No idea how the Knesset works? Great, this is for you. Here we explain in plain language what you can do on the site, what to look out for, and what the terms you will meet along the way mean: preliminary reading, no-confidence, parliamentary questions, the Norwegian Law and more.
Questions people actually ask, and where to find the answers.
Search for an MK and see all their votes, filtered to core votes, by topic, and by how they voted.
Worth checking: attendance, the bills they submitted, and the Votes tab.
Meet the MKs ←Search for the bill by name and see what stage it is at, who submitted it, and who voted for and against in each reading.
Worth checking: where the bill stands (passed / rejected / in progress) and who changed position between readings.
Topics and laws ←Pick factions and see them side by side: how often they voted the same way, and where they differ.
Worth checking: the agreement between the factions and their position on a topic you choose.
Compare parties ←Two or three MKs side by side: votes, bills passed / rejected, parliamentary questions, committees, and how alike they vote.
Worth checking: "How often do they vote the same way?" at the bottom of the comparison.
Compare MKs ←The candidates in the upcoming election (for the 26th Knesset), by list, with their stated positions.
Worth checking: place on the list, and whether the candidate has already served in the Knesset.
Candidates in the upcoming election ←Prominent appointments to government companies and bodies, alongside each body's financial data.
Worth checking: the responsible ministry, who was appointed and when, and the source.
Appointments ←A ranking of MKs by how many times they voted against the majority position of their party in core votes, with the votes themselves.
Worth checking: the full list of votes in which each of them "rebelled".
Who voted against their own party? ←The core votes decided by the narrowest margin, out of votes with real participation from both sides.
Worth checking: the full result and a link to the source of each vote.
The closest votes ←Every law goes through several stops, and at each one it can be halted or changed. This is the path of a private member's bill; a government or committee bill starts later (at the first reading).
Tip: "Passed a preliminary reading" is still far from a law. The vote that really decides is the third reading, which is why the site shows it as "Core".
Search for a term, or scroll.
52 terms in 7 topics
From bill to law: the stages, who submits, and what happens along the way.
A draft of a law that has not yet been approved.
Only after it passes all its readings in the plenum does it become law. Most bills never get there: some are rejected along the way, some stay stuck in committee, and some are submitted mainly to put an issue on the public agenda.
On the site: On each bill's page you can see where it stands: "Passed into law", "Passed first reading" or "Rejected in preliminary reading".
Topics and laws ←A bill initiated by one or more MKs, not by the government.
Any MK who is not a minister or deputy minister can submit a private member's bill. It starts with a "preliminary reading": a vote on whether to let it go forward at all. The government usually states a position (through the Ministerial Committee for Legislation), and coalition MKs mostly vote as agreed within the coalition, so it is harder for the opposition to pass bills. Even a bill submitted by coalition MKs does not always advance.
On the site: The "Initiative: coalition / opposition" label next to a bill shows who submitted it. Each MK's "Bills" tab lists the bills they initiated.
A bill submitted by the government (through a minister).
It goes straight to the first reading, with no preliminary reading, and it usually has a majority in the Knesset because the government rests on a majority (the coalition). That is why government bills pass at a higher rate.
On the site: The "Government bill" label next to a bill. In the "Bills" tab, government bills are listed separately from private member's bills.
A bill that a Knesset committee submits itself, only on subjects the Knesset Rules of Procedure allow, such as Basic Laws, the Knesset and its members, elections and the State Comptroller.
It skips the preliminary reading and starts at the first reading.
On the site: The "Committee bill" label.
Preliminary → first → committee → second and third → law.
Each "reading" is a round of voting in the plenum, and between readings the committee prepares and changes the text. The idea is not to legislate in haste: there are several stops at which a bill can be halted or changed.
On the site: On a bill's page: a card for each reading, with who voted how.
The first stage for a private member's bill: a vote on whether to let it go forward at all.
If a majority of the MKs voting support it, the bill goes to a committee that prepares it for the first reading. If not, it is rejected at this stage. Important: "passed a preliminary reading" does not mean it will become law; it is only approval to start working on it.
On the site: The "Preliminary reading" label on a bill's page and in an MK's votes.
A general debate on the idea of the bill, and a vote on whether to send it to committee for detailed preparation.
If it passes, the bill goes to committee, where the final text is written and experts, organizations and professionals are heard.
The stage where the law is really written: debates, changes and amendments.
The committee chair controls the committee's agenda, which gives a committee chair a lot of power: when, and whether, the bill is debated. Most changes happen here, and sometimes the final law is very different from the original bill.
The final votes. A successful vote in the third reading = the law is passed.
In the second reading the votes are on clauses and reservations; in the third, on the law as a whole. Usually both take place on the same day. After the third reading the law is signed and published in Reshumot (the official gazette), and takes effect on the day of publication or on the date it sets.
On the site: That is why the "third reading" counts as "Core": it is the vote that decides.
A decision that a bill from the previous Knesset continues from the stage where it stopped.
When a new Knesset is elected, bills that were not completed lapse. The new Knesset can apply the continuity rule to bills that already passed the first reading, and they then continue from that stage instead of starting over. It is a technical vote, so it counts as procedural.
Laws that make up Israel's "constitution", with a higher status.
Israel has no single written constitution; it has Basic Laws instead. Changing some of them requires a special majority, so votes on them are considered among the most important.
Detailed rules the government issues under the authority of a law, which sometimes need Knesset approval.
The law sets out the essentials, and the regulations the details. Sometimes a committee or the plenum approves them in a vote.
On the site: Counted as a procedural vote.
What each type of vote means, and the numbers next to an MK's name.
The four possible outcomes for an MK in any vote.
For and against are clear. Abstained: the MK was present and voted, but chose neither to support nor to oppose. Absent: no vote was recorded for them at all. They may not have been in the plenum, or they may have been in the building and chosen not to vote. "Absent" does not necessarily mean laziness: ministers, for example, are also busy with government business.
On the site: On each MK's page, in the "Votes" tab, you can filter by each of these outcomes. Votes in which the MK took part are shown first, and the ones they missed at the end.
Meet the MKs ←Of the votes an MK could have taken part in, the share in which they actually voted.
The calculation counts only votes held while the MK was serving in the Knesset (someone who entered mid-term or left is not measured over a period when they did not serve). Low attendance does not automatically mean "not working": a minister, for example, misses more votes because of their government duties.
On the site: Shown at the top of the MK's page, in the MK comparison and in the faction comparison.
The votes that actually decide things: final approval of a law in the third reading, and major political votes.
The Knesset holds tens of thousands of votes on minor and procedural matters. So that you don't drown in them, the site shows the "Core" votes by default: a vote that gives a law final approval (third reading), plus other weighty political votes, for example a vote of confidence in a new government, an election to an office, immunity, or setting up a commission of inquiry.
On the site: The "Votes" tab on an MK's page: the "Core" chip is selected by default. You can switch to "All" at any time.
A vote that tries to replace the government.
The opposition can submit a no-confidence motion in the government. For the government to actually fall, a majority against it is not enough: 61 MKs must vote for an alternative government (a "constructive no-confidence" vote). That is why most no-confidence motions are defeated, but the vote itself shows who stands behind the government and who does not.
On the site: A separate chip in each MK's Votes tab: "No-confidence motions".
Votes on a bill that has not been completed yet: the preliminary, first and second readings.
A vote on a bill at this stage is not a final decision; it is a "you may move on". So it is worth looking at the core votes too (the third reading), but votes along the way show who supports an idea even before it becomes law.
On the site: The "On the way to becoming law" chip in an MK's Votes tab.
An MK asks the plenum to debate an issue they consider important, so there is a vote on whether to debate it.
Any MK can raise an issue for debate in the plenum. Usually the vote is on a question such as "refer the issue to a committee?" or "put it on the agenda?". It is not a bill, and if it passes it usually just leads to a debate.
On the site: The "Motions for the agenda" chip in the Votes tab.
Votes on how the debate is run, not on its substance.
For example: moving a bill from one committee to another, applying the continuity rule, correcting an error in a law, sending a bill back to committee, or approving regulations. They matter for how the Knesset functions, but they usually say little about an MK's position on an issue, so they are not shown by default.
On the site: The "Procedural" chip in the Votes tab.
A vote on one specific part of a bill, not on the whole bill.
In the second reading there are sometimes votes on a reservation (a proposal to change something) or on a single clause of the bill. The site counts only the main vote on the law, so that one law is not counted dozens of times.
Who voted for in one reading and against in another (or the reverse) on the same bill.
Bills change along the way (in committee, clauses are added and removed), so an MK may change position between readings. The site draws no conclusion from this; it only shows the change and lets you check for yourself.
On the site: On a bill's page: the "Change of position between readings" section (opens on click).
In most votes: when there are more votes for than against. Certain exceptional votes require a special majority of 61 MKs actually voting in favor.
Abstentions and absences count neither way: in most ordinary votes a simple majority (more for than against) is enough for a proposal to pass. For a bill, the moment it is "passed into law" is a successful vote in the third reading. Important exceptions that require a special majority of 61 MKs actually voting in favor (not a simple majority): a no-confidence motion in the government, and amending entrenched clauses in certain Basic Laws (such as the electoral system). On the site, the "passed" status of a no-confidence motion is already calculated against an actual majority of 61, not a simple majority. This was fixed on September 27, 2026, after it was found that the site showed many no-confidence motions as "passed" (implying the government had fallen) when in fact they had failed. The special requirement for amending entrenched Basic Laws is not yet detected automatically.
What each label, percentage and tab on the site means.
Groups of laws and votes on the same issue (the conscription law, the judicial overhaul, the budget and so on).
Votes and laws are tagged by topic. For each topic you can see who voted how, how it developed over time, and which laws belong to it, so you don't have to search vote by vote.
On the site: The "Topics" page, and also filtering by topic in each MK's Votes tab.
Topics and laws ←A summary of how an MK or a faction voted on the laws in a topic.
"Mixed" means the votes on the topic were split, some for and some against. The numbers beside it show how many votes went each way. It is a summary, not a verdict: you can always click and see the votes themselves.
Pick two or more factions and see them side by side: agreement, attendance and positions on topics.
A good use: finding out whether two factions that seem far apart actually vote alike (or the reverse), and where they differ. Agreement between factions = the share of votes in which both voted the same way.
Compare parties ←Two or three MKs side by side, and how often they vote the same way.
You can choose by faction, by searching for a name, or from ready-made comparisons, and see: votes, bills (passed / rejected / under discussion), parliamentary questions, committees and topics.
Compare MKs ←From the Knesset's official data system (OData); for other data, the source is given alongside it.
Every vote, bill and parliamentary question comes from the Knesset's official database and can be checked at the source. When another source is used, for example Wikipedia for personal details or the State Comptroller for funding matters, it says so explicitly. The site is not partisan and does not rank who is "good" and who is "bad".
Factions, coalition, committees, parliamentary questions and the Norwegian Law.
Israel's parliament: 120 MKs elected in the election. The "plenum" is the hall where they all vote.
An ordinary majority means more votes for than against in that vote. A "majority of 61" is the absolute majority, more than half of all 120 members, and it is required for certain decisions (for example, bringing down a government).
A list runs in the election (one party or several parties together); a faction is the group of that list's MKs sitting in the Knesset.
Sometimes several parties run on a joint list and then split into factions, and sometimes a faction splits mid-term. A "place on the list" is the candidate's position on the list of candidates submitted to the Central Elections Committee: the closer to the top of the list, the better the chance of being elected.
On the site: The faction comparison and each MK's page show the faction and the place on the list.
Compare parties ←The coalition: the factions that support the government and usually form a majority. The opposition: all the other factions.
Governing requires a majority, so a coalition of several factions is put together. A faction can leave the coalition mid-term, and we then mark it "left the coalition". Coalition factions tend to vote together ("coalition discipline").
On the site: Each MK and faction is marked on their own page, and the comparisons show the changes over time.
The "faction head" runs the faction's work in the Knesset; the "list leader" is the candidate in first place on the list (usually the party chair). They are not always the same person.
For example, the party chair may be the Prime Minister and a minister, while someone else runs the faction in the Knesset.
An arrangement that lets a minister or deputy minister resign from the Knesset and keep their post, while the next candidate on the list enters the Knesset in their place.
The aim: to increase the number of people doing Knesset work without weakening the government. A minister or deputy minister who has resigned from the Knesset no longer votes there; if they leave their post, they can return to the Knesset and their replacement leaves. That is why such an MK's voting figures count only the periods in which they actually sat in the Knesset. Resigning is optional, not mandatory: a minister or deputy minister can also choose to stay in the Knesset and not give up their seat to a replacement. Further details (such as limits on the number who may resign) are set in law.
On the site: The page of an MK who entered under this law says "entered in place of…", and the minister's page shows who replaced them.
Small working groups of MKs that specialize in a field (finance, foreign affairs and defense, the constitution and more).
Most of the preparatory work on laws is done here. Each committee has a chair and members from across the factions. Standing committees work throughout the Knesset's term; special committees are set up for a specific subject. Sitting on a committee, and chairing one, are a way to influence what happens in the Knesset even without getting most of the public attention.
On the site: The "Committees" tab on an MK's page: the committees, the MK's role, and who the chair and other members are.
A formal question from an MK to a minister, which the minister must answer.
It is a way to oversee the government: an MK asks a minister a specific question (why was a budget not transferred? what is happening with a project?), and the answer goes on the record, in writing or orally. There is no vote and no decision; it is about transparency and public pressure. A high number of parliamentary questions shows involvement in oversight, but does not necessarily mean anything changed.
On the site: The "Parliamentary questions" tab on an MK's page: the subject, the date, and whether it was answered, with a link to the document.
Protection of an MK from prosecution. For acts done in the course of their duties the immunity is absolute; for other offenses an MK can ask the Knesset for immunity from prosecution.
When an MK requests immunity from prosecution, the Knesset votes on it (first the House Committee, then the plenum); if immunity is granted, the criminal proceedings stop at that point. Such a vote counts as a "major political vote". Immunity does not mean the MK is innocent or guilty; it only decides whether the proceedings go ahead.
What it means to be a minister, and what an appointment is.
A minister heads a government ministry and is bound by the government's line. If they also remain an MK, they vote less.
A minister who is also an MK has to divide their time between the government and the plenum, so they usually miss more votes than other members. A deputy minister serves under a minister, at a lower rank. A minister can also resign from the Knesset (see the Norwegian Law) and then has no Knesset votes at all. The site counts all votes in the period the minister sat in the Knesset, and the figures are not a judgment.
On the site: An MK's page shows their role, and a faction's page lists its ministers.
The executive branch: the Prime Minister and ministers, who run the country and submit bills and the budget.
The government needs the confidence of the Knesset. If it loses a constructive no-confidence vote, it is replaced.
Who heads state-owned bodies (government companies, authorities, public committees), and who appointed them.
Ministers and the government have the power to appoint (or recommend appointing) office holders in these bodies. Some appointments go through vetting committees. "Political appointment" is an imprecise phrase that some people use for the appointment of someone with ties to a party or a minister. The site does not decide whether such an appointment is right or wrong; it shows the names, the source and the body's financial data.
On the site: On the "Appointments" page: a list of prominent documented appointments, plus government companies by ministry with key figures.
Appointments to government bodies ←Funding, conflicts of interest, legal proceedings and the presumption of innocence.
The State Comptroller audits how parties and candidates raised and spent money for elections and primaries, and publishes reports.
The reports show income (from the state, from donations, from personal funds), expenses and the permitted caps, along with findings, such as a report filed late or a cap exceeded. A finding is not necessarily a serious offense; it is what the Comptroller determined.
On the site: In an MK's "Financial matters" tab: their personal primaries report (for those who ran) and the report of the list they were elected on.
Internal party elections in which party members choose who the candidates on the list will be.
Not every party holds them; in some parties the party leader or a committee sets the list. A primaries candidate reports income and expenses to the State Comptroller.
An agreement setting out what a minister or deputy minister will not deal with, so that personal interests do not influence their decisions.
Arrangements are drafted with the help of the Ministry of Justice and are supposed to be made public. They may set, for example, that the minister will not handle a matter connected to a company owned by their family.
On the site: In ministers' "Financial matters" tab: a link to the official database.
An elected official's declaration of the assets they own.
MKs' declarations are not published on the Knesset website. So the site does not show them, and only notes whether a voluntary disclosure or a well-founded press investigation has been found.
Suspicion, investigation, a police recommendation, an indictment, a trial and a conviction are completely different stages.
Suspicion and investigation are not an indictment. An indictment is not a conviction. Only a court verdict determines whether a person is guilty. The site shows only proceedings documented in reliable sources, in neutral wording, with a source for every item. But this is not a systematic review of all 120 MKs with equal effort; it is a list that grows as documented cases are found and verified. So the absence of an item on a given MK does not show that they were checked and nothing was found, and if the list of documented MKs looks politically one-sided, that may reflect where research and documentation are currently being done, not an editorial conclusion about who is "clean".
On the site: The "Legal proceedings" tab on an MK's page appears only when it has content (see the note above on why this is not a systematic review).
Every person is presumed innocent until convicted by a final judgment.
So when there is an investigation or an indictment against an elected official, it is not a finding that an offense was committed. We present facts only.
Seats, the electoral threshold, surplus seats, forming a government and election day.
A seat = one place in the Knesset (120 in total). The electoral threshold = 3.25% of valid votes, the minimum a list needs to enter the Knesset.
Each list gets seats according to its share of the vote. A list that does not pass the electoral threshold (3.25%, roughly 3.9 seats out of 120) is left with no representatives, and its votes are not turned into seats at all.
The next election, on October 27, 2026.
On the site you can see who is running and on which lists, their place on the list, and what they say they will do. The official candidate lists are the ones submitted to and approved by the Central Elections Committee.
Candidates in the upcoming election ←The method that sets how many seats each list gets from its share of the vote, including how the leftover ("surplus") seats are allocated at the end.
First the "general quotient" is calculated: the total votes of the lists that passed the electoral threshold, divided by 120. Each list gets a seat for every whole quotient. The seats left over (the "surplus" seats) are then allocated one at a time: each goes to the list (or pair of lists with a surplus-vote agreement) whose votes divided by (the number of seats it already has + 1) is highest. This is a version of the D'Hondt method, and it gives a slight advantage to large lists.
An agreement between two lists to pool their votes for the allocation of surplus seats under the Bader-Ofer method.
Two lists that signed a surplus-vote agreement are combined only at the stage where surplus seats are allocated (in nothing else: they still run separately and sit as separate factions). Combining increases the chance that the joint bloc wins a surplus seat, compared with each list competing for the surplus seats on its own. A list that has not signed a surplus-vote agreement competes for the surplus seats on its own.
After the election, the President of the State tasks one MK (usually the leader of the largest list) with forming a government.
The President consults the representatives of every list that entered the Knesset, asking whom they recommend be tasked with forming the government, and then gives the task to the MK the President considers to have the best chance of forming a government with a majority: usually, but not necessarily, the leader of the largest list. The MK given the task has a fixed period (28 days, which can be extended) to form a government and present it to the Knesset for a vote of confidence.
The serving government stays in office until a new government wins the Knesset's confidence. Its legal powers are not reduced, but during an election period it is expected to act with restraint.
So that the country is not left without a government during the election period, the government in office continues to serve as a "caretaker government". But under High Court of Justice rulings and the Attorney General's guidelines, it must avoid far-reaching policy decisions and senior appointments that are not essential, until the new government wins the Knesset's confidence.
A ballot slip that is not counted, for example because it is a blank slip with no letters written on it, torn, or marked, or because the envelope held more than one slip of different lists.
On election day you vote with a paper slip bearing the ballot letters (one or more Hebrew letters) of one list, inside an envelope. An empty envelope, a blank slip with no list's letters written on it, a slip torn in a way that prevents identification, a slip with an extra mark, or an envelope holding slips of different lists: all of these are disqualified and are not counted for any list. An envelope with several identical slips of the same list is counted (as one vote), and a blank slip on which a list's letters are handwritten is valid.
A voting procedure for people who do not vote at their regular polling station (for example soldiers, hospital patients, prisoners, and people with limited mobility voting at a special accessible polling station). It keeps the ballot secret while preventing double voting.
Someone voting away from their regular polling station puts the ballot slip in a sealed inner envelope, and that envelope inside an outer envelope bearing their identifying details. The Central Elections Committee checks against the register that the person has not already voted elsewhere, and only then takes out the inner envelope and passes it on to be counted with the other slips. That way no one can tell how a particular person voted, but double voting is prevented.
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