Israel's political system is based on proportional representation, and allows for a multi-party system, with numerous parties represented in the 120-seat Knesset.

A typical Knesset includes many factions represented. This is because of the low election threshold required for a seat – 1 percent of the vote from 1949 to 1992, 1.5 percent from 1992 to 2003, 2 percent from 2003 to 2014, and 3.25 percent since 2015. In the 2015 elections, for instance, ten parties or alliances cleared the threshold, and five of them won at least ten seats. The low threshold, in combination with the nationwide party-list system, makes it all but impossible for a single party to win the 61 seats needed for a majority government. No party has ever won a majority of seats in an election, the most being 56, won by the Alignment grouping in the 1969 elections (the Alignment had briefly held a majority of seats before the elections, following its formation in January 1969).

As a result, while only four parties (or their antecedents) have ever led governments, all Israeli governments, as of 2023^[update], have been coalitions comprising two or more parties.

The following parties changed their names

• Banai became Tehiya-Bnai, then Tehiya
• Emunim became Tkuma
• Equality in Israel-Panthers became the Unity Party
• Flatto-Sharon became Development and Peace
• Hitkhabrut became the Renewed Religious National Zionist Party, then Ahi
• Israel in the Centre became the Centre Party
• Meretz became Yachad, then Meretz-Yachad, then Meretz again
• Movement for Change and Initiative became Shinui
• Mizrachi-Hapoel HaMizrachi became the National Religious Front, then National Religious Party, then The Jewish Home
• National Responsibility became Kadima
• National Unity - National Progressive Alliance became Progressive National Alliance
• Parliamentary Group of Bronfman and Tsinker became Makhar, then the Democratic Choice
• Party for the Advancement of the Zionist Idea became the New Liberal Party
• Rafi – National List became Ometz
• Rakah became Maki
• Secular Faction became Hetz
• Social-Democratic Faction became the Independent Socialist Faction
• Shinui - Centre Party became Shinui - the Secular Movement, then Shinui - Party for the Secular and the Middle Class, but is generally known as Shinui

• Politics of Israel
• List of political parties by country
• Liberalism in Israel
• Labor Zionism
• Revisionist Zionism