1.
Tzipi Livni
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Tziporah Malka Tzipi Livni is a prominent Israeli politician and former Foreign Minister of Israel. Consequently, she has achieved a number of milestones in Israeli female political leadership, as the first female Vice Prime Minister, Justice Minister, Agriculture Minister, in 2011, she was named one of 150 Women Who Shake the World by Newsweek and The Daily Beast. In Israel, Livni has earned a reputation as an honest politician who sticks to her principles, in September 2008, Livni prepared to take office as Prime Minister of Israel, but the political climate in the country prevented her from forming a government. The following year, she led her party to win a plurality of seats in the Knesset, consequently, she served as Leader of the Opposition from 2009, until her resignation from the Knesset in 2012. In December 2014, a number of disputes within the government led Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss Livni from his cabinet. In the 2015 election, Livni joined forces with Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog to create the Zionist Union, on February 11,2017, it was reported that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had offered Livni the post of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. Livni would be the first Israeli to serve in such a position at the organization. Born in Tel Aviv, Livni is the daughter of Eitan Livni and Sara, after Israels independence, Eitan and Sara Livni became the first couple to marry in the new state. Her father served as the operations officer of the Irgun. As a child, Livni was a member of the Betar youth movement, growing up in an Israel dominated by the Labour Party, Livni says she felt marginalized, believing that the establishment had minimized her parents contribution to Israels founding. Despite the hard-line image of the Irgun, she says her parents had respect for the Arabs and acted only against the British army, Livni served in the IDF, gaining rank of lieutenant. Livni later served in the Mossad during 1980 and 1984, between the ages of 22 and 26, according to an interview in Yediot Aharonot, described in The Sunday Times, she served in the elite unit responsible for Operation Wrath of God. She resigned from the IDF in August 1983 to marry and finish her law studies, a graduate of Bar-Ilan Universitys Faculty of Law, she has practiced public and commercial law for over 10 years. She is married to advertising executive Naftali Spitzer, and the couple have two children, Omri and Yuval, Livni has been a vegetarian since the age of 12. Besides her native language, Hebrew, Livni also speaks fluent English and French, Livnis father, Eitan Livni, a Herut Member of Knesset, died in 1991. Her mother, Sara, who died in 2007, stood by Livnis decision to leave Likud and also accepted her support for the two-state solution, Livni entered politics in 1995 when she tried unsuccessfully to win a spot on Likuds list to the Knesset. She was appointed as head of the government-owned corporations authority in Netanyahus government, while in this capacity, in 1998 she was considered a prominent candidate to become director general of the Finance Ministry. Livni would later rue the decision to privatize certain companies and natural resources, as Hatnuah chairwoman in 2013, she wrote, I am not sure that today I would once again privatize Israel Chemicals and the natural resources at the Dead Sea
2.
Zionist Union
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The Zionist Union is a center-left political alliance in Israel. The Labor Party and Hatnuah agreed on 10 December 2014 to form a joint ticket, the list was established to create a large electoral list for the centre-left bloc, in the hope that it will lead the 34th government. Hatnuah leader Tzipi Livni has said that other parties will also be part of the alliance, manuel Trajtenberg, number 11 on the list, was the lists candidate for finance minister. Amos Yadlin was the candidate for defense minister, though he was not a candidate for the Knesset. The Green Movement was also represented on the list through the addition of Yael Cohen Paran on a spot for Hatnuah members, after the election, the Zionist Union emerged as the second-largest party in the Knesset, with 24 seats. It triumphed in Tel Aviv and its prosperous suburbs, as well as other liberal areas and its success was mostly in affluent areas, it won the highest number of votes in 28 of Israels 33 wealthiest communities
3.
Term of office
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A term of office is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject to re-election. Some jurisdictions exercise term limits, setting a number of terms an individual may hold in a particular office. Being the origin of the Westminster system, aspects of the United Kingdoms system of government are replicated in other countries. The monarch serves as head of state until his or her death or abdication, in the United Kingdom Members of Parliament in the House of Commons are elected for the duration of the parliament. Following dissolution of the Parliament, an election is held which consists of simultaneous elections for all seats. For most MPs this means that their terms of office are identical to the duration of the Parliament, an MP elected in a by-election mid-way through a Parliament, regardless of how long they have occupied the seat, is not exempt from facing re-election at the next general election. The Septennial Act 1715 provided that a Parliament expired seven years after it had been summoned, prior to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 parliaments had no minimum duration. Parliaments could be dissolved early by the monarch at the Prime Ministers request, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 mandated that Parliaments should last their full five years. Early dissolution is possible, but under much more limited circumstances. Hereditary peers and life peers retain membership of the House of Lords for life, Lords Spiritual hold membership of the House of Lords until the end of their time as bishops, though a senior bishop may be made a life peer upon the end of their bishopric. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are variations on the system of government used at Westminster, the office of the leader of the devolved administrations has no numeric term limit imposed upon it. However, in the case of the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government there are fixed terms for which the legislatures can sit and this is imposed at four years. Elections may be held before this time but only if no administration can be formed, offices of local government other regional elected officials follow similar rules to the national offices discussed above, with persons elected to fixed terms of a few years. Federal judges have different terms in office, however, the majority of the federal judiciary, Article III judges, such as those of the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and federal district courts, serve for life. The terms of office for officials in state governments according to the provisions of state constitutions. The term for state governors is four years in all states but Vermont and New Hampshire, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in January 2007 that among state legislatures,44 states had terms of office for the lower house of the state legislature at two years. Five had terms of office at four years,37 states had terms of office for the upper house of the state legislature at four years
4.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
5.
Politics of Israel
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The politics of Israel is dominated by Zionist parties. They traditionally fall into three camps, the first two being the largest, Labor Zionism, Revisionist Zionism and Religious Zionism, there are also several non-Zionist Orthodox religious parties, non-Zionist left-wing groups, as well as non-Zionist and anti-Zionist Israeli Arab parties. Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974, once joked that in Israel, the prevalent balance between the largest parties means that the smaller parties can have strong influence disproportionate to their size. Due to their ability to act as tie breakers, they use this status to block legislation or promote their own agenda. From the founding of Israel in 1948 until the election of May 1977, from 1967 to 1970, a national unity government included all of Israels parties except for the two factions of the Communist Party of Israel. After the 1977 election, the Revisionist Zionist Likud bloc came to power, forming a coalition with the National Religious Party, Agudat Israel, Netanyahu subsequently formed a predominantly right-wing coalition government publicly committed to pursuing the Oslo Accords, but with an emphasis on security first and reciprocity. His coalition included the Likud party, allied with the Tzomet and Gesher parties in a single list, the latter was the first significant party formed expressly to represent the interests of Israels new Russian immigrants. The Gesher party withdrew from the coalition in January 1998 upon the resignation of its leader, David Levy, barak was forced to call for early elections, the only prime ministerial elections not held alongside Knesset elections. On 17 February 2001, elections resulted in a new national unity government, led by Ariel Sharon of the Likud. This government fell when Labor pulled out, and new elections were held 28 January 2003, based on the election results, Sharon was able to form a right-wing government consisting of the Likud, Shinui, the National Religious Party and the National Union. The coalition focused on improving Israeli security through fighting against terror, Sharons attempt to add the Haredi United Torah Judaism to the coalition drove Shinui out, and forced Sharon to bring the Labor Party back into his coalition. Since not all Likud Knesset members supported Sharons disengagement plan, he lacked a clear majority in the Knesset. Apparently calculating that his popularity was greater than that of the party, Sharon pulled out of the Likud on 21 November 2005. He was joined only days later by Shimon Peres, who pulled out of the Labor party to join Sharon in a bid for a new government. This represented a cataclysmic realignment in Israeli politics, with the former right, on 4 January 2006 Prime Minister Sharon suffered a massive stroke and went into a coma, and subsequently died in 2014. Designated Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took power, becoming interim Prime Minister 100 days after Sharons incapacitation and he did not become full Prime Minister due to elections being held in March and a new government being formed. Following the March 2006 elections, which left Kadima as the largest party in the Knesset and he included Labour, Shas and Gil in a 67-seat coalition. In November 2006, Yisrael Beiteinu also joined the government, faced with internal opposition due to mounting corruption charges, Olmert announced that he would not seek reelection in the next elections held in February 2009
6.
Constitution of Israel
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The State of Israel has an unwritten constitution. The Israeli Supreme Court President Aharon Barak ruled that the Basic Laws should be considered the constitution. Opponents of this approach include Baraks colleague, Judge of the Supreme Court Mishael Cheshin, according to Israels proclamation of independence of May 14,1948, a constituent assembly should have prepared a constitution by October 1,1948. Another factor was the opposition of David Ben-Gurion himself, various bodies in Israel have called for the enactment of a formal constitution as a single document, and have submitted ideas and drafts for consideration. The Constitution from the Knesset website Constitution on the Jewish Virtual Library
7.
Basic Laws of Israel
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The Basic Laws of Israel are the constitutional laws of the State of Israel. These laws deal with the formation and role of the institutions of the state. They also protect rights, although some of these rights were earlier protected at common law by the Supreme Court of Israel. The Basic Laws are intended to be chapters of the future Israeli constitution. The Basic Laws do not cover all constitutional issues, and there is no deadline set for the completion of the process of merging them into one comprehensive constitution. There is no clear rule determining the precedence of Basic Rules over regular legislation, Israels declaration of independence stated that a formal constitution will be formulated and adopted no later than 1 October 1948. The deadline stated in the declaration of independence proved unrealistic in light of the war between the new state and its Arab neighbors, general elections were arranged on 25 January 1949, in order to elect the Constituent Assembly which would approve the new states constitution. The Constituent Assembly convened on February 1949 and it held several discussions about the constitution without reaching an agreement. For a number of reasons, Israels first prime-minister, David Ben-Gurion, because the Constituent Assembly did not prepare a constitution for Israel, the Knesset is the heir of the Assembly for the purpose of fulfilling this function. In 1950, the first Knesset came to what was called the Harari Decision, rather than draft a full constitution immediately, they would postpone the work, charging the Knessets Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee with drafting the document piecemeal. Each chapter would be called a Basic Law, and when all had written they would be compiled into a complete constitution. In 1992, Aharon Barak, President of the Supreme Court, declared a constitutional revolution, the Basic Laws are various pieces of legislation from the Knesset that outline the nations political structure. Between 1958 and 1988 the Knesset passed nine Basic Laws, all of which pertained to the institutions of state, in 1992, it passed the first two Basic Laws that related to human rights and the basis of the Supreme Courts recently declared powers of judicial review. These are Basic Law, Human Dignity and Liberty and these were passed by votes of 32–21 and 23–0, respectively. Israeli nationality law Land and Property laws in Israel Law of Israel Law of Return Moshe Koppel Cohen, Asher, Israel and the Politics of Jewish Identity, The Secular-Religious Impasse. Jacobsohn, Gary J. Apple of Gold, Constitutionalism in Israel, mazie, Steven V. Israels Higher Law, Religion and Liberal Democracy in the Jewish State. The Existing Basic Laws, Full Texts, the Knesset website, official translations - NOTE, The 1968 Basic Law, the Government translation is missing provisions, probably amendments added later on. As opposed to the 1968 and 2001 basic Law, the Government translations, the 1992 Basic Law, the 2001 Law, which is in effect, present all provision in the translation, however, there are some lines missing
8.
Jerusalem Law
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The Jerusalem Law is a common name of Basic Law, Jerusalem, Capital of Israel passed by the Knesset on July 30,1980. However, this clause was dropped after the first reading in the Knesset, for example, United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, adopted by 14 votes to none, with 1 abstention, declared soon after that the law was null and void and must be rescinded. This resolution called upon member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from the city, as legislation, the Act is regarded as largely symbolic. An amendment in 2000 further specified the jurisdiction of the law and it actually did not change its range. The amendment also prohibited transfer of authority to a foreign body, Basic Law, Jerusalem, Capital of Israel Jerusalem, Capital of Israel,1. Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel, seat of the President, the Knesset, the Government and the Supreme Court,2. Jerusalem is the seat of the President of the State, the Knesset, the Government, Jerusalem shall be given special priority in the activities of the authorities of the State so as to further its development in economic and other matters. The Government shall set up a body or special bodies for the implementation of this section. 1, Area of the jurisdiction of Jerusalem 5, prohibition of the transfer of authority 6. Clauses 5 and 6 shall not be modified except by a Basic Law passed by a majority of the members of the Knesset, text of the law, Basic Law, Jerusalem, Capital of Israel
9.
Law of Return
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The Law of Return is Israeli legislation, passed on 5 July 1950, which gives Jews the right to live in Israel and to gain Israeli citizenship. The Law of Return 5710-1950 was enacted by the Knesset, Israels Parliament, the Law declares the right of Jews to come to Israel, Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh. Follow-up legislation on matters was contained in the Nationality Law of 1952. The Law of Return was modified in 1970 to extend the right of return to non-Jews with a Jewish grandparent, the law since 1970 applies to those born Jews, those with Jewish ancestry and converts to Judaism. In the Law of Return, the State of Israel put into practice the Zionist movements credo which called for the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state and those who immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return are immediately entitled to gain citizenship in Israel. However, differences of opinion have arisen as to whether a person who claims citizenship under the Law of Return should be registered as Jewish for census purposes. According to the definition, a person is Jewish if his or her mother is Jewish. Orthodox Jews do not recognize conversions performed by Reform or Conservative Judaism, however, the Law provides that any Jew regardless of affiliation may migrate to Israel and claim citizenship. Originally, the Law of Return was restricted to Jews only, a Jew can be excluded from Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return if he or she is considered to be dangerous to the welfare of the State of Israel. Jews who have a past that involves a crime, such as murder. This clause has been used to exclude applicants a handful of times since Israels establishment, the 1970 amendment was induced by the debate on Who is a Jew. Until then the law did not refer to the question, there are several explanations for the decision to be so inclusive. One is that as the Nuremberg Laws did not use a definition in its definition of Who is a Jew. Another explanation is the 1968 wave of immigration from Poland, following a campaign by the government. These immigrants were very assimilated and had many family members. The Israeli Rabbinate is a purely Orthodox body that is far more strict in defining who is a Jew and this creates a situation in which thousands of immigrants who are eligible for citizenship under the Law of Returns criteria, are ineligible for Jewish marriage by the Israeli Rabbinate. As of 2008,2,734,245 Jews have immigrated to Israel since 1950, hundreds of thousands of non-Jews have received Israeli citizenship, as the law confers citizenship to all offspring of a Jew and their spouses. The Supreme Court of Israel ruled in 1989 that Messianic Judaism constituted another religion, the argument was made by the applicants that they had never been Jews according to halakha, and were not therefore excluded by the conversion clause
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