Most know the story of how the State of Israel came into existence via the U.N.’s voting on it, but shortly after this, Israel’s capital and notorious Knesset were not always where they are currently. The capital’s original location was Tel Aviv.
On this day December 13th, in 1949, the Knesset votes to move Israel’s capital to King George Street in Jerusalem. The old meeting place from the Knesset is now the Tel Aviv Museum. Internationally, many have not accepted Israel’s decision to move its capital. The U.S. has acknowledged the move legally, but has yet to move its embassy there despite Congress passing a law stating it should have been moved there in 1999.
Israel has a parliamentary system. The Knesset is responsible for all laws passed, and it as well appoints the prime minister and president. Unlike a two party system, the Knesset is made up of many different parties, or what is also known as interest groups. Each citizen has the right to vote for their interest group, say it be for elderly people, or a more mainstream liberal stance, then depending on the number of votes, that party will be allocated a certain number of seats.