West Bank and has criticized government policy in Lebanon.
The kibbutzim - Lobby strives for financial support from the government.
The agricultural lobby seeks financial support and tax relief for water.
The “Lobby For Promoting the Women Statue” is a feminist group that cooperates with the Knesset.

Political issues

The main questions of Israeli political life are:

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict ( Arab-Israeli Wars )
Relations between Jewish religious currents, such as Orthodox Judaism ; Liberal Judaism
Shaping the Jewish identity of the State of Israel
The economy and trade issues with other states
The integration of Jewish immigrants, for example from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union

Membership in international organizations

BSEC (observer status), CCC , Council of Europe (observer), CERN (the only full member outside Europe), EBRD , ECE , FAO , IADB , IAEO , World Bank , ICAO , International Chamber of Commerce , ICFTU , IDA , IFAD , IAO , IMF , International Maritime Organization , Inmarsat , Intelsat , Interpol , IOC , IOM , ISO , ITU , OAS (observer status), OPCW , OSCE (partner), PCA , UN , UNCTAD , UNESCO , UNHCR , UNIDO , UPU , WHO , WIPO , World Meteorological Organization , World Trade Organization , World Tourism Organization .

literature

Steffen Hagemann : Israel (= analysis of political systems . Vol. 4). Wochenschau Verlag, Schwalbach 2013, ISBN 978-3-89974-854-3 .
Abraham Diskin: The Political System of Israel: A Spatio-Temporal Study, 1949–1973. Böhlau, Vienna 1980, ISBN 3-412-04378-8 .
Michael Wolffsohn: Politics in Israel: Development and structure of the political system. Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 1983, ISBN 3-8100-0349-2 .
Alfred Wittstock: The political system of Israel: An introduction. Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-13601-1 .
Gerrit Michel: Israel: Society and Political System in the Mirror of Zionism. Vdm Verlag Dr. Müller, 2010, ISBN 978-3-639-22058-2 .

Web links

Website of the Israeli Prime Minister (English)
Embassy of the State of Israel in Berlin

Individual evidence

↑ Michael Wolffsohn, Douglas Bokovoy: Israel: Grundwissen-Länderkunde. History, politics, society, economy (1882–1996). Opladen 1996, p. 58 ff., 76.
↑ Knesset adopts national law In: Israelnetz.de , July 19, 2018, accessed on August 5, 2018.
^ Criticism of Israel with constitutional status In: Israelnetz.de , August 1, 2018, accessed on August 6, 2018.
^ The Existing Basic Laws: Summary. on: knesset.gov.il , English, accessed December 31, 2010.
^ Basic Laws. from: jewishvirtuallibrary.org , accessed December 31, 2010.
^ Judiciary at the Embassy of the State of Israel in Berlin
^ Former auditor Lindenstrauss has died. In: Israelnetz .de. May 3, 2019, accessed May 8, 2019 .

[1] Michael Wolffsohn, Douglas Bokovoy: Israel: Grundwissen-Länderkunde. History, politics, society, economy (1882–1996). Opladen 1996, p. 58 ff., 76.

[2] Knesset adopts national law In: Israelnetz.de , July 19, 2018, accessed on August 5, 2018.

[3] Criticism of Israel with constitutional status In: Israelnetz.de , August 1, 2018, accessed on August 6, 2018.

[4] The Existing Basic Laws: Summary. on: knesset.gov.il , English, accessed December 31, 2010.

[5] Basic Laws. from: jewishvirtuallibrary.org , accessed December 31, 2010.

[6] Judiciary at the Embassy of the State of Israel in Berlin

[7] Former auditor Lindenstrauss has died. In: Israelnetz .de. May 3, 2019, accessed May 8, 2019 .