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 % 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