History UsefulNotes / IsraeliPoliticalSystem

A single-issue party whose platform was legalizing marijuana.

* The President can pardon criminals on their own (as opposed to exercising their pardon powers only when the Government orders to, like [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily certain other Westminster system heads of state one could mention]]).

* '''Basic Law: Israel, the Nation-State of the Jewish People (2018)''': Controversially declared that only Jews have the right to national self-determination in Israel, alienating not only the Palestinian citizens of Israel (who obviously identify with the Palestinian side of the Arab-Israeli conflict) but also the Druze (a heavily-integrated model minority who consider themselves parties to a "covenant of blood" with the Jewish majority). What many people don't know that it's a verbatim copy of a draft Constitution written by a far-right NGO.

[[AC: Current leader: UsefulNotes/BenjaminNetanayhu.]]\\

The unicameral legislature, the Knesset[[note]]Named after the Great Assembly of Biblical times, that has little else in common with the modern Knesset apart from the number of members[[/note]], has 120 members, all elected by a system of nationwide, closed-list proportional representation. This means voters cast their ballots for parties rather than individual candidates, and each party's share of the national popular vote determines its share of seats in the Knesset. These eats are filled by candidates named in a list selected beforehand by the party they're assigned to[[note]]The methods each party uses to prepare its list vary widely, and range from "primaries among the party members" (Labor) to "handpicked by an unelected council of Rabbis" (Shas and UTJ).[[/note]].

The bill, having been drawn up by a government Minister or backbencher MK[[note]]bills presented by ministers get to this stage straight away, but bills presented by non-government MKs have to pass a preliminary vote, after which they'll be scrutinized by a committee before getting here. Confused yet?[[/note]], is presented to the Knesset for a vote, which is called the first reading, where the Knesset can debate the bill but only accept or reject it as a whole. If it passes the first reading, it goes to a committee to get scrutinized and analyzed, and potentially reworded[[note]]the committee has a very wide authority to reword bills, up to the point of merging several bills that all deal with the same thing into one[[/note]].

After passing the committee, the bill goes back before the Knesset floor for a second reading, where the Knesset goes through debating and voting on it. This time, the bill can be potentially reworded - first, MKs and Ministers submit their proposed rewordings, and the Knesset votes on accepting or rejecting each. After all of these votes are taken, the Knesset votes on each section of the bill separately. Once the second reading is finished, the Knesset immediately moves to the third and final reading, where it can only vote on accepting or rejecting the bill as a package deal without debate.

[[AC: Current leader: Benjamin Netanayhu.]]\\

[[folder:The Judiciary]][[/folder]]

[[folder:Local Government]][[/folder]]

[[folder:1977-1996: The "Soft" two-party system]][[/folder]]

[[AC:Election symbol: ט]]\\

[[AC:Election symbol: מחל[[note]]חל טעם in 1973[[/note]]]]\\

A single-issue party whosem platform was legalizing marijuana.

[[folder:The Knesset]][[/folder]]

* The President can pardon criminals on their own (as opposed to exercising their pardon powers when the Government orders to).

[[folder:The Presidency]][[/folder]]

* '''Basic Law: Referendum (2014)''': [[TheOneWith The one with the misleading name.]] It doesn't regulate referendums generally, but only says that Israeli territories[[note]]Israel within the Green Line plus East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, but not the West Bank or the Gaza Strip[[/note]] can't be ceded to another country unless the cession is approved either in a referendum or by a 2/3rds majority in the Knesset.[[note]]Annexing new territories into Israel proper ''isn't'' subject to these supermajorities – so for all intents and purposes, any peace agreement with the Palestinians – which nine times out of ten involves mutual land swaps and/or dividing Jerusalem between Israel and Palestine – would require a referendum, while Israel would keep having a carte blanche to annex West Bank settlement blocs.[[/note]]

However, unlike Britain and New Zealand, laws made by the Knesset are still subject to judicial review (in other words, the Supreme Court can strike down unconstitutional laws). This power doesn't come from the Basic Laws, but from the 1995 ''United Mizrahi Bank Ltd. v. Migdal Cooperative Village'' ruling, that essentially stated that ordinary laws are subject to the small-c constitution even though there's no capital-c Constitution yet[[note]]The Constitution doesn't explicitly spell out that laws are subject to judicial review in the United States either – ''Marbury v. Madison'', anyone?[[/note]].

Unlike many other nations, but like UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} and UsefulNotes/NewZealand, Israel has an uncodified Cosntitution, which isn't written down in a single document. Initially, having one was planned and a Constituent Assembly was elected to draft one in 1949; however, Ben-Gurion opted against having one, both to appease his religious coalition partners (who were opposed to a "secular" supreme law instead of the Torah) and to not constrain his own authority.

* '''Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty (1992)'''
* '''Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation (1994[[note]]a previous version was passed in 1992[[/note]])'''