|
The Newsletter of the Israel Policy Center
Volume III Issue 2 ...... 3 Sivan 5768 / June 6, 2008
SPECIAL ISSUE — PRIMARIES AND
THE ISRAEL POLITICAL SYSTEM
As the 17th Knesset, like its 5 predecessors, winds toward a likely premature end, we focus on the primary system in Israel. The first effect of primaries on elections to the 18th Knesset is to precipitate them by making it impossible for the Kadima party to swiftly replace a Prime Minister who has lost support. But first, our editorial.
COMMENTARY: THE UNTOUCHABLES
 Haim Ramon: Harasser or harassed?
In testimony yesterday before a special Knesset committee, established to investigate the conduct of the law enforcement establishment in prosecuting former Justice Minister Haim Ramon, the current minister, Daniel Friedmann, complained that the police and the Attorney General were doing everything in their power to protect police officials and prosecutors who violated Ramon’s due-process rights. Freidmann called for the establishment of an official Commission of Inquiry. Unlike a Knesset committee, an official Commission of Inquiry can issue subpoenas, force civil servants to testify, and prescribe sanctions for offenders. As things stand now, the people who violated Ramon’s rights are untouchable.more...
 Not So Fast On May 28, in the wake of Morris Talansky's
preliminary testimony in Jerusalem District Court, the head of Israel’s Labor Party, Ehud Barak, appeared to pull the plug on the 17th Knesset. Barak demanded that Kadima, the biggest party in the Knesset, choose a new leader to replace Ehud Olmert as Prime Minister. Pulling an unpopular Prime Minister out of the government and plugging in a replacement appears, however, impossible to do quickly under Israel’s political system.
more...
Primaries and the Next Knesset
by Yitzhak Klein, Director, Israel Policy Center
Israel’s parliamentary system is based on proportional representation. Parties nominate ranked lists of candidates. Voters get to vote for the list, not individual candidates. The more votes a party gets, the larger its representation in the Knesset, starting with the first candidate on its list, then the second, third, and so on.. more...
 Open Primaries Among the “National-Religious” Public?
Dr. Asher Cohen of Bar Ilan University's Political Science Department has suggested open primaries for Israel’s “national-religious” community. Israel’s National-Religious public is deeply committed to the principle of a sovereign Jewish state. The community’s educational institutions, formal and informal, are acknowledged to produce large numbers of idealistic young people highly motivated to good citizenship and public service. This public’s institutional and communal coherence completely break down in the political sphere, where it is in considerable disarray... more...
Back To Top
|
|
