Prime Minister of Israel

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The Prime Minister of Israel (Hebrew: ראש הממשלה, Rosh HaMemshala, lit. Head of Government¹) is the elected head of the Israeli government. He or she is usually the leader of the largest political party or coalition of parties in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

1 Historical background
2 Order of Succession
3 Officeholders
4 See also
5 Footnotes
6 External links

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Historical background

At its founding, the State of Israel adopted a British-inspired parliamentary system, with a Prime Minister as the most powerful political leader of the government and a largely ceremonial President of Israel as head of state. According to the original Basic Law, following elections to the Knesset, the President assigns the task of forming a Government to a member of Knesset (conventionally the leader of the party that has won a plurality of Knesset seats), and this individual becomes Prime Minister after having successfully formed a Government that has the support of 61 members (a majority) in the Knesset. Occasionally, the title of "Premier" is used when referring to the Prime Minister.

The Basic Law was amended in 1992, providing for the direct election of the Prime Minister, separate from the Knesset election. Three elections were held under this system: 1996, 1999, and 2001. (2001 was the only time that a Prime Ministerial election was held without a Knesset election. Thus, from 2001-2003 Ariel Sharon (Likud) was Prime Minister while Labour held a plurality of Knesset seats.) In 2001, the Basic Law was amended again, abolishing direct elections and reverting to the original system. Thus, in 2003 and subsequent elections, the Prime Minister is chosen by a majority in the Knesset.

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Order of Succession

Following the "significant" stroke suffered by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in January 2006, a decision was reached by the Israeli Cabinet, under the advice of the Attorney General of Israel: if the Prime Minister becomes incapable of making decisions, power is transferred to the Deputy Prime Minister — at the time, Ehud Olmert — who then becomes Acting Prime Minister until the Prime Minister recovers. If the Prime Minister is declared permanently incapacitated then the Acting Prime Minister remains in office for 100 days. Once that period expires the President of Israel oversees the process of assembling a new governing coalition. If the Prime Minister dies, the Cabinet chooses a new Prime Minister[1]. Ariel Sharon has not yet been declared permanently incapacitated. Elections are already due to occur within 100 days of the beginning of his coma.

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Officeholders

A total of eleven people have served as Prime Minister of Israel. Four of those people have served on two non-consecutive occasions.

	Name	Commenced term	Ended term	Party
1.	David Ben-Gurion	1948	1953	Mapai
2.	Moshe Sharett	1953	1955	Mapai
	David Ben-Gurion	1955	1963	Mapai
3.	Levi Eshkol	1963	1969⁶	Mapai¹
	Yigal Allon (Acting)	1969	1969	Mapai¹
4.	Golda Meir	1969	1974	Labour
5.	Yitzhak Rabin	1974	1977	Labour
6.	Menachem Begin	1977	1983	Likud
7.	Yitzhak Shamir	1983	1984	Likud
8.	Shimon Peres²	1984	1986	Labour
	Yitzhak Shamir²	1986	1992	Likud
	Yitzhak Rabin³	1992	1995⁶	Labour
	Shimon Peres	1995	1996	Labour
9.	Benjamin Netanyahu	1996	1999	Likud
10.	Ehud Barak	1999	2001	Labour
11.	Ariel Sharon	2001	2005⁴	Likud⁴
	Ariel Sharon (cont'd)	2005	Incumbent	Kadima⁴
*	Ehud Olmert (substitute)⁵	2006		Kadima

¹ In 1968 Mapai merged with other parties to form the Labour Alignment (now known as Labour).

² After the election of 1984, the Likud and Labour parties reached a coalition agreement by which the role of prime minister would be rotated mid-term between them. Shimon Peres of Labour served during the first two years as prime minister, and then the role was passed to Yitzhak Shamir. After the 1988 election Likud was able to govern without the Labour party, and Yitzhak Shamir became prime minister again.

³ PM Rabin was assassinated while in office.

⁴ On 21 November 2005, PM Sharon, along with several other ministers and MKs, split from Likud over the issue of disengagement from the Gaza Strip and negotiations over the final status of the West Bank. Sharon formed a new party, Kadima, that will compete in the upcoming elections. Elections are tentatively scheduled for March 2006. Until then Sharon continues as Prime Minister without a parliamentary majority, following Labour's resignation from the Unity government.

⁵ As the result of Ariel Sharon suffering a severe stroke on January 4 2006, and being put under general anesthetic, Ehud Olmert became the substitute of the Prime Minister (Hebrew: ממלא מקום ראש הממשלה) pending an outcome to Sharon's health crisis. Olmert is not the Acting Prime Minister (Hebrew: ראש הממשלה בפועל), because according to Basic Law: The Government, "Should the Prime Minister be temporarily unable to discharge his duties, his place will be filled by ממלא מקום ראש הממשלה [literal translation: "the substitute of the 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 unable to exercise his office.". And about the case in which the Prime Minister will be deemed permanently unable to exercise his office it is written in Basic Law: The Government "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 ראש הממשלה בפועל [literal translation: "acting prime minister"] pending the constitution of the new Government.". Then only when the Prime Minister is "permanently incapacitated" to act as Prime Minister, the man who replaces the prime minister is called "acting prime minister", and the Prime Minister is considered "permanently incapacitated" only "After the passage of 100 days upon which the Prime Minister does not resume his duties".

⁶ Died while in office.

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Footnotes

Note 1: The Hebrew words ראש הממשלה Rosh HaMemshala can refer also to prime ministers of other states besides Israel, for example, the prime minister of Britain can be called in Hebrew ראש ממשלת בריטניה Rosh Memshelet Britanya or ראש הממשלה של בריטניה Rosh HaMemshala Shel Britanya.

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