Basic Law: The Knesset (1958)

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THIS LAW: Basic Law: The Knesset (passed by the Knesset February 12, 1958).
ITS AMENDMENTS: (7.22.59) (7.29.59) (8.6.59) (3.14.67) (7.17.74) (7.16.80) (4.1.81) (4.1.81) (7.31.85) (5.19.87) (3.7.2001-section 45)

BASIC LAW: THE KNESSET*

What the Knesset
is.

1. The Knesset is the parliament of the State.

Place of sitting.

2. The place of sitting of the Knesset is Jerusalem.

Composition.

3. The Knesset shall, upon its election, consist of one hundred and twenty members.

Electoral system.

4. The Knesset shall be elected by general, national, direct, equal, secret and proportional elections, in accordance with the Knesset Elections Law; this section shall not be varied save by a majority of the members of the Knesset.

The right to vote.

5. Every Israel national of or over the age of eighteen years shall have the right to vote in elections to the Knesset unless a court has deprived him of that right by virtue of any Law; the Elections Law shall determine the time at which a person shall be considered to be eighteen years of age for the purpose of the exercise of the right to vote in elections to the Knesset.

The right to be
elected.

6. Every Israel national who on the day of the admission of a candidates list containing his name is twenty-one years of age or over shall have the right to be elected to the Knesset unless a court has deprived him of that right by virtue of any Law.

Who shall not be a
candidate.

7. The following shall not be candidates for the Knesset:

(1) the President of the State;
(2) the two Chief Rabbis;
(3) a judge (shofet), so long as he holds office;
(4) a judge (dayan) of a religious court, so long as he holds office;
(5) the State Comptroller;
(6) the Chief of the General Staff of the Defence Army of Israel;
(7) rabbis and ministers of other religions, so long as they hold office;
(8) senior State employees and senior Army officers of such grades or ranks and in such functions as shall be determined by Law.

Term of office of
the Knesset.

8. The term of office of the Knesset shall be four years from the day on which it is elected.

Date of elections.

9. The elections to the Knesset shall take place on the third Tuesday of the month of Cheshvan in the year in which the tenure of the outgoing Knesset ends.

Election day to be
a day of rest.

10. Election day shall be a day of rest, but transport services and other public services shall function normally.

Publication of
election results.

11. The results of the elections shall he published in Reshumot within fourteen days from election day.

Convening of the
Knesset.

12. The Knesset shall convene for its first meeting on Monday in the second week following the week in which the election results are published, at four o'clock in the afternoon, or, if that day is a festival or the eve of festival, on the workday next following the festival.

Opening of the
Knesset.

13. The Knesset shall be opened by the President of the State or, in his absence, by the oldest Knesset member present; if the President of the State opens the Knesset, he shall hand over the chairmanship of the meeting to the oldest Knesset member present.

Declaration of
allegience by
members of the
Knesset.

14. When the oldest Knesset member has opened the first meeting of the Knesset or taken over the chairmanship thereof, he shall make his declaration of allegiance as a Knesset member; the declaration shall read as follows:

"I pledge myself to bear allegiance to the State of Israel and faithfully to discharge my mandate in the Knesset."

When the oldest Knesset member has made his declaration of allegiance, he shall read the text once more to the members of the Knesset, and each of them in turn shall rise and declare:

"I pledge myself".

Declaration after
the opening
meeting.

15. A Knesset member who was not present at the opening meeting or who became a Knesset member after that meeting shall make his declaration of allegiance at the first meeting that he attends; the chairman of the meeting shall read to him the text of the declaration, and the member shall rise and declare:

"I pledge myself".

Failure to make
declaration.

16. Where the Chairman of the Knesset has called upon a member of the Knesset to make his declaration of allegiance and the member has not done so, the member shall not enjoy the rights of a member of the Knesset so long as he has not made the declaration.

Immunity of
Knesset members.

17. The members of the Knesset shall have immunity; particulars shall be prescribed by Law.

Immunity of
Knesset buildings.

18. The building of the Knesset shall have immunity; particulars shall be prescribed by Law.

Procedure and
rules.

19. The Knesset shall itself prescribe its procedure; in so far as such procedure has not been prescribed by Law, the Knesset shall prescribe it by rules; so long as the procedure has not been prescribed as aforesaid, the Knesset shall follow its accepted practice and routine.

Chairman and
Vice-Chairman.

20. The Knesset shall elect from among its members a Chairman and Vice-Chairmen.

Committees.

21. The Knesset shall elect from among its members permanent committees, and it may elect from among its members committees for specific matters; the functions, powers and procedure of the committees shall, in so far as they are not prescribed by Law, be prescribed by the Rules.

Commissions of
inquiry.

22. The Knesset may appoint commissions of inquiry - either by empowering one of the permanent committees in that behalf or by electing a commission from among its members - to investigate matters designated by the Knesset; the powers and functions of a commission of inquiry shall be prescribed by the Knesset; every commission of inquiry shall include also representatives of party groups which do not participate in the Government, in accordance with the relative strength of the party groups in the Knesset.

Government
member who is not
a member of the
Knesset.

23. A member of the Government who is not a member of the Knesset shall, as to everything relating to the Knesset, have the same status as a member of the Government who is a member of the Knesset, except that he shall not have the right to vote.

Quorum.

24. The Knesset shall hold debates and pass decisions whatever the number of members present.

Majority.

25. Save as otherwise provided by Law, the Knesset shall pass its decisions by a majority of those participating in the voting - those abstaining not being reckoned as participating - and the voting procedure shall be prescribed by the Rules.

Meetings.

26. The meetings of the Knesset shall be held at its place of sitting: Provided that in special circumstances the Chairman of the Knesset may, in consultation with the Vice-Chairmen, convene the Knesset elsewhere. The meetings of the Knesset shall take place on workdays.

Publicity of
meetings.

27. The Knesset shall sit in public unless it has been decided, under such conditions and in such manner as has been prescribed by the Rules, that it shall sit in camera.

Publication - open
meetings.

28. The publication of proceedings taken and utterances made at an open meeting is not restricted and does not entail any criminal or civil liability: Provided that the chairman of the meeting may, in such manner as has been prescribed by the Rules, prohibit the publication of anything the publication of which may, in his opinion, prejudice the security of the State.

Publication - closed
meetings.

29. The publication of proceedings taken and utterances made at a closed meeting is prohibited in so far as it has not been permitted in the manner prescribed by the Rules.

Prohibited
publication.

30. A person who publishes anything the publication of which is prohibited under the preceding two sections is liable to the penalties prescribed by Law.

Sessions.

31. The Knesset shall hold two sessions a year; one of them shall open within four weeks after the Feast of Tabernacles, the other within four weeks after Independence Day; the aggregate duration of the two sessions shall not be less than eight months.

Time for opening of
session.

32. If the Knesset has not been convened within the four weeks referred to in the preceding section, it shall convene on Monday in the fifth week, at four o'clock in the afternoon.

Convening of the
Knesset out of
season.

33. In addition to the aforementioned sessions, the Chairman of the Knesset shall convene the Knesset upon the demand of thirty members of the Knesset or upon the demand of the Government.

Dissolution of the
Knesset.

34. The Knesset shall not decide to dissolve itself before the expiration of its term of office save by adopting a Law for that purpose.

Date of elections
after dissolution of
the Knesset.

35. The Law concerning the dissolution of the Knesset shall contain a provision as to the date of the elections to the next Knesset.

Term of office of
the Knesset after
dissolution.

36. If the Knesset decides to dissolve itself, the term of office of the next Knesset shall run until the month of Cheshvan next following the termination of four years from the day of its election.

Continuity of the
Knesset.

37. The outgoing Knesset shall continue to hold office until the convening of the incoming Knesset.

Extension of
validity of
enactments.

38. Any enactment due to expire during the last two months of the term of office of the outgoing Knesset or within four months after the Knesset has decided to dissolve itself or during the first three months of the term of office of the incoming Knesset shall continue in force until the expiration of the said three months.

Remuneration of
members of the
Knesset.

39. The members of the Knesset shall receive a remuneration as provided by Law.

Resignation of
member of the
Knesset.

40. A member of the Knesset may resign his office; resignation shall be by personal presentation of a letter of resignation by the resigning member to the Chairman of the Knesset or, if the member is unable to present the letter of resignation personally, by transmission thereof in the manner prescribed by the Rules; the letter of resignation shall be signed on the day of the presentation or transmission.

Consequences of
resignation.

41. If a member of the Knesset tenders his resignation, his membership of the Knesset shall cease forty-eight hours after the letter of resignation reaches the Chairman of the Knesset, unless the member withdraws resignation before then.

Termination of
tenure of member
of the Knesset.

42. If a member of the Knesset is elected or appointed to one of the posts the holders of which are debarred from being candidates for the Knesset, his membership of the Knesset shall cease upon the election or appointment.

Replacement of
Knesset member.

43. If the seat of a member of the Knesset falls vacant, it shall be filled by the candidate who, in the list of candidates which included the name of the late member, figured immediately after the last of the elected candidates.

Law not to be
affected by
emergency
regulations.

44. Notwithstanding the provision of any other law, this Law cannot be varied, suspended, or made subject to conditions, by emergency regulations.

Entrenched
sections.

45. Section 44, or this section, shall not be varied save by a majority of eighty members of the Knesset.

	DAVID BEN-GURION Prime Minister
YITZCHAK BEN-ZVI President of the State

* Passed by the Knesset on the 22nd Shevat, 5718 (12th February, 1958) and published in Sefer Ha-Chukkim No, 244 of the 30th Shevat. 5718 (20th February. 1958). p. 69; the Bill was published in Hatza'ot Chok No, 180 of 5714, p. 18.

SOURCE: "The Israeli Government's Official Website", published by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem, Israel (copyrighted 1998). URL: http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/home.asp Goto "Map". Press "Basic Laws" link in the middle of the graphic image of the website map, and then press link to "Basic Law: The Knesset". Then press the link titled, "Official Translation" in the NOTE near the top of the page.