The public and academic debate on Knesset and High Court relations obscures a real problem in the Israeli parliamentary regime - trampling on the Legislature by the executive authority. singing legislation has made the Legislative Authority, which decided the fate of any bill, and oversight independent and effective government is a distant dream. 

How we got to the point where a majority of MKs are "puppet" of the government? the main problem lies in the Knesset electoral system unlike any other In the Western world: one million polling stations, and a "closed ballot" without voter's ability to influence the identity of its representatives in the Knesset. This method creates an extreme imbalance in MK's fiduciary duties, a loose relationship between voters and elected officials, and almost total subordination of voters. "About the party's leader - who is usually a member of government - and to a strict coalition discipline that denies his parliamentary independence.

A member of parliament all over the world is in triplicate of trusts: (a) individual loyalty to the electorate (usually in a defined electoral area of ​​tens to several hundred thousand voters); (B) loyalty to the general public; (C) Loyalty to the party and its institutions and parliamentary faction. An MP constantly balances these duties - sometimes he will prefer a general public interest over a narrow interest of his constituents, sometimes it will be the opposite, and sometimes prefer to act in the narrow interest of his faction, and contrary to the interests of his constituents or the general public.

Thus, for example, a UK MP or US congressman in a single and direct election in their constituency is in constant and healthy tension between the three trusts - district, general public and party. In the end, the political future of a publicly elected party depends largely on several tens of thousands of voters Therefore, in every political decision, the MP examines the mood of his constituents in the district, along with respect for the will of the party and the general public interest. 

The Israeli election method has no element of MK loyalty to the public and individual voters. The Israeli system breaks the Knesset's triangle of trust and leaves only one side of it - loyalty to the party or party leader, and by virtue of that - loyalty to the coalition and the government. In this reality, the public hardly has any influence on the political future of the Knesset members, who, for their part, are largely driven by action for the internal party on which their political future depends.

In this strange reality, it seems that everyone is calmly accepting the arrangement set out in the new coalition's work regulations, according to which, in the event of a dispute between the heads of the coalition factions in the Knesset, this will be decided in a "court of appeal" in the government - a complete reversal, under which the government controls the legislature.

This situation, in which the individuals of the body that represent the sovereign are almost unrelated to the sovereign (the people), we all seem to understand. No one stands up and shouts the cry of "democracy" and protects the Knesset from the government. In Begin's words, there can be no "political freedom" without relations based on "partnership and conflict" between the House of Representatives and the government. 

Dr. Matan Gutman is a constitutional and administrative law expert