I normally write my travel blogs in the order they occurred. Today I am not.
Sunday morning Jerusalem. It is quiet but I am ready to go fuelled by an early Israeli breakfast including eggs poached in tomato garlic and onion. My plan is to go back to the Jewish Quarter in the Old City but I have all day and decide to find The Knesset - the Israeli Parliament - their House of Commons for a photograph. It is about a 2km Google maps walk. Is is grey but not raining - not many around. I spot the Knesset in the distance - abandon Google maps for a more as the crow flies route. I get close but emerge on the wrong path. I am stopped by a commando dressed policeman with a machine gun. He is stern but polite. I do not think it is unreasonable to get stopped especially where I am. He satisfies himself I am a harmless tourist - asks me if I have my passport - yes - thinking he wants to see it - but no - he tells me where to go to get on a free tour of the Knesset. Amazing.
I have a wait in the security area for half an hour but eventually I am allowed with a few others to walk towards the main parliament building across a wide concourse. We are met by a captivating Jewish woman - probably age 70 - dressed in black - she speaks accented English - is friendly but brusque. She doesn't waste a word. She is passionate and clear. She asks where we come from and is able to reference our system against the Israeli one. She is neutral and not political. We begin a 90 minute tour. It was so good. I got so much out of it.
First of all I will quickly reference the building itself. Compared to our parliament building it is very modern, bright and quietly impressive. It is big but not massive.
The new Knesset was to replace the original parliament building adapted for use at the formation of Israel. It was a controversial design - much changed in the process to get agreement from the diverse range of interested parties. In was opened in 1966. A civil servant was quoted as saying in moving from the old parliament building to work in the new was like moving from a submarine to an aircraft carrier!
One feature of the building is the The Chagall State Hall. It was decorated internally by Marc Chagal. It is wonderful. The tapestries and mosaics are full of symbolisim and reference to the birth of Israel and what it stands for. High ideals. Leaving that aside as a visual effect it is special. Amazingly the main frescos are carpets painstakingly woven over 5 years.
We have full access to the building. We are taken to the main chamber where parliament sits. I am stunned to be there especially given the security issues. The chamber is laid out before us with the seats forming the design of the Menorah - the 7 spoked candle holder that is the symbol of Israel. I listen carefully to our guides explanations but I reflect on where I am. I have stood at our Prime Ministers despatch box in the House of Commons - on a school trip. Amazingly I have sat in the Japanese Prime Ministers chair in Japan's National Diet when on an exchange visit. To be in the Knesset felt pretty staggering too.
Our guide talked about openness, transparency and engagement. The "new" Knesset was designed to create this type of atmosphere. No dark corridors of power here. There are electronic boards that provide live data on which members are in the building, what bills they have promoted, what questions asked and their attendance record etc.
We went to one of the many established committee rooms where the hard parliamentary work is done. Actually not much different from our system except they now use Zoom instead of dragging experts and witnesses to attend in person. Any member of the public can apply to attend a Committee meeting and on request and subject to time are often able to address the committee on the subject they are interested in.
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| The Knesset |
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| The Declaration Of Independence Document (see below) |
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| The Marc Chagal Hall. Amazing carpet tapestries. (he has never revealed the symbolism to leave it to the viewers and scholars to interpret. |
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| Chagal designed mosaic made with Israeli stone |
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| The main chamber. (amazing to be there) Seats layed out in the shape of The Menorah. Speakers chair at the back (front). The "cabinet " ministers sit in the horseshoe in front of the Speaker. |
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| For some reason I found this wall exceptionally moving. It is a gallery of former members of the Knesset that have also received the annual Israel Prize for excellence in areas such as humanities, social sciences, Jewish studies, natural and exact sciences, culture, arts, communications, sports, lifetime achievement and exceptional contributions to the nation. |
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| One of the impressive purpose built committee rooms. |
Israel has a President and 120 elected Members of Parliament from which a Prime Minister is chosen.
THE PRESIDENT - a largely ceremonial position. The President is elected by an absolute majority in the Knesset. The appointment is for 7 years.
THE KNESSET ELECTIONS - are every 4 years when 120 Members are elected. Unlike in the UK MP's are not elected as individuals - you vote for the Party. For a party to be represented in the Knesset it has to secure 3.25% of the total vote. Thereafter seats are allocated on a proportionate basis. Currently there are 12 parties represented in the make up of the Knesset.
Questions arise -1) you vote for the party but how do you know which individuals you will get. The answer - parties state before the election the order of individuals that will be allocated a place. 2) Can Arabs living in Israel vote in Knesset elections. The answer is yes (qualified). Arab backed parties in the Knesset totals 13 members out of the 120. However a lot of Arabs are disenfranchised under complicated Territorial Rules. Gaza is more autonomous and people living there do not have a Knesset vote. Many believe the answer to the Israeli/Arab situation in Israel is further integration which means more and more Arabs will be might be given the vote (but clearly not all will use it).
The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 25th Knesset.
| Name | Ideology | Symbol | Primary demographic | Leader | 2022 result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | ||||||
| Likud | Conservatism | מחל | – | Benjamin Netanyahu | 23.41% | 32 / 120 | |
| Yesh Atid | Liberalism | פה | – | Yair Lapid | 17.78% | 24 / 120 | |
| Religious Zionism | Religious Zionism | ט | Israeli settlers, Modern Orthodox and Hardal Jews | Bezalel Smotrich | 10.83% | 7 / 120 | |
| Otzma Yehudit | Kahanism | – | Itamar Ben-Gvir | 6 / 120 | |||
| Noam | Religious conservatism | – | Avi Maoz | 1 / 120 | |||
| National Unity | National liberalism | כן | – | Benny Gantz | 9.08% | 12 / 120 | |
| Shas | Religious conservatism | שס | Sephardi and Mizrahi Haredim | Aryeh Deri | 8.24% | 11 / 120 | |
| United Torah Judaism | Religious conservatism | ג | Ashkenazi Haredim | Yitzhak Goldknopf | 5.88% | 7 / 120 | |
| Yisrael Beiteinu | Nationalism Secularism | ל | Russian-speakers | Avigdor Lieberman | 4.49% | 6 / 120 | |
| Ra'am | Islamic democracy | עם | Israeli Arab Sunni Muslims, Negev Bedouin | Mansour Abbas | 4.07% | 5 / 120 | |
| Hadash–Ta'al | Left-wing Secularism | ום | Israeli Arabs | Ayman Odeh | 3.75% | 5 / 120 | |
| Labor | Social democracy | אמת | – | Merav Michaeli | 3.69% | 4 / 120 | |
THE SITUATION TODAY
Basically there are two forms of democracy - first past the post - and proportional representation. Both have advantages and disadvantages (which I am not going to spell out here). In the UK we use FPTP. In Israel they use PR as I have said.
Most people think of Israel as a united country. It probably is when it comes to the defence of the homeland - accept that many Arabs are also franchised too - as I have said.
However as the table above indicates the electorate could hardly cover a wider spectrum of views. Right wing fundamentalist Jews that want to live in the 17th century, socialists/communists, groups that want to give back pre1967 land back to the Arabs - and Jewish groups that have deliberately settled on that land and believe it is just reclaimed Israeli land and will never give it up again. Certainly Jews come in many different forms with differing priorities. There are secular Jews (40%), traditional Jews (31%) and of course Orthodox/Ultra Orthodox Jews (29%). (interesting 40% of Jews in Israel are non practising Jews in a religious sense.)
So the last General Election - November 2022. All those interest groups above produced a parliament made up of 12 parties. The largest party only gained 32 out of the 120 seats. This is not abnormal in a PR system - its strength is minority votes tend to count more. It would be fair to say the vote reflects the demographic far more accurately than a FPTP system would. The problem is unlike FPTP you do not get clarity. Coalitions have to be formed to find a working majority in Parliament.
This is where the problems start. It is usually the leader of the largest party who gets the first opportunity to try and form a coalition by negotiation that will provide a working majority. In this instance this is Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud. Netanyahu and Likud are right wing. He has been Prime Minister before. He is a marmite character - formidable and tough - and controversial (he is currently dealing with a charge of accepting bribes for favours which if found guilty is likely to mean he would be disbarred from office.)
Netanyahu formed a coalition and is now Prime Minister. However to do so he had to come to agreement with 5 separate right wing traditional/orthodox religious parties. They extracted out of him (for their support) an undertaking to reform the Israeli legal system. (this is a problem with PR - minorities can wield enormous/disproportionate power). The current Israeli government has been described as the most right wing ever.
By way of explanation - right wing religious groups in the coalition believe the legal system is becoming too liberal - too secular. By way of further explanation - in most democracies it is recognised there should be a separation of powers - judges - the courts must be independent of government and political pressure,
While I was in Israel I saw several protests - all good natured it seemed to me but it has escalated and become so big it has featured in international news. What are the protests about?
Netanyahu has brought to the Knesset legislation to :
1) Allow the government to have a much bigger say in judges appointments. Currently judges are appointed by an independent committee. The obvious point here is it is highly likely the government will appoint judges that see things as they see them.
2) Secondly Netanyahu wants to change the law so the Knesset can overturn all Supreme Court decisions by a simple majority rather than a super majority (which is now required to change the Supreme Court's decisions in relation to "basic laws".) This in theory and probably in practice massively changes the balance of power between the ruling government and the judiciary in the ruling governments favour.
3) Opponents of the proposals have also pointed out the Netanyahu will be able to change the "fit and proper person" rules to allow him stay on as Prime minister even if he is found guilty of accepting bribes to provide favours.
This is what the massive demonstrations are about. Many people believe Netanyahu's measures are undemocratic - will lead to further corruption - and will potentially be illiberal and unfair.
Netanyahu is squeezed because it is likely his coalition and therefore his Prime ministership depends on him delivering on the undertakings he has made to his very right wing partners as the price for their wider support in Parliament.
But it seems Netanyahu might have bitten off more than he can chew. The public reaction to his constitutional changes (and some say grab for power) has been unprecedented in Israel's short history. Strikes have been called nationwide and most amazingly even the military have indicated non cooperation. Protest have been widespread largely shutting down the country and some claim jeopardising its security.
As of yesterday and in response Netanyahu has announced he will delay implementing the proposals!
This matter is not over by any means. Netanyahu has form. He is belligerent. Watch this space.
Israel is a fascinating place!
This document is worth reading
Declaration of Independence
Official Gazette: Number 1; Tel Aviv,
5 Iyar 5708, 14.5.1948 Page 1
After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.
Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.
In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.
This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.
The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the comity of nations.
Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland.
In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.
On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable.
This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.
ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL.
WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel".
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel.
WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations.
WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.
WE EXTEND our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.
WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel.
PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE "ROCK OF ISRAEL," WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY,1948).
| David Ben-Gurion David Zvi Pinkas Aharon Zisling Moshe Kolodny Eliezer Kaplan Abraham Katznelson Felix Rosenblueth David Remez Berl Repetur Mordekhai Shattner Ben Zion Sternberg Bekhor Shitreet Moshe Shapira Moshe Shertok | Rachel Cohen Rabbi Kalman Kahana Saadia Kobashi Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Levin Meir David Loewenstein Zvi Luria Golda Myerson Nachum Nir Zvi Segal Rabbi Yehuda Leib Hacohen Fishman | Daniel Auster Mordekhai Bentov Yitzchak Ben Zvi Eliyahu Berligne Fritz Bernstein Rabbi Wolf Gold Meir Grabovsky Yitzchak Gruenbaum Dr. Abraham Granovsky Eliyahu Dobkin Meir Wilner-Kovner Zerach Wahrhaftig Herzl Vardi |
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