Know comment: Israeli democracy is not at risk – Jerusalem Post Israel News
The Economist last week released its annual global democracy index. Not surprisingly, Israel scored high.
The highbrow magazine ranked Israel very high for pluralism and political culture. It ranked Israel a bit lower for civil liberties mainly because of the Chief Rabbinates ultra-rigid control over Jewish marriage, divorce and conversion.
Indeed, Israel is more globalized, open and democratic than at any time in the states history. Over the past decade, Israels democracy scores have risen from 7.28 to 7.85 on a scale of 1 to 10, according to the Economist.
For comparison purposes, note that Belgium this year rated a score of 7.77, France 7.92, the US 7.98, Britain 8.36, and Canada 9.15. Greece was downgraded to the status of a flawed democracy at 7.23. Turkey is no longer rated a democracy, but a hybrid regime.
And yet, there is a steady drumbeat of warning about dangers to Israeli democracy being propagated these days.
You read it on the front pages of the left-leaning Yediot Aharonot and Haaretz newspapers. You get it from progressive academics in Israeli political science and sociology departments, and you are confronted with it by politicians seeking to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The discourse goes like this: Israeli democracy is under attack by dark forces of ultra-nationalism, racism, fascism and religious radicalism. An ugly wave of hatred is washing across Israel, with fundamentalists leading a surging tide of extremism.
The purported evidence for this is kids who gathered this week to prevent Amona from being destroyed, and hooligans who threatened army leaders and judges after Sgt. Elor Azarias January 4 manslaughter conviction.
Adding to the list of alleged dangers to democracy is a series of nationalist legislative initiatives in the Knesset.
These range from cultural and educational issues (such as spending more shekels on arts communities in the periphery, high school curriculum changes in civics and Jewish-Zionist heritage studies, and keeping the Breaking the Silence organization out of the school system); to constitutional matters (the nation-state bill, and reform of the judicial appointments process); to political initiatives (crackdown on illegal Beduin and Arab building, tougher prosecution of terrorist family members); and so on.
But none of the above actually proves the charges of fascism or undermining of Israeli democracy. Not at all.
The noisy demonstrations and bullying of a few hundred radicals prove nothing, except that there fringe elements in our society that need to be kept in check on the extreme Left and Right. This holds equally true for radicals who threaten to upend Israel on behalf of the terrorist-abetting Arab MK Basel Ghattas, and for those who threaten military judges on behalf of the terrorist-slaying soldier Elor Azaria.
All zealots must be marginalized.
(But note: The right-wingers in Amona dont come close to falling into this category. They were mainly passive protesters, expressing outrage at flawed policy in legitimate fashion.)
IT IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT how we approach the public policy debate.
It is wrong to portray Israeli society as bisected by two enemy narratives: that of a moral, liberal, democratic, universalist Israeli Left, versus an immoral, illiberal, isolationist, nationalist Israeli Right. This is a false dichotomy, and its an untrue picture of Israeli society.
Like Britain, France, Germany and the US these days, there is a real and worthy debate in Israel over important public policy matters, and there is a continuum of respectable views that defy simplistic categorization as democratic or anti-democratic.
Its important to acknowledge this, and to abjure accusations that every controversial policy innovation is motivated by hatred, moral insensitivity or authoritarianism.
Taking up one side of the debate, I will argue that neither hawkish Israeli foreign policies, nor conservative Israeli socioeconomic and cultural policies, automatically make this country less free, enlightened, noble, creative or exciting.
Lets say, for example, that the NGO funding transparency is passed by the Knesset, or that the judicial appointments process is altered to deny Supreme Court judges a veto over selection of their successors.
Is that the end of democratic Israel? Of course not!
Lets say that the Knesset breaks up the Labor Partys kibbutz-controlled food cartels, or that it passes a law mandating compensation for absentee Palestinian landlords for land on which Israelis have been living for 40 years (instead of expelling such Israelis from their homes).
Is that the end of democratic Israel? Of course not!
When the High Court of Justice ruled in favor of Netanyahu government policies on natural gas exploitation and on deportation of illegal African migrant workers (while circumscribing some aspects of the attendant legislation) policies that were strenuously opposed by the Left was that the end of Israeli democracy?
Or lets imagine that Elor Azaria receives a light sentence for his manslaughter conviction. Would that be fascist and undemocratic?
My point is that opposition to public policy should be debated on its merits without semi-automatic screeching about intolerance, repression, dictatorship, thought police and the crushing of democratic norms.
Over the top attacks make the political opposition sound just as crude and intolerant as the caricature of the government they are communicating.
Of course, no one should pooh-pooh civic challenges that do stand before Israeli society. The Israel Democracy Institutes 2016 Democracy Index found a significant drop in public trust of state institutions and politicians, and an increasing willingness to marginalize minorities, such as Israeli Arabs, ultra-Orthodox Jews, and settlers.
But we must beware a doomsday discourse about depredations in Israels democratic moorings. Israel is far more hale and hearty than some of its detractors would have you believe.
Relevant to your professional network? Please share on Linkedin
See the rest here:
Know comment: Israeli democracy is not at risk - Jerusalem Post Israel News
- Donald Trump and the unmooring of patriotism and democracy - The Hill - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Keeping the Faith in the Fight to Defend Democracy (Anne Applebaum) - The Bulwark - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Voices: Look to Logan as an example of a democracy and sustainable progress - Salt Lake Tribune - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Biden warns that an oligarchy is forming that threatens US democracy - Reuters - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- WATCH: Bidens final speech from the White House warns of an ultra-wealthy oligarchy that could threaten democracy - PBS NewsHour - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- VIDEO: Rebuilding the Arsenal of Democracy and Americas Defense Industrial Base - smallwarsjournal - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Gideon Levy & Mouin Rabbani on Ceasefire: Netanyahu Will Do Everything Possible to Kill It Later - Democracy Now! - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Proposed Legislation Threatens a Backslide on U.S. Democracy - New Lines Magazine - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Biden warns of rising democracy-threatening oligarchy in grim farewell speech - POLITICO - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Youth honored as 'Voice of Democracy' - Mount Airy News - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Biden touts record of upholding democracy in farewell speech - BBC.com - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- AI is assistive intelligence, can lead to better democracy - The Jakarta Post - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- GOP Already Controls the North Carolina Supreme Court Why Are They Obsessed With Overturning That Race? - Democracy Docket - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- The American oligarchy Biden denounced as a threat to democracy gained $1.5 trillion in net worth during his term - Fortune - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Big tech is picking apart European democracy, but there is a solution: switch off its algorithms | Johnny Ryan - The Guardian - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Jon Meacham: Democracy is a manifestation of all of us - Yahoo! Voices - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Opinion | Beyond Authoritarian Rage:The Cultural Will to Democracy - Common Dreams - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- [UPDATE] Washington Post still thinks "Democracy Dies In Darkness," but announces new mission - The A.V. Club - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Peckham: Democracy is for sale in the U.S. - Harrisonburg Daily News Record - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Are the young really so down on democracy? | Letters - The Guardian - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Thomas Piketty: 'In the global battle between democracy and oligarchy, one can only hope that Europeans will emerge from their lethargy' - Le Monde - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- The GOPs Grand Stand against Voting and Democracy - substack.com - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- 4 Voting Rights Cases SCOTUS May Hear That Could Reshape Elections - Democracy Docket - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Biden warns in farewell address that an 'oligarchy' of ultrarich in US threatens future of democracy - The Associated Press - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- A surge in radical governments, the hope of democracy - The Hindu - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- How Does It Feel to Have Your Legacy Be Genocide?: Max Blumenthal Confronts Outgoing Blinken - Democracy Now! - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Threats to democracy in the 2nd Trump administration - Niskanen Center - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- North Carolina Supreme Court GOP Candidate Seeks to Tilt the Playing Field in His Favor - Democracy Docket - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Lessons from self-inflicted blows to democracy in South Korea and the U.S. - NPR - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Nowicki: Its a New Year. Will it be the same democracy? - Oregon Daily Emerald - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Democracy depends on obedience - America: The Jesuit Review - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- The rise and fall of Justin Trudeau Democracy and society - IPS Journal - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Not All Elections Are Created Equal - Renew Democracy Initiative - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Kamala Harris says Americas democracy stood, after certifying Trumps election victory as it happened - The Guardian US - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Democracy dies, first, in the workplace: A conversation with Hamilton Nolan and Sara Nelson - The Real News Network - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- The Militia and the Mole: Reporter Josh Kaplan on How a Freelance Vigilante Infiltrated U.S. Militias - Democracy Now! - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- U.S. DOE Selects Nine Organizations for Regional Energy Democracy Initiative in Texas and Louisiana - SolarQuarter - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Everss Direct Democracy Initiative Should Go Directly to the Waste Bin - MacIverInstitute - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Unpacking the Meta Announcement: The Future of the Information Ecosystem and Implications for Democracy - Just Security - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Harris called Trump a danger to democracy. Now she is set to certify his election win - The Independent - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- After a year of elections, whats next for democracy in 2025? - Eco-Business - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Psychological profile of Daniel Ortega and the Crisis of Democracy in Nicaragua - Robert Lansing Institute - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Southeast Asias human rights and democracy: A reflection - The Jakarta Post - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Fareed Zakaria, "The Crisis of Democracy Is Really a Crisis for the Left" / "Why Is the Left Flailing? Look at New York vs.... - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Slotkin prioritizes protection of democracy ahead of U.S. Senate swearing-in - Michigan Advance - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Before preaching democracy, political parties must lead by example: The Daily Star - asianews.network - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Liberal Democracy Shrinks in India, Turkey and the US - IDN-InDepthNews - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- What does an America without democracy look like? Were about to find out. - The Hill - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Biden says Trump is a genuine threat to democracy, scolds reporters - MSN - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Nonprofits Are at the Core of American Democracy. Now Theyre Under Threat - TIME - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- New Congress Takes Office Tomorrow What This Means for Voting Rights - Democracy Docket - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Who were the winners and losers of African democracy in 2024? - RFI English - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Commentary: 2024 saw plenty of elections, little in the way of democracy - Stocktonia News - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Opinion | The crisis of democracy is really a crisis for the left - The Washington Post - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Biden takes departing jab at Trump, says he was a genuine threat to democracy - Fox8tv - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- The Best and Worst of 2024 - Democracy Docket - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Democracy vs. bureaucracy: How populism became the handmaiden of tech - Washington Examiner - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Avery Davis-Roberts former manager of The Carter Centers democracy program gives interview on Carter's legacy - Americus Times-Recorder - January 6th, 2025 [January 6th, 2025]
- Jimmy Carter sought to expand democracy worldwide long after he left the White House - The Associated Press - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Local news organizations are vital to healthy communities and democracy | Guest Column - Port Townsend Leader - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Daily Briefing Dec. 30: Day 451 Democracy in Syria? De facto leader says not so fast - The Times of Israel - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- What I learned from talking to Atlantans about our democracy this year - Atlanta Civic Circle - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- In Trumps America, Theres Democracy Only When He Wins - Democracy Docket - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Democratic Sen. Andy Kim: 'The opposite of democracy is apathy' - CNN - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Germany, France and Poland condemn violence in Georgia, stress support for pro-democracy movement - The Associated Press - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- The Fulcrum Democracy Forum Meets Tim Shriver, Special Olympics International Board of Directors - citybiz - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- The inspiring resilience of democracy - Financial Times - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Lapid warns Israel must choose between democracy and theocracy - The Times of Israel - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- The People and Groups Who Tried to Disenfranchise Voters in 2024 - Democracy Docket - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Opinion: 2024 was a Year of Elections when democracy lost out - The Globe and Mail - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- PMs wife accuses AG of terrorizing Israeli democracy with probe into her conduct - The Times of Israel - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- South Asia In 2024: Elections, Transitions, And The Struggle For Democracy - thefridaytimes.com - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Uprising for Democracy in the Caucasus - CounterPunch - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Our Country and Democracy Demand Open Hearts and Minds - Washington Monthly - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Hes anti-democracy and pro-Trump: the obscure dark enlightenment blogger influencing the next US administration - The Guardian US - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]
- Column | Musks dangerous, exaggerated conflation of social media and democracy - The Washington Post - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]
- In a year of global elections, what did we learn about the state of democracy? - NPR - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]
- Opinion | What if Our Democracy Cant Survive Without Christianity? - The New York Times - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]
- The Future of Democracy and Human Rights in American Foreign Policy - Center for Strategic & International Studies - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]
- Democrats really dont understand democracy, or why they lost the presidential election - OCRegister - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]