Resolutions other than on bills

59.

(a)

In a debate on a matter other than a bill, any parliamentary group, or combination of parliamentary groups, may propose a motion on the adjournment of the debate. The motions shall be submitted first in writing to the Speaker.¹²

(b)

After the adjournment of the debate according to article 52, the Speaker shall put the motions to a vote in favour and against.¹³

(c)

Should a certain motion include two or more articles, and a request is made by the proposers, or with their concurrence, to vote on each of the motion’s articles separately, the Speaker shall ask, before putting the motion to a vote, whether there is an objection to the request; Should no objection be expressed - the vote shall be taken as requested; Should an objection be expressed - the Knesset shall decide by a preliminary vote, without debate, whether or not to comply with the request. Should separate votes be taken as aforesaid, each article shall be regarded as a separate motion.

Order of voting

60.

(a)

The order of voting shall be determined by the Chairman;¹⁴ He has the right to decide that a matter of principle be put to a vote first.

(b)

The Government is entitled to have a motion which it has moved voted on first.

Call to vote

61.

Before any vote, or series of votes, the Chairman shall inform all the Knesset Members who are outside the Chamber, of the vote, or series of votes, by the ringing of a bell, that shall be heard throughout the Knesset buildings.¹⁵

How one votes¹⁶

62.

(a)

Votes are taken by a raising of hands.

(amendments Nos. 7 & 39)

(b)

Upon the request of at least twenty Members, or upon the request of the Government, a roll-call vote shall be taken.¹⁷

(c)

Elections held pursuant to a law shall be taken by written secret ballot.

(d)

A vote  to determine immunity or remove immunity or a right of a Member of the Knesset, , shall, subject to the provisions of paragraph (b), be taken by an open vote.

Determining results of vote (amendment No. 15)

63.

(a)

Should the Speaker see that the motion put to a vote has received a majority, or has been rejected by a majority, the votes are not counted.¹⁸

(b)

should the results of the vote be unclear to the Chairman, the votes shall be counted by the Secretary General or a Deputy Secretary General..

(c)

Should the Speaker decide of his own accord, or upon the request of a Member of the Knesset, that the votes be counted by tellers from among the Members, he shall choose two or more Members and assign the counting to them.¹⁹

Resolutions of the plenum, and treatment thereof (amendment No. 11

64.

Should a resolution on the adjournment of a debate, calling for an action by the Government, be adopted, the Speaker shall refer the text of the resolution to the Minister within the sphere of whose duties the issue dealt with belongs; Should it not be clear who the Minister is within whose sphere of duties the subject of the resolution belongs, the Speaker shall refer the text of the resolution to the Prime Minister; Within six months of the adoption of the resolution, the Minister shall inform the Speaker in writing of any action he has taken pursuant to the resolution;

The Minister’s statement shall be laid on the Knesset table.

Receiving the floor

65.

(a)

A Member shall not speak in the Knesset unless he has been given the floor by the Chairman.²⁰

(b)

A Member of the Knesset, who has been given the floor, shall speak from the podium, but with the permission of the Chairman, the Member may ask a question, or make a comment from his seat.

Restriction on references (amendment No. 41)

66.

(a)

A speech from the Knesset podium shall not contain mention of an opinion or position of a Minister, of a Member of the Knesset, or of a parliamentary group, which they expressed in the Knesset Committees; This restriction shall not apply if the opinion or position was formulated in the Committee as a motion or a statement by the Minister, Member or parliamentary group, for the Knesset plenum, or if the minutes of the meeting at which the words were said, were opened to the public’s perusal.

(b)

A speech from the Knesset podium shall not contain mention of any conversation held between the Knesset Member and a Minister, or between one Member and another Member.

Remark to speaker

67.

(a)

Should a Member fail to speak on the subject, or continue to speak after the Chairman has informed him that his time is up, or has approached him, the Chairman shall make a comment to him.²¹

(amendment No. 60)

(b)

Should the Member continue to speak after the Chairman has interrupted him, or should he fail to take heed of the Chairman's remark under this article, the Chairman is entitled discontinue the recording of his words for the Record, and should his time have terminated, the chairman is entitled also to switch off the microphone which he is using, and instruct him to leave the podium, or return to his seat.

Compliance with instructions

68.

(a)

During sittings, a Member of the Knesset must comply with the instructions of the Chairman.

(b)

A Member of the Knesset, who was offended by a decision, remark or instruction of the Chairman, may appeal to the House Committee; The decision of the House Committee shall be final.

Call to order

69.

A Member of the Knesset, who behaves during a Knesset sitting, in a manner offensive to the dignity of the Knesset, or to one of its Members, or to the order of its proceedings, shall be warned by the Chairman, by announcing that he is calling him to order.²²

Denial of the right to speak, removal and exclusion from a sitting (amendments Nos. 13, 14, 46 & 68)

70.

(a)

After the Chairman has called a Member of the Knesset to order three times at a single sitting, the Chairman may deprive him of the right to speak at that sitting, or have him removed from the sitting, and should it be necessary - instruct that he be removed by force; Once a Member has been removed as aforesaid, he may reenter the sitting for the purpose of voting only.

(b)

Should a Member be removed from a sitting, the Chairman,, who had him removed , or the Speaker, shall consider whether to bring the matter before the Ethics Committee of the Knesset.

(c)

Should the matter of a Member of the Knesset be brought to the Ethics Committee, the latter may decide upon one of the following:

(1)

A reproval;

(2)

A reprimand;

(3)

The removal of the Knesset Member for up to 10 days of sittings. However, the Member shall be allowed to enter a sitting for the purpose of voting only; Should the Member enter for the purpose of voting only, and interjects, it is possible to have him removed for a further 10 days of sittings;

(4)

The denial of the Member’s right to speak in the plenum for 10 days of sittings;

(5)

The prohibition to submit oral questions, motions for the agenda, and bills, for a period to be decided by the Committee, but for no longer than until the end of that session.

Suspension of sitting

71.

Should a Member fail to heed the instructions of the Chairman after having been called to order three times, the Chairman is entitled to suspend the sitting for a while.

Inappropriate display of object or action (amendments Nos. 39 & 46)

71a.

(a)

Should a Member of the Knesset display any object from the podium, or while making a point from his seat, or has performed an act that is inappropriate under the circumstances - the Chairman shall instruct him, should he see fit, to descend from the podium, and shall withdraw his right to speak..

(b)

A Member of the Knesset, whose permission to speak has been withdrawn in accordance with the instructions of this article - shall not request and shall not receive permission to speak in the plenum, for three sitting days.

(c)

(1)

The Knesset Member, whose right to speak has been withdrawn as aforesaid - may appeal the denial of his right at the next meeting of the Knesset Ethics Committee, and the latter is entitled to cancel or reduce the said period;

(2)

An appeal under this article, shall be submitted by means of the Speaker; Should an appeal be made - the right to speak shall be denied only on the day on which the Chairman gave the instruction, and the remainder of the period of the denial of the right shall be postponed until after the Ethics Committee of the Knesset has submitted its decision; The Speaker shall notify the Knesset thereof.

(d)

There is nothing in the provisions of this article to detract from the right of any person to complain before the Ethics Committee, in accordance with the Rules of Ethics for Members of the Knesset.

Use of mobile radio- phone

(amendment No. 61)

71b.

A Member of the Knesset who is present at a Knesset sitting, and a mobile radio-phone or beeper in his possession goes off, or should he speak on a mobile radio-phone, the Chairman shall remove him from the sitting.

Removal and exclusion from sitting (amendment No. 46)

72.

(a)

Should a Member of the Knesset disturb the orderly proceedings of a Knesset sitting in a grave manner, or offend the dignity of the Knesset, of the Speaker, or of one of its Members, the Chairman may removed him immediately from the sitting, and if necessary - give an instruction to have him removed by force; In this connection a disturbance during voting shall be considered a grave disturbance.

(b)

Should the Knesset Member be sent out from the sitting as aforesaid in this article, the provisions of article 70(b) and (c) shall apply.

(c)

There is nothing in the provisions of this article to detract from the right of any person to complain before the Ethics Committee, in accordance with the Rules of Ethics for Members of the Knesset.

Declaration of allegiance (amendment No. 29)

72a.

(a)

Should the Chairman call upon a Member of the Knesset to declare allegiance, and the Member makes his declaration in words other than those prescribed by the law, the Chairman shall designate that the Member has refrained from declaring allegiance, and the Member shall not participate in that sitting.

(b)

A Member of the Knesset, who has refrained from declaring allegiance as aforesaid in paragraph (a), shall not participate in the sittings of the Knesset until he has declared allegiance in accordance with the law.

Appeal (amendment No. 48)

73.

(a)

Should the Ethics Committee of the Knesset decide to exclude a Member of the Knesset from four days, or more, of Knesset sittings, or to withdraw the Member’s right to be given the floor in the plenum for four sitting days or more, or to prohibit the Member from submitting oral questions, motions for the agenda and bills, for a period of over two weeks, the Member is entitled to appeal the decision before the Knesset, at a time that shall be determined by the Chairman.

(b)

The Knesset shall hear the appellant, and the opponent to the appeal, each within a limit of five minutes, and shall decide the issue without further debate.

Removal by force (amendment No. 46)

74.

Should a Member continue to disobey even after the renewal of the sitting, that was suspended under article 71; or should he refuse to leave the Chamber in defiance of a decision by the Ethics Committee of the Knesset, or by the Knesset under article 72, the Chairman may decide to have him removed from the Chamber by force, and shall give an appropriate instruction to the Sergeant-at-Arms.

The election of the Knesset representa-

tives

74a.

Within six months from the beginning of its term, the Knesset shall elect its representatives to the following committees (hereafter - appointment committees)

(1)

The Committee for the Selection of Judges, according to article 4 of Basic Law: Adjudication, and article 6 of the Courts Law (combined version), 1984;

(2)

The Committee for the Appointment of Dayanim (Jewish religious judges), under article 6 of the Dayanim Law, 1955;

(3)

The Committee for the Appointment of Kadim (Muslim religious judges), under article 4 of the Kadim Law, 1961;

(4)

The Committee for the appointment of Kadim-Mathhab (Druze religious judges), under article 11 of the Druze Courts Law, 1962.

Proposal of candidates

(a)

The Secretary General of the Knesset shall inform all the Knesset Members of the time of the election for each of the appointment committees.

(b)

Each of the Knesset Members is entitled to offer his candidacy to one of the appointment committees mentioned in article 74a, clauses (1), (2), and (3).

(c)

(1)

Every Druze Member of the Knesset may offer his candidacy as a member of the Committee for the Appointment of Kadim-Mathhab;

(2)

Every ten Members of the Knesset may propose the candidacy of a Druze, who is not a Member of the Knesset, as a member in the Committee for the Appointment of Kadim-Mathhab; The consent of the candidate shall be attached.

Candidacy of Member (amendment No. 86)

74c.

(a)

The House Committee may decide that a Member of the Knesset, gainst whom the Attorney General has Attorney General has a bill of indictment, as stated in article 4(a) of the Immunity Law, or against whom criminal proceedings, in their sense under the Knesset Law, 1994, are taking place, shall not be a candidate as a member in an appointment committee and this whether or not it was decided that he should have immunity from criminal proceedings; Should the Committee decide that the Knesset Member shall not be a candidate as stated in this clause, its decision shall remain in force, as long as the legal proceedings in his matter have not terminated, and if it has been decided that he shall have immunity from criminal proceedings – throughout the term of that Knesset or for a shorter period as determined by the Committee.

(b)

A Member of the Knesset, who has been convinced in the course of the term of that Knesset, in a final verdict on a criminal offence, and the court has decided that the offence carries with it disgrace, shall not be a candidate as a member in an appointment committee in the course of the term of that Knesset.

(c)

The House Committee may decide that a Member of the Knesset who has been convicted in the course of the term of that Knesset, in a final verdict on a criminal offence, shall not be a candidate as a member in an appointment committee in the course of the term of that Knesset.

(d)

The House Committee shall not take a decision, as aforesaid in paragraphs (a) or (c), until after it has given the said Member of the Knesset an opportunity to have his say.

(e)

Article 101a shall apply to the deliberation in the Committee.

(f)

Should the House Committee decide that the Knesset Member shall not be a candidate as stated, the Member may appeal the decision before the Knesset; The Knesset shall hear the appellant, and a member of the House Committee who objects to the appeal - each within a time limit of no more than 15 minutes - and shall take a decision without further debate.

(g)

The voting in the House Committee and the Knesset shall be open.

Candidacy of someone who is not a

74d,

(a)

The provisions of this paragraph shall apply to a Druze candidate, who is not a Member of the Knesset

Member

(b)

The House Committee is entitled to decide that anyone, against whom criminal proceedings are being carried out in their sense under the Knesset Law, should not be the Knesset representative on the appointment committee, as long as the legal proceedings in his matter have not terminated.

(c)

Whoever has been convicted in a final verdict of a criminal offence, and the court has determined that the offence carries with it disgrace, shall not be a Knesset representative on an appointment committee.

(d)

The House Committee is entitled to decide that anyone who has been convicted in a final verdict of a criminal offence, shall not be a Knesset representative on an appointment committee.

(e)

The House Committee shall not take a decision, as stated in paragraphs (b) or (b), until after it has given the said person, and every Member of the Knesset who has proposed him, an opportunity to have their say.

(f)

The provisions of article 101a shall apply to the deliberation in the Committee.

(g)

Should the House Committee take a decision, as stated in paragraphs (b) or (b), each of the Knesset Members who has proposed the candidate, is entitled to appeal the decision before the Knesset, as stated in article 74c(f).

(h)

The voting in the House Committee and the Knesset shall be open.

Election of candidates

74e.

(a)

The Knesset Members shall be informed of the time for the election of the candidates for each of the appointment committees, at least 48 hours in advance.

(b)

The election shall be by secret ballot.

Termination of member-ship on appointment committees
(amendment No. 86)

74f.

(a)

The House Committee is entitled to propose to the Knesset to suspend the membership of a Member of the Knesset on an appointment committee for a period that shall be determined, the Attorney General has deposited a copy of an indictment against him, as stated in article 4(a) to the Immunity Law”,or should criminal proceedings, in their sense under the Knesset Law, be carried out against him, and this, whether or not it was decided that he should have immunity from criminal proceedings.

(b)

The House Committee shall propose to the Knesset to terminate the membership of a Member of the Knesset on an appointment committee, if he has been convicted, in the course of the term of that Knesset, in a final verdict on a criminal offence, and the court has determined that the offence carries with it disgrace, and when the provisions of article 42a of Basic Law: the Knesset do not apply to it.

(c)

The House Committee is entitled to propose to the Knesset to terminate the membership of a Member of the Knesset on an appointment committee, if he has been convicted, in the course of that Knesset, in a final verdict of a criminal offence.

(d)

The provisions of article 101a shall apply to the procedure in the House Committee.

(e)

The Knesset shall hear the representative of the House Committee and the Knesset Member under discussion - each in a time limit that shall not exceed 15 minutes - and shall take a decision without further debate.

(f)

The voting in the House Committee and the Knesset shall be open.

(g)

Should the Knesset suspend or terminate the membership of the Knesset Member on the appointment committee, it shall elect another Member in his place.

(h)

The provisions of this article shall apply to a Druze member of the appointment committee, who is not a Member of the Knesset, with the necessary adaptations, and the following changes:

(1)

The House Committee is entitled to propose to the Knesset to suspend the representative, should he be indicted;

(2)

The provisions of article 74d(e) and (g) shall apply accordingly.

¹ A debate on the basis of article 52(b) of Basic Law: the Government, shall be a parliamentary-group debate. (HCR - 11.11.1996)

² The Prime Minister cannot notify the Knesset that he will regard the vote on bill in preliminary reading, and a motion for the

agenda, as an expression of confidence or no-confidence. (HCR - 21.7.1997)

³ (a) The order of priority among parliamentary groups with an equal number of members, shall be decided according to the

average number of votes that each of the Members of the group received; However, if one of the parliamentary groups received more votes in the Knesset elections, this number shall determine the priority of that group among parliamentary groups with an equal number of Knesset Members. (HCR - 25.2.19969)

(b) Should the registered speaker be absent from the Chamber, he shall lose his right to speak, but his parliamentary group is entitled to transfer right to speak to another Knesset Member from its group, as long as the debate continues, and should it fail to do so - it shall lose its time. (HCR - 8.6.1971)

⁴ (1) The rules regarding a Deputy Minister are the same as those regarding a Minister, with regards to taking the floor,

within the framework of the issues assigned to him by the Minister. (ICR - 18.1.1951)

(2) A request by the Government or by one Minister, during the debate on a certain bill, or on a certain matter, to defer the continuation of the debate, or to stop the debate, must be brought to the House by a member of the Government. (ICR - 18.1.1951)

⁵ At the end of a debate on a certain matter the Speaker shall announce that “the debate has ended”, and thenceforth the floor

is no longer to be given, whether in a parliamentary-group debate or a personal debate, except for the replying Minister

(Decisions of the Speaker and The Deputy Speakers - 18.6.57 & 4.10.1961)

⁶ In a debate held at the initiative of a Member of the Knesset, who opens and sums up according to article 52 (3)(a) of the Knesset

Rules of Procedure, the precedents should be followed, by which the Minister, if he so wishes, is given the floor after the summing up by the proposer (Decision of the Speaker and The Deputy Speakers - 7.1.1962)

⁷ The time quota for the opening words and summing up - 20 minutes . (HCR - 27.3.1984)

⁸ On the basis of the Rules of Procedure, and the usage and practice accepted in the Knesset, during a vote, or a series of votes

in the Knesset, the floor is not to be given, except for a motion on the order of voting. (ICR - 28.7.1978)

⁹ The House Committee decided to approve as a precedent, according to article 147 to the Knesset Rules of Procedure, the

following practice regarding statements by abstainers from voting:

(a) A Member of the Knesset, who abstained on a vote in which his parliamentary group participated, may make a statement if:

(1) the debate is not on a motion for the agenda (comment by the Knesset legal advisor - this refers to a preliminary debate), or a second reading of a bill;

(2) his parliamentary group has agreed thereto;

(3) he did not participate in the debate.

(b) If there are a number of parliamentary group members to whom paragraph (a) applies - the right to make a statement shall

be given to one of them only, and in the statement he may mention the names of those members.

(c) A statement as provided for in paragraph (a) shall be made after the vote, and shall take no more than five minutes.

(HCR - 24.11.1970)

¹⁰ According to a resolution of the Interpretations Committee, the right of argumentation should be granted to those abstaining in a

vote on a motion for the agenda, in accordance with article 56 of the Rules of Procedure. (HCR - 21.1.1975)

¹¹ (a) There should be no deviation from the present usage with regard to the right of guests to speak in the Knesset; Heads of foreign

states - Presidents, Kings and Emperors, as well as the President of the United Nations General Assembly while in office, the President of the European Parliament, the President of the Advisory Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, shall be allowed to deliver their greetings from the Knesset podium. (HCR - 24.11.1964, 26.3.1966, 24.3.1970, 18.11.1977 & 30.11.1981.

(a1) At the end of a speech according to the stated in note (a) applause is permitted in the plenum . (HCR - 11.1.1994)

(b) The President of Egypt shall be invited to speak from the podium of the Knesset at the special sitting of the Knesset on November 20, 1977. The speakers may deliver their speeches in the English language . (HCR - 20.11.1977)

(c) At the Knesset sitting on the anniversary of its establishment, 15 of Shvat 5798, eight former Members of the Knesset shall speak . (HCR - 27.1.1998

¹² The Chairman of the sitting may demand that the motion on the adjournment of the debate, that was submitted to him in writing

according to article 59(a) of the Rules of Procedure, shall stand the test of “adjournment of the debate”. (ICR - 25.11.1985)

¹³ Should the Knesset adopt a summation of a debate that is not a bill, the chairman of the sitting shall announce - after announcing

the result of the vote: this or that summation motion - has been adopted . (HCR - 21.1.1975

¹⁴ The Chairman of a sitting has the inherent authority to interrupt a sitting before a vote, or to set a time for a vote that is not

consecutive to the end of the debate. (HCR - 8.11.1960)

¹⁵ Voting shall be held not before five minutes have elapsed from the start of the ringing of the bell. (HCR - 29.7.1980)

¹⁶ A Member of the Knesset cannot vote electronically, or by any other method of voting, in place of another Member, whatever

the circumstances may be. (HCR - 2.1.1996)

¹⁷ The provisions of this article apply whenever a vote takes place in the Knesset, and a request is submitted for a roll-call vote.

(HCR - 20.10.1980)

¹⁸ (1) Article 25 of basic Law: the Knesset, states: “The Knesset shall pass its resolutions by a majority of those participating in the

voting , with those abstaining not being reckoned as having participated in the vote ; The voting procedures shall be prescribed by the Rules of Procedure; And all this as long as the law does not prescribe otherwise on this matter.”

(2) Where a proposal has received a majority without the votes having been counted, and as a result the extent of the majority has not been made clear (in a vote where a special majority is required), the Chairman is vested with the (inherent) authority to order a recount, during the course of the same sitting or immediately thereafter. (HCJ - 410/91, attorney Lisa Blum and others v. the Knesset Speaker and others)

(3) Should a Member of the Knesset, who has participated during the voting in the Knesset, claim that his vote was not recorded , or request to change his vote because of a mistake, the Chairman of the sitting shall consider the request submitted to him immediately after the vote, and his decision to change the result shall be given soon after the vote. (HCR 14.2.1994)

¹⁹ (1) (a) Should the results of the vote not be clear to the Chairman, the Secretary General shall count the votes.

(b) Should the results of the vote not be clear even after the counting,, the Chairman of the sitting shall - before announcing the results - appoint two tellers for a second count of the votes.

(c) Should the Chairman be so requested by a Member of the Knesest, or should he see fit to do so under the circumstances - as long as he has not announced the results of the vote - he shall appoint tellers to count the votes. (Decision of the Speaker and The Deputy Speakers, of which the House Committee took note - 2.12.1980)

(2) Linked to article 63 of the Rules of Procedure, once the Chairman of the sitting has announced that the vote has resulted in a tie, whether or not he mentioned the number of votes, the motion or bill is not adopted, and the voting may not be repeated. (ICR - 7.3.1978)

²⁰ One should not interrupt the first speech of a new Member of Knesset with interjections; It is desirable that the Member of the

Knesset who speaks after the new Member, should congratulate him upon being elected. (HCR - 13.2.1951)

²¹ The House Committee lays down that the right of a Member of the Knesset to criticize verdicts by legal instances, should not be

placed in doubt, but the language of the criticism must correspond to the respect due the legal instances. (HCR - 9.11.1971)

²² (1) Should the Chairman of the sitting see fit to make a comment to a Member of the Knesset about an offensive comment, or a

word, that in his opinion is not worthy of being heard in the Knesset, he shall say to the Member: “retract” from the sentence or word. The Member shall say “I retract” or “I do not retract”. The comment of the Chairman of the sitting, and the response of the Member shall be noted in the Record as said. This instruction does not detract from the provision of article 29(d) of the Rules of Procedure. (HCR - 16.1.1972)

(2) The Chairman of the sitting may stop a speaker, if there is in his words an offense to a person or a judgment against a person. (HCR - 22.7.1997)