Politics

The politics of Israel takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Israel is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the Knesset. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The State of Israel has no formal constitution, and its political system and main principles are set out in 11 Basic Laws of Israel.

Executive Branch

The President of Israel is Head of State, serving as a largely ceremonial figurehead. The President selects the leader of the majority party or ruling coalition in the Knesset as the Prime Minister, who serves as head of government and leads the Cabinet.

Legislative Branch

The Knesset is Israel's unicameral parliament. Its 120 members are elected to 4-year terms through party-list proportional representation, as mandated by the 1958 Basic Law: The Knesset. As the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset enacts laws, supervises government activities and is empowered to elect or remove the President of the State or State Comptroller from office.

The March 2006 elections produced five prominent political parties; Kadima, Labor, Shas, Likud and Israel Beytenu, each with more than ten seats in the Knesset. However, only once has a single party held the 61 seats needed for a majority government (the Alignment from 1968 until the 1969 elections). Since 1948, therefore, Israeli governments have always comprised coalitions. As of 2006, there are 12 political parties represented in the Knesset, spanning both the political and religious spectra.

Judicial Branch

The Judicial branch is an independent branch of the government, including secular and religious courts for the various religions present in Israel. The court system involves 3 stages of justice:

Magistrate Courts serves as the court of first instance

District Courts serves as the appellate courts and also serve as the court of first instance for some cases;

Supreme Court is located in Jerusalem and acts as an appellate court, and as the High Court of Justice as a court of first instance often in matters concerning the legality of decisions of state authorities.

In December 1985, Israel informed the UN Secretariat that it would no longer accept compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction.

Religious Courts

Some issues of family law (marriage and divorce in particular) fall either under the jurisdiction of religious courts or under parallel jurisdiction of those and the state's family courts. The state maintains and finances Rabbinical, Sharia and various Canonical courts for the needs of the various religious communities. All judges are civil servants, and required to uphold general law in their tribunals as well. The High court of Justice serves as final appellate instance for all religious courts.

The Jewish religious authorities are under control of the Prime Minister's Office and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. These courts have jurisdiction in only five areas: Kashrut, Sabbath, Jewish burial, marital issues (especially divorce), and Jewish status of immigrants. However, except for determining a person's marital status, all other marital issues may also be taken to secular Family Courts.

The other major religions in Israel, such as Islam and Christianity, are supervised by their own establishments of religious law. These courts have similar jurisdiction over their followers, although Muslim religious courts have more control over family affairs. Though now legitimised by the constitution of a Jewish state, the courts' present powers are the same as those agreed to by the government of the British Mandate (1920-1948).

Military

Israel's military consists of a unified Israel Defense Forces (IDF), known in Hebrew by the acronym Tzahal. The Navy and Air Force are subordinate to the Army. There are other paramilitary agencies that deal with different aspects of Israel's security (such as Magav and Shin Bet). The IDF was based on paramilitary underground armies, chiefly Haganah.

The IDF is one of the best funded military forces in the Middle East and ranks among the most battle-trained armed forces in the world, having been involved in five major wars and numerous border conflicts. In terms of personnel, the IDF's main resource is the training quality of its soldiers and expert institutions, rather than sheer numbers of soldiers. It also relies heavily on high technology weapons systems, some developed and manufactured in Israel for its specific needs, and others imported (largely from the United States).

Most Israelis (males and females) are drafted into the military at age 18. Most Israeli Arabs are not conscripted however, due to a possible conflict of interests. Other exceptions are those who cannot serve because of injury or disability, women who declare themselves married, or those who are religiously observant. Compulsory service is three years for men, and two years for women. Men studying full-time in religious institutions can get a deferment from conscription. While Israeli Arabs are not conscripted, they are allowed to enlist voluntarily. This is the same policy as the Bedouin and many non-Jewish citizens of Israel.

Following compulsory service, Israeli men become part of the IDF reserve forces, and are usually required to serve several weeks every year as reservists until their forties.

Human Rights

The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel proclaimed that the state "...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".

However, like many democracies, Israel often struggles with issues of minority rights, especially when it comes to the often contentious issues surrounding the treatment of Israel's large Arab minority, which constitutes 15% of Israel's population. The Arab minority, however, is represented in Israel's cabinet.

While Israel does not have a constitution, it has a set of Basic Laws, intended to form the basis of a future constitution. One of those Basic Laws, Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, serves as one of the major tools for defending human rights and liberties. According to the 2005 US Department of State report on Israel, "The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas...".

Various countries, international bodies, non-governmental organisations and individuals have evaluated and often criticised Israel's human rights record, often in relation to the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are highly critical of Israel's policies. In contrast, other organisations see Israel as one of the few free countries in the region. In 2006, Freedom House rated political rights in Israel as '1' (1 representing the most free and 7 the least free rating); civil liberties as '2'; and it received a combined freedom rating of 'Free.' Most of the countries in the Middle East were classified as 'Not Free'. However, areas controlled by Israel through military occupation but not considered within the country's main territory were rated as '6,' '5,' and 'Not Free' (territories administered by the Palestinian Authority were rated as '5', '5', and 'Partly Free').

Israel's press is ranked as most free in the region. According to the Reporters Without Borders (RWB), "The Israeli media were once again in 2005 the only ones in the region that had genuine freedom to speak out". RWB ranked Israel 50th (tied with Grenada) out of 168 countries as regards freedom of the press, the highest of any country in the Middle East and just ahead of the United States (53rd). In addition, Israel is also the only country in the region to have its press ranked as 'Free' (29 on the scale 1-100) by Freedom House, and what Freedom House termed "Israeli-Occupied Territories/ Palestinian Authority" were ranked 'Not Free' (84 out of 100).