“Let’s Stop Before It’s Too Late”: JPPI Launches Campaign to Promote a “Thin Constitution” for Israel
This week, the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) is launching a broad public campaign to promote its “Thin Constitution” initiative to establish a basic, mainly procedural constitution, based on broad consensus across political camps in Israel.
The initiative is designed to stabilize Israeli governance, strengthen public trust in state institutions, lower the flames of social polarization, and ensure Israel’s continued existence as a Jewish and democratic state over the long term.
JPPI’s monthly Israeli Society Index shows that 79% of Israelis rated the past year as “bad” socially, and about half of the public (49%) expressed pessimism about the future, alongside a consistent deterioration in trust toward state and governmental institutions. Sixty percent of Israelis believe there is a “real and tangible” danger of civil war. In the most recent survey, published ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Rabin assassination, 52% of participants responded that there is a “high likelihood” of a political assassination of a prime minister or other senior political figure even today.
Regrettably, under current conditions of a deep cultural division in Israeli society, the time has not yet come to reach broad agreements on questions of values and identity. However, it is possible to move significantly toward stabilizing Israeli democracy by setting binding and entrenched “rules of the game” for its governance. The “Thin Constitution” is intended to propose fair and effective rules of the game that will allow us to continue clarifying our collective identity without turning the “other” into an “enemy.”
The “Thin Constitution” is being drafted by a team of experts – senior figures from the worlds of public affairs and academia, with diverse views on policy and law. It is based on a central principle: creating a concise constitutional framework that defines the structure of the branches of government, the powers of each branch, and the relations between them, while avoiding identity issues and human-rights issues, which are the subject of heated controversy within Israeli society.
The expert team is preparing a detailed proposal to revise the existing balance of powers between the branches of government to everyone’s benefit. It endeavors to establish stable and clear rules for deciding constitutional disputes, including the procedures for enacting Basic Laws (the component articles of a constitution), a renewed calibration of judicial review, and, at the same time, the entrenchment of mutual oversight mechanisms that prevent excessive concentration of governmental power.
The initiative aims to achieve as broad an agreement as possible, thereby providing a stable constitutional foundation for many years to come. The campaign now being launched will focus on presenting the main elements of the initiative to the general public, explaining its advantages, and fostering an informed, data-based discourse on the importance of agreed-upon and stable “rules of the game” for managing disputes in Israeli society – that is, an orderly constitutional framework, even if it is not yet a full constitution.
The campaign will focus on digital platforms and radio broadcasts. Video clips will also air and open discussions with JPPI experts and external experts will take place.
JPPI President Prof. Yedidia Stern: “The recent political and social reality clearly indicates an urgent need to regulate the system of checks and balances, to anchor the fundamental powers of the branches of government, and to define agreed-upon and stable rules of the game that do not change with every change of government. The ‘Thin Constitution’ does not seek to compete with existing constitutional law, but rather to serve as a shared foundational layer based on broad, cross-camp consensus, which will enable stability, coordination, and the restoration of trust between the country’s citizens and its institutions.
Israel stands at a historic crossroads. To ensure a stable and shared future, we must agree on basic principles that are stable, clear, and practical. The ‘Thin Constitution’ was born of the understanding that Israeli society cannot wait for a resolution of every disputed constitutional issue; but it does need a stable foundation, on which a healthy national discourse can be built. The campaign we are now launching is intended to reach every home in Israel – and, of course, the country’s leaders.”
This week, the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) is launching a broad public campaign to promote its “Thin Constitution” initiative to establish a basic, mainly procedural constitution, based on broad consensus across political camps in Israel.
The initiative is designed to stabilize Israeli governance, strengthen public trust in state institutions, lower the flames of social polarization, and ensure Israel’s continued existence as a Jewish and democratic state over the long term.
JPPI’s monthly Israeli Society Index shows that 79% of Israelis rated the past year as “bad” socially, and about half of the public (49%) expressed pessimism about the future, alongside a consistent deterioration in trust toward state and governmental institutions. Sixty percent of Israelis believe there is a “real and tangible” danger of civil war. In the most recent survey, published ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Rabin assassination, 52% of participants responded that there is a “high likelihood” of a political assassination of a prime minister or other senior political figure even today.
Regrettably, under current conditions of a deep cultural division in Israeli society, the time has not yet come to reach broad agreements on questions of values and identity. However, it is possible to move significantly toward stabilizing Israeli democracy by setting binding and entrenched “rules of the game” for its governance. The “Thin Constitution” is intended to propose fair and effective rules of the game that will allow us to continue clarifying our collective identity without turning the “other” into an “enemy.”
The “Thin Constitution” is being drafted by a team of experts – senior figures from the worlds of public affairs and academia, with diverse views on policy and law. It is based on a central principle: creating a concise constitutional framework that defines the structure of the branches of government, the powers of each branch, and the relations between them, while avoiding identity issues and human-rights issues, which are the subject of heated controversy within Israeli society.
The expert team is preparing a detailed proposal to revise the existing balance of powers between the branches of government to everyone’s benefit. It endeavors to establish stable and clear rules for deciding constitutional disputes, including the procedures for enacting Basic Laws (the component articles of a constitution), a renewed calibration of judicial review, and, at the same time, the entrenchment of mutual oversight mechanisms that prevent excessive concentration of governmental power.
The initiative aims to achieve as broad an agreement as possible, thereby providing a stable constitutional foundation for many years to come. The campaign now being launched will focus on presenting the main elements of the initiative to the general public, explaining its advantages, and fostering an informed, data-based discourse on the importance of agreed-upon and stable “rules of the game” for managing disputes in Israeli society – that is, an orderly constitutional framework, even if it is not yet a full constitution.
The campaign will focus on digital platforms and radio broadcasts. Video clips will also air and open discussions with JPPI experts and external experts will take place.
JPPI President Prof. Yedidia Stern: “The recent political and social reality clearly indicates an urgent need to regulate the system of checks and balances, to anchor the fundamental powers of the branches of government, and to define agreed-upon and stable rules of the game that do not change with every change of government. The ‘Thin Constitution’ does not seek to compete with existing constitutional law, but rather to serve as a shared foundational layer based on broad, cross-camp consensus, which will enable stability, coordination, and the restoration of trust between the country’s citizens and its institutions.
Israel stands at a historic crossroads. To ensure a stable and shared future, we must agree on basic principles that are stable, clear, and practical. The ‘Thin Constitution’ was born of the understanding that Israeli society cannot wait for a resolution of every disputed constitutional issue; but it does need a stable foundation, on which a healthy national discourse can be built. The campaign we are now launching is intended to reach every home in Israel – and, of course, the country’s leaders.”
