Is that what he means by regional elections? Then again, you'd need to elevate Israel's regions to the levels of states or provinces (whatever you want to call them). The trend of making Israel more like the US continues. Why raise the number of votes needed for a no-confidence vote? It's not like the Knesset falls regularly (unlike France's during the Third Republic). It would be good though if 1/4 of the Knesset weren't in the Cabinet. It makes Israel's government seem awfully crowded. What is meant by "raising the election threshold"?

What we need is a first past the post system where we abolish all forms of coalition government and replace it with a system where the party with the most votes runs the country alone for a fixed term. All MKs must be elected locally rather than from a party list that way we get the individuals we chose not the ones imposed on us by the party members. This is the only way to bring responsible politics thats not made up of single issue parties. A government chosen by the people for the people not the politicians.

emanating from the Knesset. Perhaps the Knesset committee would pay attent to Henry from New York (#1) who has asked some cogent questions and advanced poignant considerations.

a threshold is how much votes you need to get in order for your party to get seats in the knesset. the threshold in israel is extremely low, and is sat at 2%. which means that if my part gets 2% of the votes than we get seats in the knesset. this is the reason you have so many parties in israel, because it is so easy to get in. the threshold rate in Germany, and in most european countries, is set at 5.5% which means less parties, more stable coalitions, and a stronger party system. this also means that extremist parties have to moderate their views in order to get more votes, which gives way to moderation and compromise. it also means that coalitions in the parliament are usually among 2 or three parties, not five(which is the current situation in israel).

Separate shas-aguda from state,and raise the threashold, and you'll have stability,shas and aguda don't care about the state,their agenda is only how to milk the state,Israel doesn't need a ministerium for godly afairs,run by shas, there should be 3 parties,right, center,and what is left of the left,or whoever gets the most votes governs for 4 years,and the government can be dismissed only by a no confidence vote of 75 members of the kneset,people should make personal decisions,not ordered by clan and religious leaders.

This present system of government is at the root of our problems. (Don't get me started!)

VRegional elections would make Israel more like England where MPs are individually elected from a given area. This will make each MP answerable to his constituency rather than just his party. If there are regional elections there is no need for a minimum lower limit for a party to get a seat in the Knesset as each MP has been elected on his own. Not only should the number of ministers be limited they should not be members of the Knesset, ministers (secretaries) in the US are not member of congress. The party with the largest number of seats in the Knesset should chose the Prime Minster, but better yet the PM should be elected to the job by the voting public. Dissolving the government and having a new election should take a 75% majority of the Knesset. I hope for success in making Israel a truer democracy with the changes in government.

It would be interesting to hear more of the details regarding the idea put forth. What would the new threshold be? Would there be devolution to local or regional authorities and to what degree.

Israel should take notes from South Korea where there is a Semi-Presidential system. The National Assembly is up for re-election every 4 years makes the law and passes the budget and contains some seats which are first past the post and others which are party list. The President is up for election every 5 years for a term which is not renewable;he is Commander in Chief and nominates the Government with the Assembly's approval. The Government is responsible to the President but can be removed by the Assembly. No Members of the Assembly me be in the Governemt. Ministers are full time ministers and legislator are full time legislators.

I think the point of increasing the minimum limit is because it limits the number of parties that can even put up candidates to chose. At the last election 33 parties put up candidates and 12 of those parties won Knesset seats the smallest of which Balad & National Union got just 3 each. You will also probably see some of the smaller parties like the nationalist & religious ones combining into single bigger parties which will result in smaller coalitions and hopefully be more stable. No more situations where a single party with just 2-3 seats can bring down the government because the pulls out the coalition.

is changing our mentalities. Israel is composed of many different societies.Instead of rejecting one another ,may be it would be a better idea to learn from each other,to respect each other and every Israeli to follow at least this Tora law "Veahavta at Reeha kamoha"

ZF's idea of first-past-the-post, as in the UK, is a very bad one. Many MPs are elected on minority votes in their constituency, different groups are disenfranchised in different parts of the country, governments can take power with under 40% of the popular vote and so on. It is a clumsy and fairly crude mechanism that neither reflects popular will not results in strong government - as all three main parties are themselves broad coalitions. Proportional representation is far better, in that the parliament and government reflect far more accurately the votes cast in the country. Problem with Israel is that it has the worst version of PR around, the 'National List'. It means the party chooses the elected MKs, not the voters, which is a very back-to-front arrangement in a democracy. The 'Regional List' is only marginally better: Israel might be divided into say six electoral districts and the electors in say Galilee would be voting for candidates to represent Galilee, rather than for the whole country. But it still suffers from party control. The German AMS system is better and is used in the UK's Euro elections. Two thirds of the MKs are elected in single-member constituencies, which means they actually have real voters who they are responsible to for 4 years! The remaining third are 'topped-up' from party lists to give party proportionality. These 'top-up' candidates are often senior figures from outside politics, brought in to add particular expertise. It has obvious flaws but works pretty well on practice. The best and most democratic system by far is STV (the Single Transferable Vote in multi-member constituencies). It is a lot of fun. A constituency might return 5, 6 or 7 MKs. You number the ballot paper in your order of preference and, if your candidate doesn't make it, then your ballot is transferred to your next choice, and so on. It hands power back to the voter. If you like rightist candidates, you'll list them as your leading preferences, and vice versa if you like moderates. If you prefer a women MK, an Arab one, a young one, a business one, you can pick those who fit the bill from across the parties. Voters love it, political parties hate it because it hands power to the electorate. Only used in Ireland, both North and South and a few small bits of the world. The threshold sets itself mathematically - in a 7-MK seat, it would be 16.7%. That would cut down the mass of small single-issue parties in Israel quite sharply!