ABSTRACT
The unique features of the constitutional system of Israel must serve as the point of departure for any examination of that country’s experience with censorship. Foremost among these is the absence of a formal, comprehensive written constitution that includes explicit guarantees against infringements of free speech. The absence of a written constitution has been a perennial concern in Israeli politics, one that has been the occasion for mass demonstrations. Those seeking constitutional reform inevitably appeal to Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which contains a specific commitment to “a Constitution to be drawn up by the Constituent Assembly.” The law concerning censorship in Israel is suffused in irony. It is rooted in Britain’s Palestine Mandate legislation that once was the special target of outrage and contempt from those in Palestine who had been engaged in the struggle to establish an independent Jewish state.
