Interims-Premierminister (Israel)

Vorlage:Politics of Israel Deputy leaders in Israel fall into three categories; Acting Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Vice Prime Minister. The latter two are honorary rather than official executive positions, but entitle the incumbent to a place in the cabinet. Acting Prime Ministers take the place of the Prime Minister if he or she is incapacitated.

Acting Prime Minister

Designated Acting Prime Minister & Caretaker

The designated Acting Prime Minister (hebräisch ממלא מקום ראש הממשלה, Memaleh Makom Rosh HaMemshala lit. "Prime Minister's Place Holder") takes the role of Prime Minister as Caretaker, for up to 100 days, if the incumbent is temporarily incapacitated. Whilst in other countries the term "Acting Prime Minister" only refers to a individual actually performing the role, in Israel the term is in use for a designated minister even if they never actually perform the role.

There can be only one incumbent minister appointed to such position. However, the holder of this ministry position can hold other ministerial position, as the current Acting PM, Tzipi Livni, is also Minister of Foreign Affairs, and would take power if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, was unable to fulfil his duties, for up to 100 days. Confusingly, sometimes the term is referred to as Vice Prime Minister, (confusing, as a different Vice Prime Minister role also exists).

According to the Basic law: the Government, if such a position was not held by any of the incumbent ministers, in the event of the Prime Minister being unable to fulfill their duties, the cabinet would vote to appoint one of their own members (who must be a Knesset member as well) as caretaker Prime Minister.

If the Prime Minister wants to replace the Minister of Acting Prime Minister (usually given to one of the designed Ministers during the forming of the government according to coalition agreements and political needs at the time), he then needs the approval vote of the government and the Knesset. However, the Prime Minister may fire the Acting Prime Minister.

The Minister of Acting Prime Minister, if appointed in advance, assumes the authorities of the Prime Minister (without assuming office) automatically, however, he does not become the Acting Prime Minister automatically, after 100 days, when the Prime Minister becomes legally - Permanently incapacitated, or else if the Prime Minister is gone permanently (Dead or ceased being Prime Minister due to a criminal conviction), in which case, the Government will vote on either one of their Incumbent Ministers (him or else) - who must also be a member of the Prime Minister's party.

The use of this position started only 1984 during the 11th Knesset, with the first person to hold the position, Yitzhak Shamir, taking office on 13 September 1984. The position was created as part of the coalition deal between the Labour Alignment and Likud which allowed Shimon Peres to be Prime Minister for the first two years of the Knesset term (out of four years), with Yitzhak Shamir serving as the Minister of Acting Prime Minister, and then swap places with Shamir for the next two. The major political parties, right-wing Likud party, then headed by Yitzhak Shamir, and Labour, then Headed by Shimon Peres, did not gain enough seats in parliament, during the general election, to form a governing majority coalition, that enabled this coalition agreement to take place. The deal was continued into the 12th Knesset, but collapsed in 1990.

The position was resurrected in 2003, with Ariel Sharon appointing Ehud Olmert to the post. As Minister of Acting Prime Minister, Olmert was called to take over the running of the government as Caretaker for Prime Minister, following Sharon's stroke in the midst of elections season of early 2006. Sharon and Olmert's Party Kadima won, Olmert then continued his role as caretker in the Interim Government before and after the election, and then after Sharon had been incapacitated for 100 days (making him legally permanently incapacitated), some time after the elections took place, the Interim Government voted him to be the Acting Prime Minister, and he fully assumed office, shortly before forming his own new government, on 4 May 2006, which meant that he was officially Prime Minister.

Acting Prime Minister

The actual Acting Prime Minister (hebräisch ראש הממשלה בפועל) is appointed by the Government if the incumbent is dead or permanently incapacitated, or can no longer function as Prime Minister due to a criminal conviction.

From 1996, the Israeli law distinguished the term Caretaker Prime Minister (ממלא מקום ראש הממשלה בפועל) from (actual) Acting Prime Minister. The difference is that a Caretaker Prime Minister is appointed while the Prime Minister is in office, and assumes all duties of office (not the office itself), when the Prime Minister has become temporarily incapacitated for up to 100 days, after which he becomes legally permanently incapacitated, and thus out of office, under which circumstances an Acting Prime Minister steps in. The Government must then appoint any of their incumbents Ministers (or the Caretaker himself) to be the (actual) Acting Prime Minister, if he or she meets the requirements.

While the Minister of Acting Prime Minister must be a Knesset member to meet the requirements, the actual Acting Prime Minister must be a member of the Prime Minister's party as well.

Both Acting and/or Caretaker Prime Ministers authorities are identical to those of a Prime Minister, with the exception of not having the authority to dissolve the Knesset.

List of Post Holders

List of designated Acting Prime Ministers

Name	Party	Dates in Office
Yitzhak Shamir	Likud	13/9/1984 - 20/10/1986
Shimon Peres	Labour Alignment	20/10/1986 - 15/3/1990
Ehud Olmert	Kadima	28/2/2003 - 4/1/2006
Tzipi Livni	Kadima	4/5/2006 - present

List of actual Acting Prime Ministers

Name	Party	Dates in Office
Yigal Alon	Labour Alignment	26/3/1969-17/3/1969
Shimon Peres	Labour Alignment	4/11/1995-22/11/1995
Ehud Olmert	Kadima	14/4/2006 - 4/5/2006

• Exercising the powers of the Prime Minister's office.

List of Caretaker Prime Ministers

Name	Party	Dates in Office
Ehud Olmert	Kadima	4/1/2006 - 14/4/2006

• Exercising the powers of the Prime Minister office, without assuming office.

Interim Prime Minister & Government

Interim Prime Minister (Hebrew: ראש ממשלת מעבר) is a term used (mostly in English) to describe an Israeli Prime Minister (the same one), that the Government under him became legally an Interim Government. Legally he is The Prime Minister, and the Interim is a common use of a term - used to describe the change of legall status of the government under him. However, an Acting Prime Minister (ראש הממשלה בפועל), which is a legal refernce to the status of the Acting Prime Minister himself (a different one, replacing the Prime Minister's post), is also running an Interim Government (see table below)

Prime Minister	Status of Previous PM	Legal Status of Government	Type of Government
Acting PM	Died	Government regarded as if it has resigned	Interim Government
Acting PM	criminal conviction	Government regarded as if it has resigned	Interim Government
Acting PM	Permanently Incapacitated	Government regarded as if it has resigned	Interim Government
Caretaker (PM)	Temporary Incapacitated		Government 1
(Interim) PM	Same Incumbent Outgoing PM - resigned	Government regarded as if it has resigned	Interim Government
(Interim) PM	Same Incumbent Outgoing PM - Government was defeated in a Motion of no confidence	Government regarded as if it has resigned	Interim Government
(Interim) PM	Same Incumbent Outgoing PM - PM's request to dissolve the Knesset was published through the President's decree	Government regarded as if it has resigned	Interim Government
PM	Same Incumbent PM - Knesset dissolved itself - Election day was set		Government
(Interim) PM	Same Incumbent Outgoing PM - Knesset dissolved itself - elections were held, new Parliament elected		Interim Government
(Interim) PM	Same Incumbent Outgoing PM - End of Knesset's full term (or after extension term) - elections were held, new Parliament elected		Interim Government

¹ Unless the government already became an Interim Government, in case the Prime Minister resigned, Government was defeated in a Motion of no confidence, or the Prime Minister's request to dissolve the Knesset was published through the President's decree, and only after this occurred, the Prime Minister became temporarily incapacitated (as was in Ehud Olmert's case, when Sharon's request to dissolve the Knesset was published through the President's decree, and only there after, did he become temporarily Incapacited ).

² Basic Law: the Government (2001); Clause 30 on Government Continuity (addresses the continuity of the Prime Minister, after he has resigned his post and appointing an [actual] Acting Prime Minister), Clause 30 also addresses the following provisions; Criminal conviction of the Prime Minister - 18; Resignation of a Prime Minister - 19; Death or permanent Incapacitation of the Prime Minister - 20, A Prime Minister who ceased being a Knesset Member (Regarded as if he has resigned his post) - 21; Government defeated in Motion of no confidence - 28; Resignation of the Government after the Prime Minister's request to dissolve the Knesset have been published through the President's decree - 29, and defines the "Outgoing Government" according to these clauses (Whereas the Supreme Court referred to it as the "Interim Government" , as it is well known). Clause 30b also refers to the Outgoing Government during the times of "Newly elected Knesset" [parliament], hence, if the government's status had not been already an Interim Government during "Newly elected Knesset", according to the the clauses above, then in the event of a "Newly elected Knesset" - in conjugation with to the Basic law: The Knesset, in the event of the end of the knesst's full term (or after an extention term) or after the knesset has dissolved itself earlier (but not untill election day) - the Government then becomes an Interim Government as well.

³ exceptions to the "outgoing Government"; On one hand, according to the Basic law: the Government (2001), as apposed to past laws, Ministers may resign their post, and the government may appoint a successor without the approval of the Knesset. On the other hand, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that "During this period of time, the Government is bound by restraint in using its authorities, regarding all matters that do not particularly bare necessity or urgency to act upon them during the interim period". , and legal controversy erupts at times, over the meaning of this legal determination [1]:

• Israeli Supreme Court - Judges can not be appointed during the period of time of an Interim Government

• Attorney General of Israel - An Interim Government may conduct diplomatic negotiations (Unless the Israeli supreme Court will rule otherwise), but this does not dismiss them from the duty to bring the agreement to the approval of the Government and the Knesst (to vote on it).

⁴ Interim Government - Hebrew Wikipedia (see same table there)

Deputy Prime Minister

The position of Deputy Prime Minister (hebräisch סגן ראש הממשלה, Segan Rosh HaMemshela) is an honorary title carried by an incumbent Minister in the Israeli Government under the Basic law:the Government, that states the follows: "A minister can be a Deputy Prime Minster" (but no more then that), thus, not limiting the number of deputies a Prime Minister can appoint (as apposed to a caretaker and/or an Acting Prime Minister, that can only be one).

It was created in 1963 when Abba Eban was appointed to the post in Levi Eshkol's first government. In 1977 Menachem Begin became the first Prime Minister to have two deputies.

The title was scrapped from 1992-1996 during the term of the 13th Knesset, but was resurrected by Binyamin Netanyahu in 1996 when he appointed four Deputies. In Ehud Olmert's cabinet there are three (previously four), one from his own party, and the leaders of the two next largest parties in his coalition (Labour and Shas).

David Levy has had three spells as Deputy PM; from 1977 until 1992 and then again from 1996-1998 and 1999-2000. Each term was with a different party, Likud, Gesher and One Israel respectively.

List of Deputy Prime Ministers

Gov't	Name	Party	Dates in Office
3	Eliezer Kaplan Vorlage:Ref	Mapai	25/6/1952 - 13/7/1952
11-12	Abba Eban	Mapai	26/6/1963 - 12/1/1966
13-17	Yigal Allon	Alignment	1/7/1968 - 10/3/1974
18	Simha Erlikh	Likud	20/6/1977 - 5/8/1981
	Yigael Yadin	Dash, Democratic Movement, Independent
19	Simha Erlikh Vorlage:Ref	Likud	5/8/1981 - 19/6/1983
	David Levy	Likud	3/11/1981 - 10/10/1983
20	David Levy	Likud	10/10/1983 - 13/9/1984
21-23	David Levy	Likud	13/9/1984 - 11/6/1990
	Yitzhak Navon	Alignment
24	David Levy	Likud	11/6/1990 - 13/7/1992
	Moshe Nissim	Likud
27	David Levy	Gesher	18/6/1996 - 6/1/1998
	Zevulon Hammer Vorlage:Ref	National Religious Party	18/6/1996 - 20/1/1998
	Rafael Eitan	Tzomet	18/6/1996 - 6/7/1999
	Moshe Katsav	Likud
28	Yitzhak Mordechai	Centre Party	6/7/1999 - 30/5/2000
	David Levy	One Israel	6/7/1999 - 4/8/2000
	Binyamin Ben-Eliezer	One Israel	6/7/1999 - 7/3/2001
29	Shimon Peres	Labour	7/3/2001 - 2/11/2002
	Silvan Shalom	Likud	7/3/2001 - 28/2/2003
	Natan Sharansky	Yisrael BaAliyah
	Eli Yishai	Shas	7/3/2001 - 23/5/2002 3/6/2002 - 28/2/2003
30	Tommy Lapid	Shinui	28/2/2003 - 4/12/2004
	Silvan Shalom	Likud	28/2/2003 - 15/1/2006
31	Amir Peretz	Labour	4/5/2006 - 18/6/2007
	Avigdor Lieberman	Yisrael Beiteinu	30/10/2006 - 16/1/2008
	Shaul Mofaz	Kadima	4/5/2006 - present
	Eli Yishai	Shas
	Ehud Barak	Labour	18/6/2007 - present

2, 3 & 4. Vorlage:NoteDied in office.

Vice Prime Minister

The post of Vice Prime Minister (hebräisch משנה ראש הממשלה, Mishneh Rosh HaMemshela) is also sometimes referred to as Vice Premier, is an honorary title carried by an incumbent Minister of the Israeli Government, that does not exist under any Israeli law, and has no statutory meaning, which was originally created especially for one of Israeli founding father, Shimon Peres.

After Amram Mitzna resigned as head of the Labour Party following the party's defeat in the 2003 elections, Peres was once again appointed as temporary chairman of the party, until a primary for leadership among member of party will be held.

When, in early 2005, Ariel Sharon's right-wing coalition was in trouble due to disagreements over the disengagement plan, Peres led his party into Sharon's coalition for the purpose of supporting the plan. During the coalition negotiations, Peres demanded to be appointed Acting Prime Minister, but was turned down, since the position was already occupied by Ehud Olmert. Labour then demanded that the government change the Basic Law: the Government, in order to enable two acting Prime Ministers at the same time, but received no support for such action.

A compromise was reached by Labour's Haim Ramon, in which Peres received the honorary title of Vice Prime Minister, which included provisions within the agreement, defining his jurisdiction within Sharon's government, but had no legal meaning, as the law regarded Peres and the Vice Prime Minister position as no other then just another title for an incumbent minister within the Israeli government.

Although Peres lost the position when Labour left the government in November 2005, he regained it in May 2006 following his defection to Kadima party and the party's victory in the 2006 elections. However, he resigned from the post on the day he won the election for President in June 2007.

Haim Ramon was appointed to the post in a cabinet reshuffle in July 2007.

List of Vice Prime Ministers

Name	Party	Dates in Office
Shimon Peres	Labour	10/1/2005 - 23/11/2005
Shimon Peres	Kadima	4/5/2006 - 13/6/2007
Haim Ramon	Kadima	4/7/2007 - present

External links

• Israeli Government Members Knesset website