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The Knesset - is the unicameral legislature
of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem. The legislative
branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws,
elects the President and Prime Minister (although the latter is
ceremonially appointed by the President), approves the cabinet,
and supervises the work of the government. In addition, it also
recommends a candidate for the State Comptroller to the
President, who appoints the State Comptroller. It also has the
power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the President
and the State Comptroller from office, remove a Prime Minister
convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, and to
dissolve itself and call new elections. The Prime Minister may
dissolve the Knesset. However, until an election is completed,
the Knesset maintains authority in its current composition.
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 are deemed
racist or reject the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.
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. |
