Leader of the Opposition (Israel)

Leader of the Opposition יוֹשֵׁב רֹאשׁ הַאוֹפּוֹזִיצְיָה Yoshev Rosh Ha-Opozitzya
Incumbent Isaac Herzog since 22 November 2013
Term length	While leader of the largest political party not in government

The Leader of the Opposition (Hebrew: יוֹשֵׁב רֹאשׁ הַאוֹפּוֹזִיצְיָה‎, Yoshev Rosh Ha-Opozitzya) is the politician who leads the Official Opposition in the Israeli legislative body, the Knesset.

Until 2000, the role of the Opposition Leader was not an official position, but rather an honorary role. The Leader of the Opposition used to be the leader of the largest party not within the government, which was also the second largest party in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, either Likud Party or Israeli Labor Party, in all their versions. However, the party leading the coalition had never won the majority in the Knesset, but rather maintained it through a majority coalition building process within the Knesset. Over half a century (except for two occasions), either the Likud party or the Labor party, in all their versions, had formed the government (i.e. the Cabinet), without the other rival party joining the government, and thus except for these two occasions, wherein 1967–1970, Golda Meir and Levi Eshkol, and in 1984–1990, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir had formed a National Unity Government, consisting of the two major rival parties, the Opposition Leader had always been the chairman of either the Likud party or the chairman of Labor, and it is commonly said that during that period, wherein the two major rivals parties were joined by a unity government, there were practically no opposition in the Knesset.

Even with the absence of a law defining the role of the Opposition Leader until 2000, it was customary to conduct update meetings between the Prime Minister and the chairman of the largest party not within the government. However, it was carried out only according to the Prime Minister's decision, and thus the Knesset had to pass legislation to anchor the position of the Opposition Leader, in order to strengthen the Opposition's status as an oversight apparatus to the operations of the installed government's activities.