The Knesset Museum opened in Jerusalem last year in a building colloquially referred to as the Old Knesset. Beit Froumine, as the three-story structure at 24 King George is formally called, housed Israel’s legislature from March 1950 until the dedication of the current site in August 1966. The museum tells the story of Israeli democracy using multimedia presentations, beginning with the state’s founding through today. But if you can’t make it to Jerusalem, here’s an introduction to how the Knesset—the Hebrew word for gathering or assembly—operates.

• The Knesset is Israel’s unicameral parliament and seats 120 members of Knesset (MKs) who serve four-year terms. The legislative body has four main functions: to pass laws; to supervise government work; to elect the president of the State of Israel and the state comptroller; and to deliberate over state issues.   

• The Knesset Plenum includes the full slate of MKs. Bills, motions for the agenda, parliamentary questions for government ministers and motions of no confidence in the government are all brought to the Plenum. More focused deliberation occurs in the 17 standing committees, which include, among others, the Finance, Foreign Affairs and Defense committees.

• The speaker and deputy speakers of the Knesset—called the Presidium—set the schedule of the Plenum and other issues for debate. Dalia Itzik, who today is board chair of the Hadassah Medical Organization, in 2006 became the first woman to serve as speaker. When the president of Israel is out of the country or the office is vacant, the speaker serves as acting president—which Itzik did for two weeks in July 2007. 

• The Knesset ​occasionally invites guests from abroad, such as a head of state, to address the Plenum. On November 20, 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat delivered a speech before the Plenum, and on October 13, 2025, President Donald Trump addressed MKs just after the release of the last living hostages held in Gaza.

Now you know more about the Israeli Knesset!