Leader of the Opposition (Israel) explained

Post:	Leader of the Opposition
Insigniasize:	115px
Insigniacaption:	Logo of the largest opposition party
Incumbent:	Yair Lapid
Incumbentsince:	2 January 2023^[1]
First:	Meir Ya'ari
Termlength:	While leader of the largest political party in the Knesset that is not in government

In Israel, the Leader of the Opposition (he|רֹאשׁ הַאוֹפּוֹזִיצְיָה, Rosh HaOpozitzya) is the politician who leads the Official Opposition in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. The Leader of the Opposition is, by convention, the leader of the largest political party in the Knesset that is not in (or supports) the government.

History

Informal role, until 2000

Until 2000, the role of the Opposition Leader was not an official position, but rather an honorary role. The Leader of the Opposition was the leader of the largest party not in government.

Even with the absence of a law defining the role of the Opposition Leader, it was customary for the Prime Minister to hold regular meetings with the leader of the largest opposition party. However, this was done only at the prerogative of the Prime Minister.

Formalised role, post-2000

In early 2000, two bills to amend the Opposition Leader's status were submitted to the Knesset, one by the government and one by MK Uzi Landau. The bills were merged into one amendment, and on 17 July 2000, the Knesset approved Amendment 8 to the "Knesset Law" of 1994, adding chapter 6 that outlined the role of the Leader of the Opposition.^[2] The law stipulates the selection of the Opposition Leader, the method of their replacement, regulates their ceremonial role in various official events, and obliges the prime minister to update them once a month. The law also stipulates that the Opposition Leader's salary will be determined by Knesset committee, and shall not be lower than a salary of a Cabinet minister.

List of Opposition leaders

Leaders of the largest opposition party

Name	Portrait	Party	Term start	Term end	Government(s) opposed	Prime minister(s) opposed	Knesset
1	Meir Ya'ari			10 March 1949	8 October 1951		David Ben-Gurion	1st
2
2	Peretz Bernstein			nowrap	8 October 1951	nowrap		24 December 1952		2nd
(1)	Meir Ya'ari			24 December 1952	29 June 1955	4
				Moshe Sharett
(2)	Peretz Bernstein				nowrap	29 June 1955	nowrap	3 November 1955	6
3	Menachem Begin			3 November 1955	5 June 1967		David Ben-Gurion	3rd
8
				4th
				5th
					Levi Eshkol
12
Gahal				6th
4	Yitzhak-Meir Levin				5 June 1967	6 August 1970		Golda Meir
				7th
	(3)	Menachem Begin			Gahal	6 August 1970	20 June 1977
	Likud
				8th
					Yitzhak Rabin
5	Shimon Peres		Alignment	20 June 1977	13 September 1984		Menachem Begin	9th
				10th
					Yitzhak Shamir
6	Yuval Ne'eman		Tehiya-Tzomet	13 September 1984	22 December 1988		Shimon Peres	11th
				Yitzhak Shamir
			Tehiya
7	Shulamit Aloni				nowrap	22 December 1988	nowrap	15 March 1990		12th
(5)	Shimon Peres		Alignment		15 March 1990	February 1992	24
Labor Party
	8	Yitzhak Rabin			nowrap	February 1992		nowrap	13 July 1992
9	Yitzhak Shamir			nowrap	13 July 1992	nowrap	24 March 1993		Yitzhak Rabin	13th
10	Benjamin Netanyahu			24 March 1993	18 June 1996
				Shimon Peres
			Likud-Gesher-Tzomet
(5)	Shimon Peres			nowrap	18 June 1996	nowrap	1 July 1997		Benjamin Netanyahu	14th
11	Ehud Barak			1 July 1997	6 July 1999
One Israel
12	Ariel Sharon			nowrap	6 July 1999	nowrap	30 July 2000		Ehud Barak	15th

Designated Opposition Leaders

After Amendment 8 to the "Knesset law" of 1994 was passed, the Leader of the Opposition became an official position held by the leader of the largest faction within the opposition.

Name	Portrait	Party	Term start	Term end	Government(s) opposed	Prime minister(s) opposed	Knesset
12	Ariel Sharon			nowrap	31 July 2000	nowrap	7 March 2001		Ehud Barak	15th
13	Yossi Sarid			nowrap	7 March 2001	nowrap	4 November 2002		Ariel Sharon
14	Binyamin Ben-Eliezer			4 November 2002	12 March 2003
				16th
	15	Amram Mitzna			Labor-Meimad	nowrap	12 March 2003	nowrap		13 May 2003
	16	Dalia Itzik				nowrap	13 May 2003	nowrap		25 June 2003
	(5)	Shimon Peres				nowrap	25 June 2003	nowrap		10 January 2005
	17	Yosef Lapid				nowrap	10 January 2005	nowrap		23 November 2005
	18	Amir Peretz			Labor-Meimad	nowrap	23 November 2005	nowrap		16 January 2006
	(10)	Benjamin Netanyahu				nowrap	16 January 2006	17 April 2006
nowrap	17 April 2006			31 March 2009			Ehud Olmert	17th
19	Tzipi Livni			nowrap	6 April 2009	nowrap	2 April 2012		Benjamin Netanyahu
20	Shaul Mofaz			nowrap	2 April 2012	nowrap	9 May 2012
21	Shelly Yachimovich			nowrap	9 May 2012	nowrap	23 July 2012
(20)	Shaul Mofaz			nowrap	23 July 2012	nowrap	5 February 2013
(21)	Shelly Yachimovich			5 February 2013	25 November 2013
				19th
	22	Isaac Herzog				25 November 2013	14 May 2015
	Zionist Union
nowrap			14 May 2015	nowrap		31 July 2018	34	20th
(19)	Tzipi Livni		Zionist Union	nowrap	1 August 2018	nowrap				1 January 2019
(21)	Shelly Yachimovich			1 January 2019	30 April 2019
21st 22nd
		Vacant de jure, Benny Gantz de facto			nowrap	30 April 2019		nowrap		17 May 2020
23	Yair Lapid		Yesh Atid	nowrap	17 May 2020	nowrap	6 April 2021			23rd
(10)	Benjamin Netanyahu			nowrap	28 June 2021	nowrap	29 December 2022		Naftali Bennett Yair Lapid	24th
(23)	Yair Lapid		Yesh Atid	nowrap	2 January 2023	nowrap	Present	37	Benjamin Netanyahu	25th

External links

• Chapter 6: Leader of the Opposition, The Knesset law of 1994 Wikisource

Notes and References

1. https://main.knesset.gov.il/EN/mk/Pages/HeadOfOpposition.aspx Leader of the Opposition
2. Web site: Leader of the Opposition . knesset.gov.il . 15 December 2020 . 2014.