“Israel” has no written constitution. That’s not a joke! Anyone who bothers to browse the official website of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) would see that. Ever since its creation in 1948 until now, that’s 74 years, there has never been any constitution for “Israel”! Instead, it is operating based on a bunch of “basic laws” that it developed in place of the constitution, which is the natural requirement of any normal country. 

But why wouldn’t “Israel” come up with a constitution? Why didn’t its “founding fathers”, and the generations after them, just sit down and write a constitution? Surely that important matter didn’t simply slip out of their minds. Here are the main reasons that made it impossible for the Israelis to write a constitution:

They don’t want to have fixed borders!

In case there is a constitution, there must be borders for the state, and they don’t want that. They want a borderless state, or with temporary borders, that is “expandable” at any time when they can conquer more Arab lands.  And that is what historically happened. In 1947, the United Nations issued its Palestine-Partition plan (Resolution 181) which granted 56% of historical Palestine to the proposed Jewish "state".

The Jewish Agency immediately accepted the resolution (which was extremely unfair to Arabs), only to obtain legitimacy for its new "state" and not a sincere acceptance of the borders as set by the plan. Next year, in 1948, “Israel” conquered 78% of Palestine by war, which is 40% more than what was allocated to it by the UN. In 1967, “Israel” expanded further and conquered by war 100% of Palestine (until now still holding to it and refusing to withdraw).

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Also in 1967, “Israel” took over the Golan Heights from Syria (and annexed it) and the Sinai from Egypt (eventually returned it after the Camp David Treaty). In 1982, “Israel” occupied the Southern part of Lebanon and kept it until the year 2000 when it was defeated by the Lebanese Resistance movement and thus forcing it to withdraw.

“Israel” wants to keep it that way. No fixed borders. This touches its Biblical-Torahic dreams about the “Land of Israel” that extends from as far as Iraq in the east to the Nile in the west! A constitution cannot allow that.

The "ownership" of the land

In 1948, the vast majority of land in what became the “State of Israel” actually belonged to the Palestinian Arabs who were forcefully displaced to neighboring Arab countries. “Israel” illegally seized their lands and properties. A constitution would create a problem for the usurpers who have no legal basis for owning the land they conquered by war. "Israel" confiscated the Palestinians’ lands and, obviously, no modern constitution would allow for it.

Who is the citizen? 

This is a basic question that cannot be overlooked by any constitution, and it created a big problem for the Zionists who were behind the “State of Israel” project. In the Zionist ideology, “Israel” is the homeland for the Jews all over the world, so every Jew, with or without his/her consent is a natural candidate for citizenship. But how can anyone put that in a constitution?! You can’t just say, for example, that the Dutch Jews are citizens of "Israel", because they aren’t. At the same time, the Zionists couldn’t abide by the natural definition of citizenship in all modern states in the world that the citizens of a state are its residents who live in it, because this would cut the link between “Israel” and the Jews of the world who could not be automatically privileged with the Israeli citizenship in that case: A dilemma for which the Zionists found no solution.

Basis of jurisdiction?   

Is it the Torah?! Since the idea of Zionism itself, on which the whole “Israel” project was founded, was based on religious – Jewish appeal (the Chosen People, Children of "Israel", returning to the Promised Land), it was impossible for the founders to settle on a secular, modern, and western-style constitution. The Orthodox Jews, who believe the Torah must be the basis of the Jewish state, could not be ignored. And let’s not forget that even the secular Jews then, who mainly came from Europe, were not united in their view on the matter; actually, they were divided between the liberal-democratic side and the socialist-communist side. Not writing a constitution at all was then the best option for the Zionist leadership. 

Discrimination laws against the Arab Palestinians?!  

There are many laws, regulations, and practices in “Israel” that discriminate against Arabs as an ethnic and religious minority. Just one example of that: In 1988, Zachary Lockman, a Harvard history professor, wrote at The New York Times that “some 92 percent of Israel’s land area is administered in accordance with regulations which prohibit these lands from being purchased, leased or worked by Arab citizens of Israel”. Obviously, discrimination and racism cannot be written in any constitution so the Zionists had to choose between granting equal rights to the Arabs (and losing the Jewish privileges) and not having a constitution! 

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“Israel” has never been a normal state. The absence of a constitution is evidence of that fact. The world has to be aware of that and must exert pressure on this “state” to abide by international norms and standards before asking or pressurizing Arabic countries to recognize it as it is.