Israel

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Israel Image File history File links COA_of_Israel. ... Politics of Israel takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Israel is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. ...

Basic Laws Jerusalem Law Law of Return Acting President Dalia Itzik Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Cabinet State Comptroller Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik Members Elections: 2003, 2006 Parties Knesset Elections Law Judicial system Supreme Court Districts Regional council Local council Foreign affairs Israel and the UN Israel and the EU Ambassadors from Israel Israeli-Palestinian conflict Arab-Israeli conflict International Law Arab League

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Rafi (Hebrew: רפ"י) was a left-wing political party in Israel, founded by former Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Labor Party. The Basic Laws of Israel are a key component of Israels uncodified constitution. The State of Israel has no formal constitution. ... The Jerusalem Law is a common name of Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel passed by the Israeli Knesset on July 30, 1980 (17th Av, 5740). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... President of the State of Israel (Hebrew: ‎, Nesí Hamdiná, literally: The President of the State) is the Head of State of Israel, but has a largely ceremonial, figurehead role with real power lying in the hands of the Prime Minister of Israel. ... Dalia Itzik (Hebrew: ‎; born October 20, 1952) is the current speaker of the Israeli Knesset and Acting President of Israel. ... The Prime Minister of Israel (Hebrew: ראש הממשלה, Rosh HaMemshala, lit. ... Ehud Olmert (IPA ; Hebrew: אהוד אולמרט; born September 30, 1945) is the 12th and current Prime Minister of Israel. ... The Cabinet of Israel is a formal body comprised of government officials chosen and led by a Prime Minister. ... Israel The power of the Knesset to supervise and review government policies and operations is exercised mainly through the state controller, also known as the ombudsman or ombudswoman (Hebrew: מבקר המדינה Mevaker HaMedina. ... The modern Knesset building, Israels parliament, in Jerusalem Though similar-sounding, Beit Knesset (בית כנסת) literally means House of Assembly, and refers to a synagogue. ... List of Speakers of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament: Joseph Shprinzak (Mapai) 1949-59 Nahum Nir (Ahdut Haavodah) 1959 Kadish Luz (Mapai, Alignment)1959-69 Reuven Barkat (Alignment) 1969-72 Yisrael Yeshayahu-Sharabi (Alignment) 1972-77 Yitzhak Shamir (Likud) 1977-80 Yitzhak Berman (Likud) 1980-81 Menachem... Dalia Itzik (Hebrew: ‎; born October 20, 1952) is the current speaker of the Israeli Knesset and Acting President of Israel. ... // (Blue = coalition parties, red = opposition parties) 1This title, called in Hebrew ממלא מקום ראש הממשלה (Memale Mekom Rosh HaMemshala, lit. ... Elections in Israel gives information on election and election results in Israel. ... Elections for the 16th Knesset were held in Israel on 28 January 2003. ... The Elections for the 17th Knesset were held in Israel on 28 March 2006. ... Political parties in Israel: Israels political system is based on proportional representation which allows for a multi-party system with numerous parties, in which a single party usually has no chance of gaining power by itself, forcing the parties to cooperate and form coalition governments. ... Knesset Elections Law is crucial legal document governing the process of elections in the Israeli federal parliament or the Knesset. ... Judicial branch is an independent branch of the government which includes secular and religious courts. ... The Supreme Court (Hebrew: בית המשפט העליון, Beit Hamishpat Haelyon ) is at the head of the court system in the State of Israel. ... Map of the districts of Israel There are six main administrative districts of Israel, known in Hebrew as mehozot (מחוזות; singular: mahoz) and fifteen sub-districts known as nafot (נפות; singular: nafa). ... The Israeli Ministry of Interior recognizes three types of local government in Israel: cities, regional councils, and local councils. ... In Israel, a local council is a locality similar to a city in structure and way of life, that has not yet achieved a status of a city, which requires a minimum number of residents, among other things. ... High priorities in the foreign policy of Israel include seeking an end to hostilities with Arab forces, against which it has fought six wars since 1948 and gaining wide acceptance as a sovereign state with an important international role. ... Israel and the United Nations have had mixed relations since Israels founding on May 14, 1948. ... The accession of Israel to the European Union refers to a possible future development in the EU-Israel relations. ... List of well-known ambassadors from the State of Israel, other country or body in parentheses: Daniel Ayalon (United States) Abba Eban (UN/United States) Dan Gillerman (UN) Dore Gold (UN) Chaim Herzog (UN) Golda Meir (USSR) Benjamin Netanyahu (UN) Yitzhak Rabin (United States) Categories: Lists of ambassadors ... Israel, with the West Bank and Gaza Strip in diagonal stripes The Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing dispute between two peoples, Jewish Israelis and Arab Palestinians, that both claim the right to sovereignty over the land of Israel/Palestine. ... Combatants Arab nations Israel Arab-Israeli conflict series History of the Arab-Israeli conflict Views of the Arab-Israeli conflict International law and the Arab-Israeli conflict Arab-Israeli conflict facts, figures, and statistics Participants Israeli-Palestinian conflict · Israel-Lebanon conflict · Arab League · Soviet Union / Russia · Israel and the United... Arguments about the applicability of various elements of international law underlie the debate around the Arab-Israeli conflict. ... From the time it was established in March 1945, the Arab League took an active role in the Arab-Israeli conflict. ... Information on politics by country is available for every country, including both de jure and de facto independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... Political parties in Israel: Israels political system is based on proportional representation which allows for a multi-party system with numerous parties, in which a single party usually has no chance of gaining power by itself, forcing the parties to cooperate and form coalition governments. ... The Prime Minister of Israel (Hebrew: ראש הממשלה, Rosh HaMemshala, lit. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Israel Labor Party (Hebrew: העבודה, Ha‘Avoda (Labor), officially מפלגת העבודה הישראלית, Mifleget Ha‘Avoda HaIsra’elit) is a center-left political party in Israel. ...

Name

As is the case with many political parties in Israel, Rafi is an acronym, standing for Reshimat Poalei Yisrael (Hebrew: רשימת פועלי ישראל), translated as Israeli Workers List.

Background

Rafi was founded in 1965 prior to the elections in the same year, when David Ben-Gurion led a breakaway of eight MKs from Mapai, the ruling party, taking with him Moshe Dayan and Shimon Peres amongst others. The split had two main causes. The first was the disagreements within Mapai over the Lavon Affair; Ben Gurion did not agree to declare Lavon innocent without judicial investigation committee. The second was the formation of the Labour Alignment by an alliance of Mapai and Labour Unity. The new party's establishment, a merger of two of the largest left-wing parties, was intended to delay planned reforms to the electoral system (i.e. to change from proportional representation to a constituency-based system) that were important to Ben-Gurion. The Elections for the sixth Knesset were held on 1 November, 1965. ... Labour (העבודה HaAvoda) is an Israeli political party. ... Moshe Dayan Moshe Dayan, DSO (Hebrew: משה דיין) (May 20, 1915 – October 16, 1981), was an Israeli military leader and politician. ...   (Hebrew: ‎; born Szymon Perske on August 2, 1923 in Poland, and immigrated with his family to the land that would later become Israel in 1934), is an Israeli politician, former Prime Minister and current Vice Premier. ... The Lavon Affair refers to the scandal over a failed Israeli covert operation in Egypt known as Operation Suzannah, in which Egyptian, American and British-owned targets in Egypt were bombed in the summer of 1954. ... The Alignment (Hebrew: המערך, HaMaarakh), originally called the Labour Alignment (Hebrew: המערך העבודה, HaMaarakh HaAvoda) was the dominant left-wing political party in Israel from its founding in 1965 until its transformation into the Labour Party in 1992. ... Labour (העבודה HaAvoda) is an Israeli political party. ... Labour Unity (Hebrew: אחדות העבודה, Akhdut HaAvoda) was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Israeli Labour Party. ...

The party ran for the 1965 elections on a platform of changing the electoral systems (posters featured a queue of people under the title "The Only Road", with a sign pointing towards "Change the voting system"). Although Ben-Gurion hoped to displace the Labour Alignment as the leading left-wing party in the Knesset, Rafi won only 10 seats. They were not included in Levi Eshkol's coalition government until the formation of a government of national unity during the Six-Day War. The modern Knesset building, Israels parliament, in Jerusalem Though similar-sounding, Beit Knesset (בית כנסת) literally means House of Assembly, and refers to a synagogue. ... ▶(?) (Hebrew לֵוִי אֶשְׁכּוֹל ) (Born Levi Skolnick) (Hebrew לֵוִי שְׁקוֹלְנִיק) (October 25, 1895 - February 26, 1969), was the third Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death of a heart attack in 1969. ... National governments or national unity governments are broad coalition governments consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature and are often formed during times of war or national emergency. ... Combatants Israel Egypt Syria Jordan Iraq Commanders Yitzhak Rabin, Moshe Dayan, Uzi Narkiss, Israel Tal, Mordechai Hod, Ariel Sharon Abdel Hakim Amer, Abdul Munim Riad, Zaid ibn Shaker, Hafez al-Assad Strength 264,000 (incl. ...

Once in the coalition, links between the Labour Alignment and Rafi were strengthened. In 1968 Rafi, together with Mapam formally joined the alliance. Within the alliance, Rafi, Mapai and Labour Unity merged to form the Israeli Labor Party, though Mapam remained a separate entity. The alliance was renamed as just the Alignment. Mapam - United Workers Party (in Hebrew: מפם - מפלגת פועלים מאוחדת Mifleget Poalim Meuhedet) was initially a Marxist-Zionist party. ... The Israel Labor Party (Hebrew: העבודה, Ha‘Avoda (Labor), officially מפלגת העבודה הישראלית, Mifleget Ha‘Avoda HaIsra’elit) is a center-left political party in Israel. ... The Alignment (Hebrew: המערך, HaMaarakh), originally called the Labour Alignment (Hebrew: המערך העבודה, HaMaarakh HaAvoda) was the dominant left-wing political party in Israel from its founding in 1965 until its transformation into the Labour Party in 1992. ...

However, Ben-Gurion could not reconcile himself to the merger with his foes, and broke away from the party to sit as an independent MK for the rest of the Knesset session. Prior to the 1969 elections, he founded another new party, the National List. However, after Ben-Gurion retired from politics in 1970 it fell apart, eventually merging with the Free Centre and Gahal (led by Ben-Gurion's arch-rival Menachem Begin) to form Likud. Gahal (acronym for Gush Herut-Liberalim) is a right-wing Zionist party formed in 1965 by members of the Herut and Liberal parties. ...   (August 16, 1913 – March 9, 1992) (Hebrew: מְנַחֵם בְּגִין) was a Polish-Jewish head of the Zionist underground group the Irgun, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the first Likud Prime Minister of Israel. ... Likud (Hebrew: ליכוד, literally means consolidation) is a centre-right political party in Israel. ...

The name Rafi was briefly resurrected during the ninth Knesset and again during the tenth Knesset when breakaways from Likud named themselves Rafi – National List. The party was later renamed Ometz. The Elections for the ninth Knesset were held on 17 May, 1977. ...

Knesset Members

The Elections for the fifth Knesset were held on 15 August, 1961. ... Yosef Almogi was the mayor of Haifa from 1974 — 1975. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Moshe Dayan Moshe Dayan, DSO (Hebrew: משה דיין) (May 20, 1915 – October 16, 1981), was an Israeli military leader and politician. ...   (Hebrew: ‎; born Szymon Perske on August 2, 1923 in Poland, and immigrated with his family to the land that would later become Israel in 1934), is an Israeli politician, former Prime Minister and current Vice Premier. ... Yizhar Smilansky (born 27 September 1916), better known by his pen name S. Yizhar, is an Israeli writer and a great innovator in modern Hebrew literature. ... The Elections for the sixth Knesset were held on 1 November, 1965. ... Yitzhak Navon (or Yitschak Navon) (born April 9, 1921) was an Israeli political figure. ... Tzvi Tzur ( צבי צור in Hebrew ) (1923 - December 28, 2004) was the Israel Defense Forces 6th Chief of Staff and an Israeli public figure. ...

External link

• Party history on the official Knesset website (in English)