The Basic Laws

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
• Changing section 4's electoral principles requires 61 MKs; changing the protections in sections 44–45 requires 80.

Context

Enacted in 1958 as Israel's first Basic Law, following the 1950 Harari Decision to prepare a constitution chapter by chapter.

Notable amendments

• 1985: Added section 7A on disqualifying electoral lists; its grounds were subsequently amended.
• 2015 onward: Provisions allow eligible ministers and deputy ministers to leave the Knesset temporarily and be replaced from their party lists.
• 2016: Added a procedure requiring 90 MKs to remove a member for incitement to racism or support for armed struggle against Israel.

Today

The law governs elections, parliamentary terms, members' eligibility and immunity, and procedures for dissolving the Knesset.

Key provisions

• Elected by secret ballot for one seven-year term. With multiple candidates, the first ballot requires 61 votes; a runoff is decided by the majority voting for a candidate.
• Open to any Israeli citizen and resident
• Signs laws and Knesset-approved treaties, accredits diplomats, and performs appointment duties assigned by law, including the appointment of judges.
• May pardon offenders and reduce or commute sentences
• Assigns government formation to a consenting MK after consulting parliamentary factions, under Basic Law: The Government.
• Enjoys immunity from prosecution; may be removed only by a three-quarters Knesset supermajority (90 of 120 MKs) for behavior unbecoming the office

Context

The 1964 Basic Law replaced earlier legislation governing the presidency. A 1998 amendment changed the renewable five-year term to a single seven-year term.

Notable amendments

• 1998: Reduced presidency to a single seven-year term (effective 2000, first applied to President Moshe Katsav), eliminating the option of a second consecutive five-year term

Today

Isaac Herzog was elected on 2 June 2021 and began his seven-year term on 7 July 2021.

Key provisions

• Government is composed of a Prime Minister, who must be an MK, and ministers who need not be
• A government takes office after a Knesset confidence vote. Constructive no-confidence requires at least 61 MKs to approve an alternative government, including its program and ministers.
• PM, with presidential approval, may dissolve the Knesset and call early elections
• Detailed regime for emergency regulations, declaration of war, and acting/interim governments

Context

First enacted in 1968. A 1992 replacement introduced direct election of the Prime Minister, used in 1996, 1999 and 2001; the 2001 law restored parliamentary selection.

Notable amendments

• 1992: Direct election of the Prime Minister (in force 1996-2001)
• 2001: Full replacement restoring the parliamentary system (constructive no-confidence later added in 2014)
• 2020: 'Alternate Prime Minister' framework created for the Netanyahu-Gantz rotation government
• 2025: Repealed the rotation-government and alternate-prime-minister framework, effective when the 26th Knesset takes office.

Today

On 3 January 2024, the Supreme Court ruled 6–5 that the 2023 amendment restricting declarations of a prime minister's incapacity to physical or mental grounds would take effect only with the 26th Knesset.

Key provisions

• The IDF is the army of the State
• The army is subject to the authority of the Government, with the Minister of Defense in charge on the government's behalf
• The Chief of the General Staff is the supreme commander of the army, subordinate to the Government and subject to the Defense Minister
• Forbids forming or maintaining any other armed force except by law
• Duties to serve and enlist, and authority to issue military orders, must be prescribed by or under law.

Today

Conscription arrangements are governed by separate legislation. On 3 September 2026, the Supreme Court unanimously invalidated July's temporary law suspending arrest and enforcement proceedings for qualifying yeshiva students. Basic Law: Torah Study does not itself grant draft exemptions.

Key provisions

• Judicial power vested in courts; judges subject only to the law
• Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem; functions as both court of appeal and as the High Court of Justice (Bagatz) for petitions against state authorities
• Judges appointed by the President on recommendation of a nine-member Judicial Selection Committee (3 Supreme Court justices, 2 Israel Bar Association representatives, 2 ministers including the Justice Minister, 2 MKs traditionally one coalition and one opposition)
• Judicial service ends through retirement, resignation, an incompatible appointment, a decision of at least seven Selection Committee members, or a disciplinary-court decision.
• Public hearings unless otherwise provided by law

Notable amendments

• 2023: An amendment barred reasonableness review of decisions by the government, Prime Minister and ministers.
• 2024: The Supreme Court invalidated that amendment by 8–7; 12 of 15 judges recognized a power to review Basic Laws in exceptional cases.

Today

A 27 March 2025 amendment, passed 67–1, replaces the Bar Association's two committee seats with lawyers chosen by the coalition and opposition. It is scheduled to take effect with the next Knesset; the existing nine-member composition applies before then.

Key provisions

• Ownership of Israel Lands may not be transferred by sale or any other means
• Applies to land owned by the State, the Development Authority, and the Jewish National Fund
• Allows the Knesset to define exceptional categories of land or transactions by separate statute

Context

The 1960 land-law framework established national land administration. Separate legislation in 2009 reformed the administration and allowed ownership transfers to eligible urban leaseholders, subject to conditions.

Key provisions

• Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel
• Seat of the President, Knesset, Government, and Supreme Court
• Protects holy places against desecration and interference with access by members of different religions.
• (2000 amendment) Forbids transfer of any authority over Jerusalem to a foreign body, political or governmental
• Changing section 6's prohibition on transferring authority to a foreign body requires 80 MKs; changing section 7's entrenchment rule requires 61.

Context

The law was enacted in 1980, after Israel extended its law and administration to eastern Jerusalem in 1967. UN Security Council Resolution 478 rejected recognition of the law and called on states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from the city.

Notable amendments

• 2000: Added territorial and authority-transfer provisions.
• 2018: Raised the threshold for changing the authority-transfer prohibition to 80 MKs.
• 2024: Added section 6A: new official foreign missions in Jerusalem must be diplomatic missions accredited to Israel.

Today

The United States recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and opened its embassy there on 14 May 2018. Nauru opened an embassy in Jerusalem on 7 September 2026.

Key provisions

• The Land of Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people, where the State of Israel was established
• The right to exercise national self-determination in Israel is unique to the Jewish people
• Hebrew is the state language; Arabic has special status, without diminishing the status it held before enactment.
• The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote it
• Recognizes state symbols and Jewish holidays, provides for non-Jewish residents' days of rest, and declares openness to Jewish immigration and the ingathering of exiles.

Context

Enacted in 2018. Supporters described it as recognition of Jewish national identity; critics, including Druze petitioners, raised concerns about equality. On 8 July 2021, the Supreme Court rejected the challenges by 10–1, interpreting the law alongside Israel's democratic constitutional commitments.

Key provisions

• One operative section: Torah study is a foundational value in the heritage of the Jewish people and in the State of Israel
• The bill's original companion clause equating long-term Torah study with 'significant service' was removed in committee before the final vote
• As a Basic Law it carries constitutional rank, but the enacted text does not itself grant any exemption, benefit, stipend, or draft deferment

Context

Passed on 13 July 2026 by 63–52. The final text omitted the proposed equation of extended Torah study with significant service. It recognizes Torah study as a foundational value without creating a specific benefit or exemption.

Today

The law is declaratory. Its broader legal effects depend on future interpretation and legislation; automatic changes to conscription, funding or benefits should not be inferred from the text.

Key provisions

• Protects life, body, and dignity; bars violations of property; bars arrest or imprisonment except by law
• Protects personal liberty and privacy. Everyone may leave Israel; Israeli citizens abroad have a right to enter.
• Section 8 'limitations clause', rights may be infringed only by a law befitting the values of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, for a proper purpose, and to an extent no greater than required
• Emergency regulations cannot amend or suspend this Basic Law. During a declared emergency, proportionate, time-limited restrictions on rights remain possible for a proper purpose under section 12.
• Binds all governmental authorities

Context

Enacted in 1992. The 1994 amendment added the basic-principles clause referring to the Declaration of Independence.

Notable amendments

• 1994: Conforming amendment adding a 'basic principles' section anchoring rights in the value of the human being and the sanctity of life, alongside the re-enactment of Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation

Today

The 1995 United Mizrahi Bank judgment recognized the constitutional status of the rights Basic Laws and judicial review of conflicting ordinary legislation. The Court upheld the statute challenged in that case.

Key provisions

• Every Israeli national or resident has the right to engage in any occupation, profession, or trade
• Restrictions allowed only by a law befitting the values of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, for a proper purpose, and to a proportionate extent
• Section 8 permits an expressly overriding law passed by at least 61 MKs. Its normal four-year expiry does not apply to laws enacted within the first year of this Basic Law.
• Protected from emergency regulations

Context

First enacted in 1992 and replaced in 1994. The replacement introduced the override provision, used for legislation restricting imports of non-kosher meat; a 1998 amendment removed that law's four-year expiry.

Notable amendments

• 1994: Wholly re-enacted with the override clause
• 1998: Extended override-law validity

Key provisions

• The State Budget is set by an annual law that the government must lay before the Knesset within a statutory window before the fiscal year begins
• Taxes, compulsory loans, and fees may be imposed and varied only by or under law
• Sets rules for state borrowing, currency issuance, and management of state property
• Subjects the state's economic affairs to the inspection of the State Comptroller
• Budgets are annual. In specified government-formation circumstances, two consecutive annual budget bills may be submitted together, with adjustment and reporting requirements.

Context

First adopted in 1975. The law also regulates continued spending before a budget is passed, multi-year budget planning, and the approval of private members' bills with substantial fiscal costs.

Key provisions

• Elected by secret ballot of the Knesset for a single seven-year term
• Audits state finances, ministries, state enterprises, local authorities and other bodies subject to audit by law.
• Functions as Ombudsman for public complaints
• Responsible only to the Knesset, not to the government
• Audited bodies must provide the information, documents and explanations the Comptroller requires for an audit.

Context

The office was established by statute in 1949 and gained Ombudsman duties in 1971. The Basic Law was enacted in 1988.

Today

As of 5 October 2026, the office had no serving Comptroller after Matanyahu Englman's term ended in July. The High Court annulled the June runoff won by Michael Rabilo over ballot-secrecy violations and ordered a repeat vote against Yosef Elron; that vote remained pending.

Key provisions

• Those eligible to vote in Knesset elections on the referendum date may participate.
• Referendum is dispensed with only if 80 of 120 MKs approve
• Applies to all territory to which Israeli law, jurisdiction, and administration have been extended, that is, pre-1967 Israel, East Jerusalem, and the Golan
• Entrenched, amendment requires an absolute majority (61 MKs)

Context

Enacted in 2014, following an ordinary referendum law passed in 2010. Its territorial test includes Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, where Israel applies its law, jurisdiction and administration; it does not generally cover the West Bank.