(Wall Street Journal) William A. Galston - Israel does not have a constitution in the way most Americans understand the term. Instead, it has a series of "Basic Laws," passed by Israel's Knesset. While Israel's Declaration of Independence, issued on May 15, 1948, promised that Israel would ratify one by Oct. 1 of that year, David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founding father and dominant political figure, did not want one. In a speech that Ben-Gurion delivered in 1949 to the Knesset committee responsible for drafting a constitution, translated by Neil Rogachevsky, he reviewed the reasons that led other countries to adopt constitutions and denied their relevance for the Israeli case.
2023-08-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive