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Political System

The President of Israel

The President of the State of Israel is the head of the State. The position is largely an apolitical ceremonial figurehead role, with the real executive power lying in the hands of the Prime Minister. The President is elected for a seven-year term by a majority of the Knesset, the Parliament. The President can be re-elected for only one more consecutive term. The President discharges state duties as prescribed by the Basic Law: President of the State, and other laws. […]

The Knesset

Israel’s legislative body or parliament is called the Knesset or parliament. Located in Jerusalem, the Knesset has 120 members. A member of the Knesset is elected by the citizens. The unicameral Knesset passes all laws, supervises the government work and can dissolve itself and call for new elections. Knesset is a term derived from the Great Synagogue, and means Assembly. According to Israel’s basic law, that was approved on February 12, 1958, the Knesset is the Israeli House of Representatives/ […]

The current 33rd Government

Presented to the Knesset on March 17, 2013, and approved by the Knesset and sworn in on March 18. The 33rd government of Israel was comprised as follows: Likud: Benjamin Netanyahu – Prime minister Moshe Ya’alon – Defense minister Yisrael Katz – Transportation minister Yuval Steinitz – International Relations, Intelligence, and Strategic Threats minister Silvan Shalom – Energy, Water, and Negev and Galilee Development minister Gilad Erdan – Home Front Defense and Communications Minister Gideon Sa’ar – Interior minister Limor […]

Prime Minister B. Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu – was born in Tel Aviv in 1949 and grew up in Jerusalem. He spent his adolescent years in the United States, where his father – a noted historian – taught Jewish history. Returning to Israel in 1967 to fulfil his military obligations, Netanyahu volunteered for an elite commando unit of the IDF and participated in a number of daring operations, including the release of hostages from a hijacked Sabena Airlines aircraft at Ben-Gurion Airport, an operation in […]

Political Parties as of 2013

> Likud – is a a Hebrew word meaning “consolidation”. It is also Israel’s major conservative party. Its leaders tend to support Israeli settlements and reject proposals to divide Jerusalem. Like its political rivals, Likud seeks peace agreements with Israel’s neighbors, conditioned on reciprocal efforts to stop terrorist activities within Israel’s borders. The party also advocates a pro-capitalist, free-market economy. Likud is the head of the current coalition government, and its party leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, is the current Prime Minister […]

List of previous Governments

Government Prime Minister Dates in Office Provisional Government David Ben-Gurion 14.05.1948 – 08.03.1949 1st Government David Ben-Gurion 08.03.1949 – 30.10.1950 2nd Government David Ben-Gurion 30.10.1950 – 08.10.1951 3rd Government David Ben-Gurion 08.10.1951 – 22.12.1952 4th Government David Ben-Gurion 22.12.1952 – 26.01.1954 5th Government Moshe Sharett 26.01.1954 – 29.06.1955 6th Government Moshe Sharett 29.06.1955 – 03.11.1955 7th Government David Ben-Gurion 03.11.1955 – 07.01.1958 8th Government David Ben-Gurion 07.01.1958 – 17.12.1959 9th Government David Ben-Gurion 17.12.1959 – 02.11.1961 10th Government David Ben-Gurion […]

Jerusalem a Unified Capital

Jerusalem and the Jewish people are so intertwined that telling the history of one is telling the history of the other. For more than 3,000 years, Jerusalem has played a central role in the history of the Jews, culturally, politically, and spiritually, a role first documented in the Scriptures. All through the 2,000 years of the Diaspora, Jews have called Jerusalem their ancestral home. This sharply contrasts the relationship between Jerusalem and the new Islamists who artificially inflate Islam's links […]

Government Ministries

Based on the distribution of votes to the political parties, the Israeli Prime Minister appoints heads of government departments, which are the government ministries. The legislative branch of Israel, the Knesset or parliament, has the authority to approve the composition of the government. The government consists of ministries which are responsible each for a different realm of public affairs. Although different Prime Ministers assembled different governments according to the needs and political status, there are common ministries which operate through […]