The Sixteenth Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee Sitting as The Committee for the Preparation of a Constitution by Broad Consensus - Proposals for a Constitution

In some Constitutions the preamble is one short sentence, and in others it is a long text ceremoniously expressing the “I believe” of its society. In some, the preamble designates the State as an ethnic nation-state or homeland. In certain cases, internal pressure results in a change to the preamble to make it more inclusive. In other cases, a national-ethnic designation in the preamble is considered acceptable – even, for example, under the strict norms of the European Union. It is clear, in this context, that the question of the inclusion of a preamble in Israel’s constitution is not a trivial one. The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee held a partial discussion on the question of the preamble to the Constitution, however for the sake of a more complete picture, we add here a further presentation of this question to facilitate a future discussion in the committee and in the Knesset. The subject of the Preamble to the Constitution was discussed expansively in Amnon Rubinstein and Liav Orgad’s recent article, which was placed on the Committee table. The discussion on the adoption of the preamble to the Constitution must relate to two questions: The content of the preamble and its legal status.

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