section_path: Government and politics
section_name: Government and politics
paragraph_text: Government and politics
  
  Israel has a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. A member of parliament supported by a parliamentary majority becomes the prime minister —usually this is the chair of the largest party. The prime minister is the head of government and of cabinet. The president is head of state, with largely ceremonial duties.
  
  Israel is governed by a 120-member parliament, known as the Knesset. Membership of the Knesset is based on proportional representation of political parties, with a 3.25% electoral threshold, which in practice has resulted in coalition governments. Residents of Israeli settlements in the West Bank are eligible to vote, and after the 2015 election 10 of the 120 members of the Knesset (8%) were settlers. Parliamentary elections are scheduled every four years, but unstable coalitions or a no-confidence vote can dissolve a government earlier. The first Arab-led party was established in 1988, and as of 2022 Arab-led parties hold about 10% of seats. A party cannot run for election to the Knesset if its objectives or actions include the "negation of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people".
  
  The Basic Laws of Israel function as an uncodified constitution. These define Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and the nation-state of exclusively the Jewish people. In 2003, the Knesset began to draft an official constitution based on these laws.
  
  Israel has no official religion, but the definition of the state as "Jewish and democratic" creates a strong connection with Judaism. On 19 July 2018, the Knesset passed a Basic Law that characterizes Israel as principally a " Nation State of the Jewish People " and Hebrew as its official language. The bill ascribes an undefined "special status" to the Arabic language. The same bill gives Jews a unique right to national self-determination and views the developing of Jewish settlement in the country as "a national interest", empowering the government to "take steps to encourage, advance and implement this interest".