Knesset - Role in Israeli Government

Role in Israeli Government

Knesset members annually convene for plenary assemblies, or plenums, for two annual sittings of at least eight months' duration. The two sittings together form a session. The Knesset may be convened at any other time if thirty or more members demand this in writing or if the government requests. As well as approving or rejecting proposed legislation, the plenum also elects the Speaker and one or more Deputy Speakers.

The Knesset has de jure parliamentary supremacy, and can pass any law by a simple majority, even one that might arguably conflict with the Basic Laws of Israel, unless the Basic Law includes specific conditions for its modification; in accordance with a plan adopted in 1950, the Basic Laws can be adopted and amended by the Knesset, acting in its capacity as a Constituent Assembly.

While the government is the sponsor of most legislation, bills can also be proposed by committees or individual members or a group of members (such a bill is known as a "private members' bill"). One meeting is set aside each week for the consideration of private members' bills. The Speaker and the Speaker's deputies decide whether to place the bills on the Knesset agenda, and have the power to block any bills that for example, are either deemed discriminatory or that reject the basic existence of Israel as a Jewish state and ancestral homeland. Bills go through three stages, beginning with a first reading, consisting of a general debate in the plenum, presided over by the Speaker or a Deputy Speaker. At this stage, the bill can be accepted, removed from the Knesset table, or returned to the government. If the bill is accepted, it is referred to the appropriate committee for amendments. The bill is then returned to the plenum for a second reading, where the deliberations and voting take place on each section separately. In the third and final reading, the bill is presented in its final form, as adopted in the second reading. The plenum then votes on the bill. While most votes are by a show of hands, certain cases are voted on by secret ballot or roll-call votes. If the bill passes, it is signed by the presiding Speaker, Prime Minister, President, Knesset Speaker, and the minister responsible for the law's implementation. The Minister of Justice then places the state seal on it.

In addition to the absence of a formal constitution, and with no Basic Law thus far being adopted which formally grants a power of judicial review to the judiciary, the Supreme Court of Israel has in recent years asserted its authority, when sitting as the High Court of Justice, to invalidate provisions of Knesset laws it has found to be inconsistent with a Basic Law.

Under Israeli law, any bill whose annual budgetary cost is over NIS 5 million, and is not supported by the government, can only be adopted with the votes of at least 50 Knesset members, at every stage of the legislation.