Israel can't be a democracy with two classes of citizens
About a fifth of Israel's citizens, the Arabs, are citizens with equal rights, and a democracy's mission is, first and foremost, to defend its minorities.
Haaretz EditorialCracks are emerging in Israel's democracy. A comprehensive survey compiled by the Israel Democracy Institute and reported in yesterday's Haaretz paints a gloomy, worrisome picture whose gist is a lack of understanding of the basic principles of Israel's political system.
Almost all the survey's findings point to this trend. A majority of the public supports predicating voting rights on a declaration of loyalty to the state; only 17% of the public believes the state's self-definition as a democracy should take precedence over its self-definition as Jewish; an absolute majority believes that only Jews should be involved in decisions crucial to the state; a majority supports allocating more resources to Jews than Arabs; a third of Jewish citizens support putting Arab citizens in detention camps in wartime; and about two-thirds think Arabs should not become ministers.
These findings follow campaigns of hatred and incitement by rabbis and politicians against Israel's Arab citizens. They also follow anti-democratic bills that have been discussed, and in some cases even passed, by the Knesset. And all this happened without the voices of the prime minister, education minister and leader of the opposition being heard.
The survey results are therefore not surprising, but they are extremely disturbing. At their root lies the twisted belief that democracy means the tyranny of the majority, and that equal rights for all the state's citizens is not an integral part of the democratic system.
The survey must spark resolute action. The leadership of the state and all its organs, but especially the education system and the Knesset, must now mobilize to inculcate true democratic values among the public that holds such beliefs and opinions. All the relevant bodies have an obligation to take action against the ignorance and nationalism reflected in the survey.
It must be reiterated at every opportunity that about a fifth of Israel's citizens, the Arabs, are citizens with equal rights, and a democracy's mission is, first and foremost, to defend its minorities. It must also be reiterated that a democracy cannot have two classes of citizens, first-class and second-class. And, most importantly, the next generation of Israelis must be taught these lessons.
The importance of this effort cannot be overstated: What is at stake is the very nature of Israel's society and political system. Cracks in either will endanger Israel's future no less than any external threat. The kind of society reflected by this survey will not be able to preserve democracy - or even a veneer thereof.
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The reasons differ, but this editorial could have been published in just the same form five or ten years ago. What is worse is that Arab phobia is exported abroad. The world! needs peace in the middle east.
Class 1: Those that enjoy being Israeli and identify with the state's symbols and ideas = Jews, Druze, Circassians & a few others. Class 2: This group hate the state and dream that one day it will somehow vanish and be replaced by a 22nd Arab state. Class 2 is a problem
If one fifth of Israels are arab/israli's how is it that they only have 7 Mk's out of 120? Surely if this state is a democracy there should be at least 24 MK's? Further how is it that only Jewsh israeli's are allowed to build homes and only arab homes are demolished? Some democracy!
The spirit of your editorial is praiseworthy, calling urgent attention to the non-democratic sentiments which Jewish Israelis have toward their Arab compatriots. But your solution to the problem awaits a bolder step than government and leadership speeches on the subject. There must be a movement endorsing a bicameral knesset, one with a lower house representing Israel’s Arabs and giving them a “confederated” voice. Like the original American colonies in the time just before and after the Revolutionary War, before a Constitution was ratified, each Colony joined in a confederation and its views were represented and taken seriously in the “Continental Congress.” Israel must become a confederation with its Arab population having power through a legislative chamber to affect all policy, except perhaps war. Only when the Israeli Arabs have genuine legislative input will Jewish leaders be sympathetic to their interests. If they vote for their own representatives in a “lower chamber” (the British model of the House of Commons), the entire issue of whether Israel can be Jewish when Arab voters exceed their voting number, goes away. I speak as an ardent Zionist deeply committed to a secure Israel, but against the non-Democratic theocracy she has become.
Israel already is.
Wouldn't equal treatment go along with the acceptance of the government by the people's being governed? "Gimmie all the benefits and I'll take few of the responsibilities" is what's called a welfare state on the fast track to destruction. It just ain't working in the US and it never does- ANYWHERE! How can someone ask Israel to accept others when those very others do not accept Israel? Utiopanistic fantasies are nice for bedtime, not the real world.
Will the Palestinian state(s) be democratic? Is Gaza run on democratic principles? Are Jews and Christians free to live there? There is no reason to assume that a West Bank state will be democratic. It will be overrun by Hamas / AlQaeda within a few weeks.
Haaretz forgets as usual what makes a democracy!! That is the majority and the tolerance of a majority towards a minority is based on the actions of the minority!!If the minority does not accept the state or even supports terror against the majority, like supporting Hamas and being against the blockade of Gaza. then the majority cannot be tolerant. Haaretz next time investigate the opinions of the israeli Arab public and ask them if they want the Jews out of Israel and if they love Iran.
It wouldn't matter if 100% of the public wanted to kick out all the arabs or refuse to give them a say in policy making as long as the government do not implicate these policies it doesn't matter. One of that nice things about Israel which you do not get in the arab states is individuals have freedom to think for themselves and voice their opinions in public. Individual opinions do not define the democratic nature of the country so this poll means nothing other than confirming what we have all known since day 1 and thats the bulk of the jewish population have no time for arabs and would like to be rid of them all but everybody is entitled to their opinion and there is no laws that say our opinions must be politically correct.
....which is that this has all happened because of some degree of incompetent NEGLEGENCE on the part of the current ruling class. That is a most unfounded assumption, because it is much more likely that the racists who run Israel are very, very, very comfortable with the way in which this is all panning out......
Intermarriage is the glue that really binds societies together. Always has been, always will be. Sure, it's good for people to have friends and work colleagues from different racial groups, but ultimately it's only intermarriage that really binds two groups together at the most fundamental level. It doesn't have to be that every Jews marries an Arab, but there have to be a significant number of mixed marriages, including high profile ones, otherwise the populations will always be separate and separate ultimately means racism.
But intermarriage wont happen even if the country will not be defined as a jewish country. Muslim girls wont marry jews men. Only if men convert to islam. Moreover, it is impossible to redisign the country as a liberal counry for all its citizens. Arabs will never accept it. The only thing they might accept is a binational state. Jews will never accept. Result: The same thing we have now we will have it tomorrow. Anything wrong? Dont think so. Too much hysteria for nothing. Israel social fabric is working not bad, with its checks and balances. Europe is crumbling, Britain is is a big economic mess and does not know what to do with its multicultural nonesense. I believe that they are worst off than Israel.
in yugoslavian bosia intermarrige was extremly common, most bosian had bosiak, bonian serbs and bosian croats in their broder families, but that didn't stop the war nor the massacres
The only thing intermarriage guarantees is the death of Judaism. A child is only considered Jewish if its mother is Jewish and if everybody is marrying out then how many kids will be born Jewish? Also children from interfaith families are unlikely to get a Jewish education so even the kids who are Jewish by birth will probably never practise the religion and eventually the religion is confined to the history books. You don't give up your faith just for the sake of trying to improve relations between different groups. The idea of destroying a religion to try eradicate racism is throughly immoral.
there Is plenty of intermarriage in the former Yugoslavia and Lebanon. Look how peaceful they are
As long as Judaism is more important than people there will be no justice or equality.
In the days when the Brits were "conquerors" their king ordered all women stay virgins until they can be raped by their soldiers to force "in-breeding" with the then "master race" so as to create a common breed. Seems mikey is longing for a revival of the past
Israel is changing into a very sick country and no one seems to care. Democratic and humanistic values are evaporating. We are becoming ever more obsessed with fear and hatred. nothing good can come from this.
means a point in favour to the Palestinian resistance because it reflects destruction(war destruction).
How Israel is a beacon of democracy, "light upon the nations", and will never become an apartheid state.
The writer of this editorial "Democracy in Danger" has hit the nail on its head! This very succinct and eloquent analysis exactly describes the current crisis in Israeli society regarding the rise in racism/nationalism and in discriminatory practices that has been rampant lately and that has been fostered and instigated by some of the very legislators who are supposed to protect and safeguard the democratic laws and character of the country and it also suggests concrete measures to be taken to reverse this appalling and dangerous trend and return to the true precepts of democratic values that guarantee equal rights under the law to ALL of its citizens - as stated in the Declaration of Independence: "Hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in the land of Israel to be known as the State of Israel. …Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the "Ingathering of the Exiles"; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations."
Their actions, and especially their silence, speaks louder than you might think...because the trend follows an agenda to which they are NOT overly opposed...and regarding the first two, their voices HAVE been added to those who are behind the trend and the moral and ethical damage it wreaks. The great majority of the whole of the Israeli government is complicit to one degree or another - from Yishai and Lieberman to those who quietly acquiesce. The exceptions are too few to even be heard. The fascists have sold their agenda to the public, and Israel is in a spiraling descent towards an infamous destiny. And as it is, there's no "delegitimization" of Israel that compares to its own.
(in the hope this will get posted) that first sentence--"Cracks are emerging in Israeli democracy."--perhaps says a great deal as to WHY they are emerging--and by that I mean that to use the "present tense" (are) would indicate that maybe--just MAYBE--a lot of folks have been blind to what's BEEN happening for quite some time now--either that, or they just didn't want to "internalize" what they were seeing--but either way--(and in my opinion, of course)--somebody better shut the barn door NOW--because once the horse gets out--it's too damn late.