Constitution: no formal constitution; some of the functions of a constitution are filled by the Declaration of Establishment (1948), the basic laws of the Parliament (Knesset), and the Israeli citizenship law
Legal system: mixture of English common law, British Mandate regulations, and, in personal matters, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim legal systems; in December 1985 Israel informed the UN Secretariat that it would no longer accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: Independence Day, 10 May 1989; Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, but the Jewish calendar is lunar and the holiday may occur in April or May
Executive branch: president, prime minister, vice prime minister, Cabinet
Legislative branch: unicameral Knesset
Judicial branch: Supreme Court
Leaders:
Chief of State—President Gen. Chaim HERZOG (since 5 May 1983);
Head of Government—Prime Minister Yitzhak SHAMIR (since 20 October 1986); Vice Prime Minister Shimon PERES (Prime Minister from 13 September 1984 to 20 October 1986, when he rotated to Vice Prime Minister)
Political parties and leaders: Israel currently has a national unity government comprising five parties that hold 95 of the Knesset's 120 seats; Members of the unity government—Likud bloc, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir; Labor Party, Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister Shimon Peres; Sephardic Torah Guardians (SHAS), Minister of Immigrant Absorption Yitzhak Peretz; National Religious Party, Minister of Religious Affairs Zevulun Hammer; Agudat Yisrael, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Moshe Zeev Feldman;
Opposition parties—Tehiya Party, Yuval Ne'eman; Tzomet Party,
Rafael Eytan; Moledet Party, Rehavam Ze'evi; Degel HaTorah, Avraham
Ravitz; Citizens' Rights Movement, Shulamit Aloni; United Workers' Party
(MAPAM), Yair Tzaban; Center Movement-Shinui, Amnon Rubenstein; New
Communist Party of Israel (RAKAH), Meir Wilner; Progressive List for
Peace, Muhammad Mi'ari; Arab Democratic Party, Abd Al Wahab Darawshah