1.
Israeli system of government
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The Israeli system of government is based on parliamentary democracy. The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of government and leader of a multi-party system, executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the Knesset, the Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system of the State of Israel and its principles are set out in 11 Basic Laws. Israel does not have a written constitution, the President of the State is the de jure head of state of Israel. The position is largely an apolitical and ceremonial role, and is not considered a part of any Government Branch, the President also has several important functions in government. The President is the government official with the power to pardon or commute prisoners. The President appoints the Governor of the Bank of Israel, the President of Magen David Adom, the President also ceremonially appoints judges to their posts after their selection. The Prime Minister is the most powerful figure in the country. The cabinet is composed of ministers, most of whom are the heads of government departments, cabinet ministers are appointed by the Prime Minister, who must appoint members based on the distribution of votes to political parties. The cabinets composition must also be approved by the Knesset, the Prime Minister may dismiss cabinet members, but any replacements must be approved by the Knesset. Most ministers are members of the Knesset, though only the Prime Minister is required to be one, the cabinet meets weekly on Sundays, and there may be additional meetings if circumstances require it. Each cabinet meeting is chaired by the Prime Minister, a select group of ministers led by the Prime Minister forms the security cabinet, responsible for outlining and implementing a foreign and defense policy. This forum is designed to coordinate diplomatic negotiations, and to make quick and effective decisions in times of crisis, the Israeli government has 28 ministries, each of them responsible for a sector of public administration. Many Ministries are located in the Kiryat Ben Gurion Government complex in the area of Givat Ram in Jerusalem, each ministry is led by a minister, who is also a member of the cabinet and is usually a member of the Knesset. The Office of the Prime Minister coordinates the actions of the work of all government ministries, the State Comptroller, which supervises and reviews the policies and operations of the government, is elected by the Knesset in secret ballot. The Knesset is Israels unicameral legislature and is seated in Jerusalem and its 120 members are elected to 4-year terms through party-list proportional representation, as mandated by the 1958 Basic Law, The Knesset. Knesset seats are allocated among parties using the DHondt method of party list proportional representation, Parties select candidates using a closed list
2.
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
3.
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
4.
Reuven Rivlin
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Reuven Ruvi Rivlin is an Israeli politician and lawyer who has been President of Israel since 2014. He is a member of the Likud party, Rivlin was Minister of Communications from 2001 to 2003 and subsequently served as Speaker of the Knesset from 2003 to 2006 and again from 2009 to 2013. On 10 June 2014, he was elected President of Israel, Rivlin argues for a Greater Israel that would embrace all people and give the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza full Israeli citizenship. He is also a supporter of minority rights, particularly for Arab citizens of Israel. He supports the one-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the Rivlin family has lived in Jerusalem since 1809. Rivlin attended Gymnasia Rehavia high school and served in the Intelligence Corps of the Israel Defense Forces, during the Six Day War, he fought with the Jerusalem Brigade and accompanied the Paratroopers Brigade as an intelligence officer. After military service he studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and he is married to Nechama Rivlin, and has four children. Rivlin has been a vegetarian since the late 1960s, Rivlin has been a supporter of the Beitar Jerusalem football club since the age of seven, when he attended his first game. He was first elected to the 12th Knesset in 1988, and he lost his seat in the 1992 elections, but returned to the Knesset following the 1996 elections. Reelected in 1999, he was appointed Minister of Communications in March 2001, serving until February 2003, Rivlin was reelected in 2006 and 2009. He ran in the 2007 election for President as the Likud candidate and he withdrew after the first round of voting when it became clear that Kadima MK Shimon Peres had sufficiently broad support to inevitably win in a run-off. On 30 March 2009, the Knesset elected Rivlin as Speaker with a majority of 90 votes out of 120, for his first official visit as Knesset Speaker, he chose the Arab-Israeli town of Umm el-Fahm, just south of the Galilee. He was accompanied by MKs Uri Orbach and Afu Agbariyah, a resident of the city, Rivlin was elected as the 10th President of Israel on 10 June 2014, receiving the support of 63 MKs in a runoff vote against MK Meir Sheetrit. Rivlin was sworn in on 24 July 2014, succeeding Shimon Peres, upon his election as President, he immediately ceased being a member of the Israeli Parliament. On March 25,2015 Rivlin, in his role as President, “One who is afraid of votes in a ballot box will eventually see stones thrown in the streets, ” said Rivlin. Although considered a nationalist and hawkish on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Rivlin is a supporter of minority rights, as speaker of the Knesset, Rivlin made his first official visit to the Arab-Israeli city of Umm el-Fahm, often portrayed as a locus of anti-state and pro-Palestine sentiment and agitation. In June 2010, Rivlin ignored calls to remove Balad MK Haneen Zoabi for joining the Gaza flotilla, Rivlins actions in defending the parliamentary rights of Zoabi were criticized by some but others praised his courage in defending Israeli democracy. The same year, a group of rabbis on government payroll called on Jewish Israelis to not rent apartments to non-Jews, Rivlin protested this declaration, saying, In my opinion, their statement shames the Jewish people
5.
Benjamin Netanyahu
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Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. Netanyahu also currently serves as a member of the Knesset and Chairman of the Likud party, born in Tel Aviv to secular Jewish parents, Netanyahu is the first Israeli prime minister born in Israel after the establishment of the state. Netanyahu joined the Israel Defense Forces shortly after the Six-Day War in 1967, Netanyahu took part in many missions, including Operation Inferno, Operation Gift and Operation Isotope, during which he was shot in the shoulder. Netanyahu achieved the rank of captain before being discharged, after graduating from MIT with Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees, Netanyahu was recruited as an economic consultant for the Boston Consulting Group. Netanyahu returned to Israel in 1978 to found the Yonatan Netanyahu Anti-Terror Institute, named after his brother Yonatan Netanyahu, Netanyahu served as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988. Netanyahu became the leader of Likud in 1993, Netanyahu won the 1996 elections, becoming Israels youngest ever Prime Minister, serving his first term from June 1996 to July 1999. Netanyahu moved from the arena to the private sector after being defeated in the 1999 election for prime minister by Ehud Barak. As Minister of Finance, Netanyahu engaged in a reform of the Israeli economy. Netanyahu retook the Likud leadership in December 2005, after Sharon left to form a new party, in December 2006, Netanyahu became the official Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset and Chairman of Likud. Following the 2009 parliamentary election, in which Likud placed second and right-wing parties won a majority, after the victory in the 2013 elections, he became the second person to be elected to the position of Prime Minister for a third term, after Israels founder David Ben-Gurion. In March 2015, Netanyahu was elected to his term as prime minister. Netanyahu has been elected Prime Minister of Israel four times, matching David Ben-Gurions record, Netanyahu is the only prime minister in Israels history to have been elected three times in a row. Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv, Israel, to an Israeli mother, Tzila Segal and a Warsaw-born father, Prof. Benzion Netanyahu, Netanyahu is of mixed Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jewish heritage. He was initially raised and educated in Jerusalem, where he attended Henrietta Szold Elementary School, to this day, he speaks fluent English, with a noticeable Philadelphia accent. After graduating from school in 1967, Netanyahu returned to Israel to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. He trained as a soldier and served for five years in an elite special forces unit of the IDF. He took part in numerous cross-border assault raids during the 1967–70 War of Attrition and he was wounded in combat on multiple occasions. He was involved in other missions, including Operation Inferno
6.
Knesset
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The Knesset is the unicameral national legislature of Israel. As the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister, approves the cabinet, in addition, the Knesset elects the State Comptroller. The Prime Minister may also dissolve the Knesset, however, until an election is completed, the Knesset maintains authority in its current composition. The Knesset is located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem, as the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the president, approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government through its committees. It also has the power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the President and the State Comptroller from office, the Knesset is presided over by a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker. The Knesset is divided into committees, which amend bills on the appropriate subjects, Committee chairpersons are chosen by their members, on recommendation of the House Committee, and their factional composition represents that of the Knesset itself. Committees may elect sub-committees and delegate powers to them, or establish joint committees for issues concerning more than one committee, to further their deliberations, they invite government ministers, senior officials, and experts in the matter being discussed. There are four types of committees in the Knesset, permanent committees amend proposed legislation dealing with their area of expertise, and may initiate legislation. However, such legislation may only deal with Basic Laws and laws dealing with the Knesset, elections to the Knesset, Knesset members, or the State Comptroller. Special committees function in a manner to permanent committees, but are appointed to deal with particular manners at hand. Parliamentary inquiry committees are appointed by the plenum to deal with issues viewed as having national importance. The Ethics Committee is responsible for jurisdiction over Knesset members who violate the rules of ethics of the Knesset, within the framework of responsibility, the Ethics Committee may place various sanctions on a member, but is not allowed to restrict a members right to vote. The Knesset numbers 120 members, a subject which has often been a cause for proposed reforms and this proposed law has also been favoured by other politicians, including Benjamin Netanyahu. The 120 members of the Knesset are popularly elected from a single electoral district to concurrent four-year terms. All Israeli citizens 18 years or older may vote in legislative elections, Knesset seats are allocated among the various parties using the DHondt method of party list proportional representation. A party or electoral alliance must pass the threshold of 3. 25% of the overall vote to be allocated a Knesset seat. Parties select their candidates using a closed list, thus, voters select the party of their choice, not any specific candidate. The electoral threshold was set at 1% from 1949 to 1992, then 1. 5% from 1992 to 2003
7.
Leader of the Opposition (Israel)
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The Leader of the Opposition is the politician who leads the Official Opposition in the Israeli legislative body, the Knesset. Until 2000, the role of the Opposition Leader was not an official position, however, the party leading the coalition had never won the majority in the Knesset, but rather maintained it through a majority coalition building process within the Knesset. In early 2000, two bills to amend the Opposition Leaders status were submitted to the Knesset, one was a Government bill, and the other was a private members bill, submitted by MK Uzi Landau. The law also stipulates that the Opposition Leaders salary will be determined by Knesset committee, in this way, there can be a situation where the opposition members are for example, rightist National Union on one hand, and the Arab parties, on the other hand. The question was whether there can be a leader that will be able to assemble all factions of the opposition. 1948–1967, Menachem Begin 1967–1970, There wasnt any clear Opposition Leader during this period, though the head of the largest faction within the Opposition, between 1969–1970, Yitzhak-Meir Levin was the leader of the largest Opposition faction. Between 1988–1990, Shulamit Aloni, was the leader of the largest Opposition faction, 1990–1992, Shimon Peres 1992–1993, Yitzhak Shamir 1993–1996, Benjamin Netanyahu 1996–1997, Shimon Peres 1997–1999, Ehud Barak 1999–2000, Ariel Sharon After Amendment 8
8.
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
9.
Elections in Israel
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Elections in Israel are based on nationwide proportional representation. The electoral threshold is set at 3. 25%, with the number of seats a party receives in the Knesset being proportional to the number of votes it receives. The Knesset is elected for a term, although most governments have not served a full term. The legal voting age for Israeli citizens is 18, Elections are overseen by the Central Elections Committee and are held according to the Knesset Elections Law. National elections for the Knesset must take place every four years, though early elections have occurred more often. Failure to get the budget bill approved by the Knesset by March 31 also leads automatically to early elections. Israel uses the closed-list method of party-list proportional representation, thus citizens vote for their preferred party, the 120 seats in the Knesset are then assigned proportionally to each party that received votes, provided that the party gained votes which met or exceeded the electoral threshold. Parties are permitted to form electoral alliances so as to gain enough votes to meet the threshold. The low threshold makes the Israeli electoral system more favourable to minor parties than systems used in most other countries, while this typically is the leader of the party receiving the most seats, it is not required to be so. In the event a party wins 61 or more seats in an election, however, no party has ever won more than 56 seats in an election, thus, a coalition has always been required. That member has up to 42 days to negotiate with the different parties, if the Knesset approves the proposed government, he or she becomes Prime Minister. As the coalitions often prove highly unstable - given the number, however, so long as the coalition has at least 61 members it is entitled to remain in power. The electoral threshold for a party to be allocated a Knesset seat was only 1% until 1988, it was raised to 1. 5% and remained at that level until 2003. On 11 March 2014, the Knesset approved a new law to raise the threshold to 3. 25%, in 1992, in an attempt to produce more stable governments, Israel adopted a system of direct election of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister was directly elected separately from the Knesset in 1996,1999 and 2001, the direct election of the Prime Minister was abandoned after the 2001 election, having failed to produce more stable governments. Israels voting method is simplified by the fact that voters vote for a political party, on election day, and upon entry to a polling station, the voter is given an official envelope, and shown to a voting booth. Inside the booth is a tray of slips, one for each party, the slips are printed with the ballot letters of the party, the full official name of the party, and sometimes a slogan in small print. Each party publicizes their letter prior to election day, with most election posters featuring them, as many political parties in Israel are known by their acronyms, several parties can spell out their name in two or three letters, and thus use their name as their ballot letters
10.
Supreme Court of Israel
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The Supreme Court is the highest court in Israel. It has ultimate jurisdiction over all other courts and, in some cases. The Supreme Court consists of 15 justices who are appointed by the Judicial Selection Committee, once appointed, justices serve until retirement at the age of 70, unless they resign, or are removed from office. The current President of the Supreme Court is Miriam Naor, the Supreme Court is situated in Jerusalems Givat Ram governmental campus. Its jurisdiction applies to all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories, according to the principle of binding precedent, a ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every other court, except itself. Appointing Supreme Court Justices requires a majority of 7 of the 9 committee members, the three organs of state—the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government—as well as the bar association are represented in the Judges Nominations Committee. Thus, the shaping of the body, through the manner of judicial appointment, is carried out by all the authorities together. An eminent jurist can also be appointed to the Supreme Court, the number of Supreme Court justices is determined by a resolution of the Knesset. Currently, there are 15 Supreme Court Justices, at the head of the Supreme Court and at the head of the judicial system as a whole stands the President of the Supreme Court, and at his or her side, the Deputy President. A judges term ends when he or she reaches 70 years of age, resigns, dies, is appointed to another position that disqualifies him or her, as of December 2016 the Supreme Court Justices are, Liat Benmelech and Guy Shani serve as the Court Registrars. Below is a list of presidents of the Supreme Court, As an appellate court and it also considers appeals on judicial and quasi-judicial decisions of various kinds, such as matters relating to the legality of Knesset elections and disciplinary rulings of the Bar Association. The High Court of Justice grants relief through orders such as injunction, mandamus and Habeas Corpus, the Supreme Court can also sit at a “further hearing” on its own judgment. The Supreme Court, both as a court and the High Court of Justice, is normally constituted of a panel of three Justices. The Supreme Court sits as a panel of five justices or more in a ‘further hearing’ on a matter in which the Supreme Court sat with a panel of three justices. The Supreme Court may sit as a panel of an uneven number of justices than three in matters that involve fundamental legal questions and constitutional issues of particular importance. The length of service, for purpose, is calculated from the date of the appointment of the Judge to the Supreme Court. A special power, unique to the Supreme Court, is the power to order a retrial on a matter in which the defendant has been convicted by a final judgment. In practice, a ruling to hold a retrial is very rarely made, the Court announces its judgments through individually signed opinions setting out the result and underlying reasoning
11.
Foreign relations of Israel
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The term foreign relations of Israel refers to diplomatic, commercial and cultural ties between the State of Israel and other countries around the world. Israel joined the United Nations on 11 May 1949, Israel maintains diplomatic ties with 159 countries as of March 2017. Israel maintains full diplomatic relations and open borders with two of its Arab neighbours, Egypt and Jordan, after signing treaties in 1979 and 1994 respectively. The close friendship with the United States has been the linchpin of Israeli foreign policy for decades, from the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 until the Iranian Revolution and the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979, Israel and Iran maintained close ties. Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel as a nation after Turkey. In the mid-20th century, Israel ran extensive foreign aid and educational programs in Africa, sending experts in agriculture, water management, during the 2000s, the foreign ministry warned that the increasing influence of the EU would further isolate Israel in global affairs. In the wake of a series of diplomatic rifts with Turkey, Israeli ties with Egypt have improved since the Muslim Brotherhood was removed from power there, while ties to Turkey have been uneven since their 2010 nadir but less dismal than that point. The first international organization which the Israeli government joined was the International Wheat Council, since 11 May 1949, the State of Israel has been a member of the United Nations. Israel also participates in international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency. Within the UNESCO, Israel is a member in international programmes. Relations are carried out through the Israeli National Commission for UNESCO and it is also a member of the Bank for International Settlement since 2003. On 10 May 2010, Israel was invited to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation, Israel is a member of NATOs Mediterranean Dialogue forum. In 2014 Israel joined the Paris Club, after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Israel was subjected to Arab League boycotts and attempts to diplomatically isolate the state. Today, Israel has diplomatic ties with 157 out of the other 192 member states of the United Nations as well as with non-member Holy See, some states recognize Israel as a state, but have no diplomatic relations. Several countries once had diplomatic relations with Israel, but have since broken or suspended them, some of these countries have since resumed relations. In addition, a number of countries that at one time had formal ties with Israel that fell short of full diplomatic relations, have severed such ties. Some of these countries accept Israeli passports and acknowledge other indications of Israeli sovereignty, Middle East, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. South and Central Asia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, other states with limited recognition, Abkhazia, Kosovo, Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, State of Palestine, Sahrawi Republic, Somaliland, South Ossetia, and Transnistria
12.
Israel, Palestine, and the United Nations
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Issues relating to the State of Israel, the State of Palestine and other aspects of the Arab–Israeli conflict occupy repeated annual debate times, resolutions and resources at the United Nations. Since its founding in 1948, the United Nations Security Council and this followed the report of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine. The UN has sponsored several peace negotiations between the parties, the latest being the 2002 Road map for peace and these decisions often criticize Israel for its occupation of Palestinian land and its oppression of Palestinians. A number of observers have described this criticism as excessive, in addition, the UNHRC was criticized in 2007 for failing to condemn other alleged human rights abusers besides Israel. The United States has been criticized as well by the OIC and other Arab organisations, for vetoing most Security Council decisions critical of Israel, since 1961, Israel has been barred from the Asian regional group. In 2000, it was offered limited membership in the Western European, on 29 November 2012, the UN General Assembly adopted United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19 changing Palestines entity status to non-member state by a vote of 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions. Some sources claim that these measures implicitly recognised its sovereignty, in an interview on December 16,2016, UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, said that the UN has issued a disproportionate volume of resolutions, reports and conferences criticizing Israel. It would consist of the representatives of Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Guatemala, India, Iran, Netherlands, Peru, Sweden, Uruguay and Yugoslavia. In the final report of September 3,1947, seven members of the Committee in Chapter VI expressed themselves, by recorded vote, the Plan proposed an independent Arab State, an independent Jewish State, and the City of Jerusalem. The vote itself, which required a majority, was a dramatic affair. It led to celebrations in the streets of Jewish cities, but was rejected by the Arab Palestinians, within a few days, full scale Jewish–Arab fighting broke out in Palestine. It also led to violence in Arab countries, and to a Jewish exodus from Arab. The same day, five Arab states invaded and rapidly occupied much of the Arab portion of the partition plan and this war changed the dynamic of the region, transforming a two-state plan into a war between Israel and the Arab world. This resolution, accepted immediately by Israel, is the legal foundation of the Palestinian right of return claim. Resolution 194 also called for the creation of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, the Arab states initially opposed this resolution, but within a few months, began to change their position, and became the strongest advocates of its refugee and territorial provisions. The Soviet Union was the first country to recognise Israel de jure on 17 May 1948, followed by Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Ireland, the United States extended de jure recognition after the first Israeli election, on 31 January 1949. On 15 May 1948, one day after the declaration of its establishment, Israel applied for membership of the United Nations, Israels second application was rejected by the Security Council on 17 December 1948 by a 5 to 1 vote, with 5 abstentions. Syria was the negative vote, the U. S. Argentina, Colombia, the Soviet Union and Ukraine voted in favor
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