Basic Laws of Israel: The Government

(b) The Prime Minister shall be a member of the Knesset. A Minister need not be a member of the Knesset.

(c) A Minister shall be in charge of a Ministry there may be a Minister without Portfolio.

(d) One of the Ministers who is a member of Knesset may be designated as Acting Prime Minister.

(e) A Minister may be Deputy Prime Minister.

(b) A person cannot be appointed as a Minister if he is serving in a position or role as specified in section 7 of The Basic Law: The Knesset, unless he ceases functioning in the said position or role prior to his appointment, as determined by law.

(c) A person convicted of an offense and sentenced to prison, prior to the passage of seven years from the day he completed his period of punishment, or the handing down of his sentence - the later of the two - may not be appointed as a Minister, unless the Chairman of the Central Election Committee states that the circumstances of the offense do not involve moral turpitude.
The Chairman of the Central Election Committee shall not so rule if the court determined that the offense involved moral turpitude.

(d) A foreign national may be appointed as a Minister if the law of the country of which he is a citizen allows him to waive such citizenship, only after he has taken all measures necessary to waive such citizenship.

(e) A Knesset member seceding from his faction and failing to tender his resignation as a Knesset member may not be appointed as a Minister during the period of service of that Knesset. This does not apply to the splitting of a faction as defined by law. "Secession from a faction" is defined in section 6(a) of The Basic Law: The Knesset.

(b) Should these consultation take place before the new Knesset convenes, the President will consult with representatives of the lists of candidates to be represented in the new Knesset.

(c) This section shall not apply to the formation of a Government following a no confidence vote according to section 28; in the event that a request is submitted to the President according to section 29(b), the relevant directives will apply.

(b) Before assigning the task of forming a Government under this section, or before he informm the Speaker of the Knesset that he sees no possibility of forming a Government, the President may again consult with representatives of factions in the Knesset.

(c) A Knesset Member to whom the task of forming a Government has been assigned under this section shall have 28 days in which to do so.

(b) Where a request as aforesaid has been submitted to the President, the President shall assign the task of forming a Government to that Knesset Member within two days.

(c) A Knesset Member to whom the task of forming a Government has been assigned under this section shall have a period of fourteen days for its fulfilment.

(b) Should the President so inform the Knesset Speaker, or should a Knesset Member charged with forming a Government under section 10(a) present a Government and fail to win the confidence of the Knesset as per section 13(d), it will be deemed to be a Knesset decision to disperse prior to the completion of its period of service, and elections for the Knesset will be held on the last Tuesday before the end of 90 days of the President's announcement, or of the rejection of the request for confidence in the Government, as relevant.

(b) Where the Knesset Member has formed a Government, he shall notify the President of the State and the Speaker of the Knesset to such effect, and the Speaker of the Knesset shall notify the Knesset and set a date for the presentation of the Government to the Knesset within seven days of such notification.

(c) The Knesset Member who has formed a Government shall head it.

(d) When a Government has been formed, it shall present itself to the Knesset, shall announce the basic lines of its policy, its composition and the distribution of functions among the Ministers, and shall ask for an expression of confidence. The Government is constituted when the Knesset has expressed confidence in it, and the Ministers shall thereupon assume office.

"I (name) as Prime Minister undertake to uphold the State of Israel and its laws, to faithfully fulfil my role as the Prime Minister and to comply with the decisions of the Knesset";

and each of the other Ministers shall make the following declaration of allegiance:

"I (name) as a member of the Government, undertake to uphold the State of Israel and its laws, to faithfully fulfil my role as a member of the Government, and to comply with the decisions of the Knesset."

(b) Should the Prime Minister be temporarily unable to discharge his duties, his place will be filled by the Acting Prime Minister. After the passage of 100 days upon which the Prime Minister does not resume his duties, the Prime Minister will be deemed permanently incapacitated from discharging his duties.

(c) Failing the appointment of a designated Acting Prime Minister, or should the Acting Prime Minister be prevented from fulfilling his duties under sections (a) and (b) above, the Government shall designate another Minister to fulfill these functions.

(b) Criminal proceedings shall not be commenced against someone who served as Prime Minister on suspicion of an offense committed while in office or within a year after serving in office, save with the agreement of the Attorney General.

(b) An indictment against the Prime Minister will be filed by the Attorney General and presided over in the Jerusalem District Court, in a presidium of three judges; proceedings regarding an indictment filed before the Prime Minister begins his term of office will be determined by law.

(c) Should the Court convict the Prime Minister of an offense, it will state in its decision whether the offense involved moral turpitude.

(b) Within 30 days of the verdict becoming final, the Knesset Committee of the Knesset will render its decision regarding its recommendation pertaining to the removal of the Prime Minister from office, and shall present its recommendation to the Knesset plenum; should the committee fail to bring its recommendation to the plenum during the prescribed period, the Speaker will raise the issue in the Knesset plenum.

(c) No decision shall be made by either the Knesset or the Knesset Committee regarding the removal of the Prime Minister from office, before the Prime Minister has been given an opportunity to state his case before them.

(d) Should the Knesset decide not to remove the Prime Minister from office, and should the verdict as per section (a) above become final, the Prime Minister will cease to serve in office and the Government shall be deemed to have resigned.

(e) The provisions of sections 42(a) and 42(b) of the Basic Law: the Knesset, shall not apply to the Prime Minister.

(b) Should the Prime Minister be permanently incapacitated, the Government shall be deemed to have resigned on the 101st day during which the Acting Prime Minister served in his place.

(b) Should an Acting Prime Minister cease to be a Knesset Member, he shall cease to serve as Acting Prime Minister.

(b) The Prime Minister may, by way of written notification, remove a Minister from his post; the removal of Minister will take effect 48 hours after the letter notifying thereof was given to the Minister, unless the Prime Minister retracts prior to such time.

(c) The tenure of a Minister in the Government ceases upon his election or appointment to one of the function the holders of which are debarred from being candidates for the Knesset.

(b) Should a Minister be convicted by the court, it shall state in its verdict whether the offense involves moral turpitude; should the court so state, the Minister's tenure shall cease on the day of such verdict.

(c) This section does not apply to the Prime Minister.

(b) Should a Minister be temporarily incapable of discharging his duties, the Prime Minister or another Minister appointed by the Government will discharge his duties.

(c) The period of tenure of an Acting Minister under subsection (b) will not exceed three months.

(b) The Deputy Minister shall act both in the Knesset and in the ministry, on behalf of the Knesset member who appointed him and within the parameters allocated to him.

(c) A Knesset member seceding from his faction may not be appointed to the position of Deputy Minister during the period of service of the same Knesset. This provision does not apply to the splitting of a faction under the conditions set by law; with regard to this subsection, "secession from a faction" is defined by section 6(a) of The Basic Law: The Knesset.

(1) The Deputy Minister resigned by submitting a letter of resignation to the Minister who appointed him;

(2) The same Minister ceased being a Minister or being in charge of the same office.

(3) The Prime Minister, the Government or the appointing Minister decide to terminate the service of the Deputy Minister; however, the Prime Minister will not dismiss a Deputy Minister without first informing both the Knesset and the appointing Minister of his intention to do so.

(4) A new Government was formed.

(5) The Deputy Minister ceased being a Knesset member.

(b) An expression of no confidence in the Government will be a decision adopted by the majority of the Members of Knesset to request that the President charge one of its members with the task of forming a Government.

(c) If the Knesset has expressed no confidence in the Government, the Government shall be deemed to have resigned on the day of the expression of no confidence. The President will, within two days, charge the Knesset Member named in the decision with the task of forming a Government.

(d) A Knesset Member to whom the task of forming a Government has been assigned under this section shall have a period of 28 days for its fulfilment. The President of the State may extend the period by additional periods not in the aggregate exceeding 14 days.

(e) Where the periods referred to in subsection (d) have passed and the Knesset Member has not notified the President of the State that he has formed a Government, or where he has notified him before then that he is unable to form a Government, the President will so notify the Speaker of the Knesset.

(f) If the President so informed the Speaker of the Knesset as per subsection (e) or where he presented a Government and the Knesset rejected his request for confidence under section 13(d), it will be deemed to be a Knesset decision to disperse prior to the completion of its period of service, and elections to the Knesset will be held on the last Tuesday before the end of 90 days of the President's announcement, or of the rejection of the request for confidence in the Government, as relevant.

(b) Within 21 days of the publication of the order, a majority of the Knesset Members may request that the President charge one of its members, who has so agreed in writing and who is not the Prime Minister, with the task of forming a government.

(c) Where a request as aforesaid has been submitted to the President, the President shall inform the Speaker of the Knesset. The President shall assign the task of forming a Government to the Knesset Member named in the request within two days.

(d) A Knesset Member to whom the task of forming a Government has been assigned under this section shall have a period of 28 days for its fulfilment. The President of the State may extend the period by additional periods not in the aggregate exceeding 14 days.

(e) Should no such request be submitted under subsection (b), or if the period defined in subsection (d) should pass, and the Knesset Member did not inform the President that he formed a government or where he presented a Government and the Knesset rejected his request for confidence under section 13(d), it will be deemed to be a Knesset decision to disperse prior to the completion of its period of service, and elections to the Knesset will be held on the last Tuesday before the end of 90 days of the President's announcement, or of the rejection of the request for confidence in the government, as relevant.

(f) The Prime Minister may not exercise his authority according to this section -

(1) From the beginning of the period of service of the incoming Knesset and until the establishment of the new Government.
(2) After the Knesset has expressed no confidence in the Government under section 28.
(3) After the resignation of the Prime Minister, or from the day on which the Knesset committee of the Knesset decided to recommend that he be removed from service and until the day the Knesset plenum renders its decision in the matter in accordance with the provisions of section 18(a).

 

(b) When a new Knesset has been elected or the Government has resigned (sections 18, 19, 20, 21 or 29), the outgoing Government shall continue to carry out its functions until the new Government is constituted.

(c) A Prime Minister who has resigned shall continue to carry out his functions pending the constitution of the new Government. If the Prime Minister has died, or is permanently incapacitated, from carrying out his duties, or if his tenure was ended because of an offense, the Government shall designate another of the Ministers who is a member of the Knesset and of the Prime Minister's faction to be Interim Prime Minister pending the constitution of the new Government.

(d) A Government serving by virtue of subsection (b) is entitled to appoint a Knesset Member as a Minister in place of a Minister who has ceased to serve; the appointment of a Minister under this subsection is not subject to the approval of the Knesset.

(b) The Government may, with the approval of the Knesset, transfer authorities and duties legally belonging to one Minister, in all or in part, to another Minister.

(c) The Government may, with the approval of the Knesset, unite or divide Government ministries, abolish or establish new ministries.

(d) The Government may transfer areas of actions from one ministry to another.

(e) The Government may establish permanent or temporary Ministerial committees , or for particular matters; after the appointment of a committee the Government may conduct its operations through it.

(f) The Government will set work and debate procedures, and decision-making processes in the Government, whether permanent or for a specific matter.

(b) Powers granted to a Minister by law, transferred to him under the provisions of section 31(b), with the exclusion of the authority to make regulations, may be delegated by the Minister either totally or partially or subject to conditions to a civil servant.

(c) Powers delegated by the Government to a Minister, with the exception of the power to make regulations, may be delegated by the Minister either totally or partially or subject to conditions to a civil servant provided that the Government empowered him to do so.

(d) For the purposes of this section and section, the power granted to the Government or a Minister also refers to duties incumbent upon them.

(e) The provisions of this section will apply provided no other intention is evidenced by the law conferring the power or imposing the obligation.

(1) State security;

(2) Foreign relations of the State;

(3) Matters regarding which the Government deems secrecy to be essential to the State, a notification thereof having been declared in an order, for the purposes of this law;

(4) A matter that the Government has decided to keep secret; the disclosure and publication of such matters is forbidden only to persons who were aware of the decision.

(b) The provisions of subsection (a) shall not apply to matters regarding which the Government or the Prime Minister, or such persons that the Government or the Prime Minister have specifically authorized, have permitted their publication or matters the publication of which is legally mandatory.

(b) A law may empower the Prime Minister or a Minister to make regulations in a matter decided by agreement.

(b) The declaration will remain in force for the period prescribed therein, but may not exceed one year; the Knesset may make a renewed declaration of a state of emergency as stated.

(c) Should the Government ascertain that a state of emergency exists in the State and that its urgency necessitates the declaration of a state of emergency, even before it becomes possible to convene the Knesset, it may declare a state of emergency. The declaration's validity shall expire upon 7 days from its proclamation, if not previously approved or revoked by the Knesset, pursuant to a decision by a majority of its members; should the Knesset fail to convene, the Government may make a renewed declaration of a state of emergency as stated in this subsection.

(d) The Knesset and Governmental declarations of a state of emergency will be published in Reshumot; should publication in Reshumot not be possible, another appropriate manner will be adopted, provided that notification thereof be published in Reshumot at the earliest possible date.

(e) The Knesset may at all times revoke the declaration of the state of emergency; notification of its revocation will be published in Reshumot.

(b) Should the Prime Minister deem it impossible to convene the Knesset, given the existence of an immediate and critical need to make emergency regulations, he may make such regulations or empower a Minister to make them.

(c) Emergency regulations may alter any law temporarily suspend its effect or introduce conditions, and may also impose or increase taxes or other compulsory payments unless there be another provision by law.

(d) Emergency regulations may not prevent recourse to legal action, or prescribe retroactive punishment or allow infringement upon human dignity.

(e) Emergency regulations shall not be enacted, nor shall arrangements, measures and powers be implemented in their wake, except to the extent warranted by the state of emergency.

(f) The force of emergency regulations shall expire three months after the day of their enactment unless their force is extended by law, or they are revoked by the Knesset by law, or pursuant to a decision of a majority of the members of Knesset.

(g) Emergency regulations shall come into force on the day of their publication in Reshumot; should publication in Reshumot not be possible another appropriate means of publication will be adopted provided that they be published in Reshumot as soon as possible.

(h) Should the state of emergency cease to exist, the regulations enacted will remain in force for the duration of the prescribed period, however not longer than for 60 days after the termination of the state of emergency; state of emergency regulations whose force was lengthened by law shall remain in force.

(b) Nothing in the provisions of this section will prevent the adoption of military actions necessary for the the defence of the state and public security.

(c) Notification of a Government decision to begin a war under the provision of subsection (a) will be submitted to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee as soon as possible; the Prime Minister also will give notice to the Knesset plenum as soon as possible; notification regarding military actions as stated in subsection (b) will be given to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee as soon as possible.

(b) The Knesset may, at the request of at least forty of its members, conduct a session with the participation of the Prime Minister, pertaining to a topic decided upon; requests as stated may be submitted no more than once a month.

(c) The Knesset may obligate a Minister to appear before it, similar authority is granted to any of the Knesset committees within the framework of their tasks.

(d) Any of the Knesset committees may within the framework of the discharging of their duties, and under the auspices of the relevant Minister and with his knowledge, require a civil servant or any other person prescribed in the law, to appear before them.

(e) Any Minister may speak before the Knesset and its committees.

(f) Details regarding the implementation of this section may be prescribed by law or in the Knesset articles.

(a) This Basic Law can only be amended by a majority of the Knesset members; the majority under this subsection will be required for decisions of the Knesset plenum in the first, second and third readings; for this subsection, amendment is either explicit or implicit.

(b) The provisions of this subsection will not apply to sections 45 and 46.

(1) The following will be added after section 21:

"Knesset supervision of secondary legislation

21(a). (a) Regulations enacted by a Minister whose violation entails criminal punishment shall not enter into force until they have been approved by a responsible Knesset committee; should the committee fail to approve or reject the regulations within 45 days of receiving the regulations, the regulations will be deemed approved.

(b) The provisions of this subsection do not prejudice the provisions of any Basic Law or other law regarding regulations."

(2) Section 35 shall conclude "not later than five months from the adoption of the law."

(3) The following will be added after section 36:

36(a). "Dispersion due to failure to adopt budget"

(a) Non-adoption of the Budget Law within three months subsequent to the beginning of the fiscal year will be considered to be a Knesset decision on its dispersion, prior to the completion of its term of service, on the day following the end of this period (the determining date), and early elections will be held on the last Tuesday before the end of 90 days of the determining date, unless the Knesset decides, within five days of the determining date, may decide that because of the proximity of the date of elections to a holiday or memorial day, to postpone the elections to a date no later than 100 days from the determining date.

 

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), should the President begin procedures to form a new Government under section 30 of The Basic Law: The Government, or should a law be adopted to disperse the Knesset, or should elections to the Knesset be held after the submission of the Draft Budget under section 3 of The Basic Law: The State Economy, and before the passage of three months from the beginning of the fiscal year, the determining day under subsection (a), shall be "three months from the beginning of the fiscal year or 45 days from the constitution of the Government, whichever is later."