THE PLOT

Since its declaration, a Provisional State Council of 38 people governed Israel. They weren’t elected but had slid into their roles because they performed roughly the same jobs in the Jewish Agency — the pre-state government. Chaim Weizmann was the head of this Council (which functioned as a parliament) but 14 of its members served as a Cabinet (which functioned as an Executive Branch) headed by David Ben Gurion. 

Israel’s first national election in February, 1949, more or less codified this arrangement as the system of government. Israel established the parliament, called the Knesset, with 120 seats (i.e. 120 representatives). Back then a political party needed to earn 1% of the vote to get a seat in the Knesset (today it’s 3.25%). And a majority vote requires 61 seats. 

But never once in Israeli history has a single party received 61 seats in an election. Instead, parties have to form coalitions together in order to get a majority to pass legislation. After an election, there is a lengthy process of coalition-forming, in which the President of Israel (a mostly ceremonial position) asks the party which won the most votes to form a 61-seat coalition by a certain deadline. 

The left-wing party, Mapai, helmed by David Ben Gurion, was the dominant political party in Israel from 1948—1977. Much of Israeli society was organized around political parties, with its major institutions leaning heavily left, which helps explain Mapai’s dominance. Mapai was opposed by Herut, the right-wing party that grew out of Revisionist Zionism, and was led by Menachem Begin. The main difference between Herut and Mapai was over how much territory Israel should have, with Herut believing Israel should include the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

THE PEOPLE

Menachem Begin: leader of the right-wing opposition party, Herut, and Ben Gurion’s political archenemy.

David Ben Gurion: first Prime Minister of Israel.

Chaim Weizmann: first President of Israel, a mostly-ceremonial role with certain specific political functions regarding elections. 

THE BIG IDEAS

In Israel you don’t vote directly for a President or a Prime Minister. You vote for a party. And in Israel back then and now, there were lots of parties. This means that no one gets a majority vote in elections and therefore have to form coalitions with other parties in order to secure a majority vote on anything in the Knesset.

The coalition system has advantages and disadvantages. It’s highly representative, encourages compromise, and can drive policy towards the center. The downside is that politics is highly chaotic, small parties can have too much power, and it gives the Prime Minister a lot of power, which can have a huge impact depending on whether the leader is strong or weak.

Until 1977 the left-wing wholly dominated Israeli politics. Partly this was due to Ben Gurion’s charismatic leadership, partly due to the left’s success at having established the state and won the War of Independence, and partly due to the fact that Israel’s major institutions, from the Histadrut to the IDF, leaned left in their leadership.

FUN FACTS

The plane that took Chaim Weizmann to Israel for his inauguration was called “El Al” — becoming the first plane and the first flight of what became Israel’s national airline.

In November 1948, the entire country was placed on lockdown so the government could conduct a census. 

The Knesset has 120 seats because that’s how many seats the ancient Great Assembly is thought to have had — the 300 year-long legislative system that began in the 6th century BCE. 

2019 was the first time in Israeli history that the winning party wasn’t able to form a coalition government, and therefore new elections had to be held. It took three elections to finally put together a majority.

© Jason Harris 2020