Background
Israel was supposed to adopt a formal written constitution a few months after its declaration of independence on 14 May 1948. The declaration itself stated that a constitution would be formulated and adopted no later than 1 October 1948. Adoption of a democratic constitution was also a requirement of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, which proposed the establishment of a "Jewish state". Israel failed to adopt a formal written constitution. 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 state's constitution. The Constituent Assembly convened on February 1949. It held several discussions about the constitution without reaching an agreement.
The Religious Jews at the time opposed the idea of their nation having a document which the government would regard as nominally "higher" in authority than religious texts such as the Tanakh, Talmud, and Shulkhan Arukh. Therefore, after only four meetings, the Constituent Assembly adopted on 16 February 1949, the Transition Law, by which means it became the "First Knesset" The Knesset is, therefore, a Sovereign Parliament, like the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that is not bound by a written constitution. 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.
Read more about this topic: Basic Laws Of Israel
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