השימוש בתקנות שעת חירום בישראל בתקופת הקורונה ובמבט היסטורי, 1948-2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has rekindled the debate over the inherent link between exception and routine in Israel. In response to the pandemic, more than 100 countries declared a state of emergency as a means to combat the pandemic. But unlike other countries, Israel did not do so, as, formally, it has been in such a state since its inception in 1948. Israeli governments, therefore, have the authority to issue emergency regulations, but they have rarely done so over the past three decades. That changed significantly on March 15, 2020, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Israeli government issuing an unprecedent number of emergency regulations in the months that followed. Surprisingly, the literature on Israeli emergency regulations and other emergency policies is rather limited and, for the most part, not up to date. The widespread use of emergency regulations during the COVID-19 crisis highlights the need for such a body of work. To meet this challenge, this article presents unique data on the use of emergency regulations in Israel between 1948 and 2020. More specifically, it discusses the policy areas those regulations covered and compares Israel‘s emergency response to the COVID-19 crisis to those of other countries. This article thus seeks to contribute to the public, academic, and legal discourse in Israel.