Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 11 February 2009

Basic Law: The Government (2001)
www.knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/basic14_eng.htm
...
The Knesset. Assignment of task of forming Government.

7. (a) When a new Government has to be constituted, the President of the
State shall, after consultation with representatives of party groups in the
Knesset, assign the task of forming a Government to a Knesset Member who has
notified him that he is prepared to accept the task; the President shall do
so within seven days of the publication of the election results, or should
the need arise to form a new government; and in the case of the death of the
Prime Minister, within 14 days of his death.