ISRAEL AS A STATE

STRONG PARLIAMENT

• THE PRESIDENCY IS CEREMONIAL • POWER RESTS WITH THE PRIME

MINISTER WHO HEADS THE MAJORITY COALITION.

• 120 KNESSET MEMBERS ELECTED THROUGH PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

• NOT SINGLE MEMBER CONSTITUENCY DISTRICTS.

THE WESTMINISTER MODEL

• PARLIAMENT REPRESENTS THE WILL OF NATION AND IS NOT LIMITED

• LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE POWER UNITED

• NO WRITTEN CONSTITUTION TO BIND THE LEGISLATURE

• BUT ISRAEL DOES HAVE A SUPREME COURT AND “BASIC LAWS”

WESTMINSTER II

• ELECTIONS OCCUR AT LEAST EVERY FOUR YEARS

• EARLY ELECTIONS CAN OCCUR AFTER A “VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE”

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

• PARTIES NOMINATE LISTS NOT CANDIDATES

• AS FEW AS 2% OF VOTERS CAN ELECT A LIST

• NO ISRAELI PARTY HAS EVER WON (OR IS LIKELY TO WIN) AN OUTRIGHT MAJORITY

• GOVERNMENTS ARE THEREFORE PARTISAN COALITIONS

THE ENTRY OF RELIGIOUS PARTIES TO GOVERNMENT

• TO CREATE A “SUPER-MAJORITY” WITHOUT THE REVISIONISTS

• LABOR CHOSE RELIGIOUS PARTIES AS PARTNERS

• AND AGREED TO INTRODUCE SOME ASPECTS OF RELIGIOUS PRACTICE INTO LAW, ESPECIALLY “PERSONAL STATUS” AND “WHO IS A JEW”?

JUDICIAL PRACTICE

• SOURCES OF ISRAELI LAW ARE– LEGISLATION, – OTTOMAN LAW, – BRITISH MANDATORY REGULATION, – BRITISH COMMON LAW AND– JEWISH RELIGIOUS LAW.

• ANY OF THESE SOURCES CAN PROVIDE LEGAL PRINCIPLES FOR DECISION ESPECIALLY AT THE APPELLATE LEVEL.

ENTRY OF RELIGIOUS PARTIES

TO GAIN A SUPERMAJORITY IN THE FIRST KNESSET BEN GURION ASKED THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES TO JOIN A COALITION

IN RETURN THEY RECEIVED CONTROL OF PERSONAL STATUS AND WHO IS A JEW AND INFLUENCE OVER EDUCATION

A NEW POPULATION

• WITH THE MURDER OF EUROPE’S JEWISH POPULATION

• AND THE UNWILLINGNESS OF AMERICAN JEWS TO LEAVE

• AND THE INABILITY OF SOVIET JEWS TO LEAVE

• ISRAEL’S JEWISH POPULATION SEEMED DESTINED TO BE SMALL

ARRIVAL OF MIZRAHIM

• BUT GROWING ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE ARAB COUNTRIES

• COUPLED WITH RISE OF THE ISSUE OF PALESTINE

• LED EASTERN (MIZRAHI) JEWS TO LEAVE FOR ISRAEL

• BY 1956 40% OF THE 1-2/3 MILLION ISRAELIS WERE MIZRAHIM

WHO WERE THEY?

• MIZRAHIM DENOTES PEOPLE WHO CAME FROM ARAB AND NON-ARAB COUNTRIES

• GENERALLY LESS WELL-EDUCATED

• MORE TRADITIONALLY RELIGIOUS

• FEW CONNECTIONS TO THE DOMINANT LABOR PARTY

OVERWHELMING THE STATE

• MASSIVE INFLOWS OF PEOPLE AND LACK OF CAPITAL CREATED AN ECONOMIC CRISIS

• INFLATION, RATIONING, AND BLACK MARKETS ENSUED

• THE STATE WAS FORCED TO RETREAT AND ALLOW PRIVATE MARKETS IN CONSUMPTION GOODS

SHILUMIM

• WEST GERMANY OFFERED TO PAY ISRAEL REPARATIONS

• BEN GURION URGED ACCEPTING

• BEGIN OPPOSED

• IN AUTUMN 1952 ISRAEL SIGNED THE SHILUMUM AGREEMENT AND GAINED ACCESS TO SOME $820 MILLION OF GERMAN CREDITS

ISRAEL IN WORLD AFFAIRS

• UNTIL 1954 ISRAEL PERCEIVED AS A “SOCIALIST” COUNTRY

ISRAEL IN WORLD AFFAIRS

• THE ARAB STATES WERE CONSERVATIVE MONARCHIES ALLIED TO BRITAIN AND THE US

• THE EMERGENCE OF ARAB NATIONALIST GOVERNMENTS REVERSED THIS EQUATION

GAMAL ABDEL NASSER

• IN 1952 THE EGYPTIAN ARMY MADE A COUP AND BROUGHT DOWN THE MONARCHY

• IN 1954 NASSER EMERGED AS THE DOMINANT FIGURE

• IN 1956 HE TURNED TO THE SOVIET BLOC FOR WEAPONS AND NATIONALIZED THE SUEZ CANAL

NASSER NATIONALIZES THE SUEZ CANAL

• THE US REFUSED NASSER AID TO BUILD A HIGH DAM AT ASWAN

• HE NATIONALIZED THE SUEZ CANAL

• BRITAIN, FRANCE AND ISRAEL PLANNED AN INVASION TO TOPPLE THE REGIME

A NEW WORLD ORDER

• THE ISRAELI-ARAB CONFLICT TAKES ON THE DIMENSIONS OF CONFLICTS BETWEEN STATES

• THE CONFLICT BETWEEN STATES TAKES ON THE COLOR OF THE COLD WAR