Basic Law: The Knesset חוק יסוד: הכנסת

Key provisions

• 120 members elected in a single nationwide constituency by proportional representation
• Four-year terms, with elections normally held on a Tuesday in the Hebrew month of Cheshvan
• Universal suffrage for every citizen aged 18 and over, regardless of religion, ethnicity, or gender
• Section 7A safeguards the constitutional order by disqualifying candidates or lists that reject Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incite racism, or support armed struggle against Israel
• Entrenched core provisions (elections, equality of the vote, dissolution) require a supermajority, up to 80 MKs, to amend

Context

Enacted by the Third Knesset on 12 February 1958 as the first concrete product of the 1950 Harari Decision, which committed Israel to building a constitution chapter by chapter rather than at one stroke. Before its passage, parliamentary procedure rested on a patchwork of British Mandate ordinances and provisional rules adopted in 1948-49, itself a testament to how rapidly the young Jewish state built durable democratic institutions while absorbing mass immigration and defending itself from invasion.

Notable amendments

• 1985: Amendment 9 added Section 7A, allowing the disqualification of parties that reject Israel as a Jewish and democratic state or incite racism, a vital safeguard for the country's constitutional identity
• 2014: Raised the electoral threshold from 2% to 3.25% under the Governance Law, encouraging larger and more stable factions
• 2015: First version of the 'Norwegian Law' enabled a minister to vacate his or her Knesset seat for the next candidate on the party list, freeing senior officials to govern while keeping fresh MKs in committee work
• 2016: Allowed 90 MKs to expel a sitting member for incitement or support of armed struggle (never used)
• 2020: Expanded version of the Norwegian Law, embedded in the Basic Law itself, permitted all ministers except the Prime Minister to resign and be replaced

Today

Remains the operational charter for Israeli elections and parliamentary procedure. The next Knesset election is scheduled for 16 Cheshvan 5787 (Tuesday, 27 October 2026), the first national vote since the 7 October 2023 Hamas atrocities and Israel's subsequent multi-front war of self-defense against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. Disqualification petitions under Section 7A again surfaced ahead of the 2022 cycle, when the Central Elections Committee voted to bar the anti-Zionist Balad list, a vote defending Israel's Jewish-democratic constitutional order, though the Supreme Court overturned the disqualification.