That's no democracy

Israel is forever trumpeting that it is the only democracy in the Middle East. It is a mantra taken up by many Western nations, notably the USA, in supporting Israel. Yes, Israel is undoubtedly "better" than Egypt or Saudi Arabia, but it's still not a democracy in the true test of what such a State is.

It's something even the Israeli newspaper Haaretz editorialises about:

"Cracks 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."

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