Israel’s Version of Democracy Is in Good Health
Heightened political partisanship in the Netanyahu era has led to a false impression of crisis.
A different kind of democracy.
Photographer: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images
According to a recent survey published by the prestigious Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), roughly half of all Israelis feel their democracy is under serious threat. In a way, this is not surprising. Since Israel’s founding in 1948, it has been engaged in a perpetual debate over how to balance democracy and Jewishness in a country that aspires to both.
The debate is unresolved because there is an inherent contradiction in this aspiration, most clearly reflected in a 2002 decision by Aharon Barak, chief justice of the Israeli Supreme Court, and perhaps the country’s most respected liberal jurist.