Israel is a democracy
It conducts elections on a regular basis where many parties are on the ballot.
According to The Economist Group's Democracy Index 2022 study, Israel is the only democratic country in the region, qualified as a "flawed democracy" (#29 worldwide) and ranked as "Free" by Freedom House.[1] in the Middle East and North Africa.[2] The level of democracy in nations throughout the world published by various democracy indices, report the Middle Eastern and North African countries with the highest scores are Israel, Tunisia, Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan and Kuwait.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa
Since not one party gets a majority, as in other countries, the one with the most votes gets to form a coalition. This is a horse race. There may be small parties with unique demands but as long as they agree with the ideas of the major one, they will contribute one or two votes to reach a majority.
This is what happened last January. Netanyahu's Likud party won only 26% of the votes, but it had more than the rest and he got to form a government. The result has been the most right wing government in the history of the country. Some members are racists, homophobic, anti women....
Imagine, elected officials who are racist, homophobic.. Unique to Israel?
(As an aside, Israel has a vibrant LGBT community and Pride is celebrated everywhere).
Commenting on there results were reported in the Israeli media and, all of a sudden, posters here started posting about "a new Israeli government which is anti gay.." These were stories from January! but some here decided to use them now.
I have observed this during all the years (almost 20) that I have been here. Posters find articles criticizing Israel in... Israeli newspapers and post them here.
I can assure you that no other country in the Middle East, in Muslim countries, tolerate articles that criticize its rulers.
Israel is the highest-ranked country in the Middle East and North Africa region in the RSF’s 2023 Press Freedom Index. Its position dropped 11 ranks since last year, placing it at 97 out of 180 countries. Qatar is shortly below Israel at 105. Of the 10 countries that rank lowest on the index, four belong to the region: Saudi Arabia at 170, Bahrain at 171, Syria at 175, and Iran fourth lowest on the list at 177.
https://themedialine.org/people/middle-east-journalists-share-pessimistic-outlook-for-regions-press-freedom/
Back to the recent elections. As soon as the new government was formed and its plans to "reform" the judicial system became known, on every singe Saturday ten of thousands of Israelis went to the streets to protest, and it was reported on "60 Minutes." These protesters included many who voted for Netanyhau and now regretted their votes
On the day that the parliament was going to vote on the "reform," about 100,000 protesters marched to Jerusalem. On their way they met with local residents who built them tents and provided food and drink.
I have recently read that a factor of 36 should be used in comparing Israeli and U.S. populations. Thus, 100,000 Israeli marchers would equal 3.6 million marching on D.C. When has such a crowd marched here?
I have searched for famous marches on D.C and applied a population factor. The 250,000 that listened to MLK in 1963 would equal 460,000 today. The Million Men march with the higher estimation of 837,000 (some estimate 400,000) would equal 1,050,000.
I don't think that this post will stop many here to bash Israel, citing Israeli sources, but I hope that you will appreciate the freedom of the press and free elections that make Israel unique in the region.
Two post scripts:
The protesters that included many reservists and who were referred to as "traitors" have, in the past six weeks were fighting for Israel.
The "Brothers and Sisters in Arm" profiled in the 60 minutes story have now organized help for the ones who had to flee their homes with nothing left. They have been collecting donations, food, clothes trying to ease the trauma and distributing them.
= new reply since forum marked as read
This is one of the reasons that Palestinian refugees are not eligible for citizenship. If they became citizens, Israel would become a Muslim majority country. 
But it doesn't have enough to make a difference in how the country is ultimately run.
But yeah, that apartheid stuff sucks and is not Democratic, but since they aren't citizens, they aren't considered part of Israel...
Palestinian population of Israel = 1.6million (excluding Gaza/WB), approximately 21% of total population (that's voting citizens of Israel).
Palestinian representation in Knesset = 8% (10/120 members).
Palestinians have served as mayors, judges and Supreme Court Justices.
As a percent of population, Israel has the second highest number of Palestinians behind Jordan.
Is it perfect ? Absolutely not...can it be better...you betcha.
In 1948, as the State of Israel was founded, Palestinians were invited to stay and be part of the country. Numbers vary but at their most conservative, about 156,000 took David ben Gurion up on his offer and they are the ancestors of today's 1.6 million...about a 3% annual growth rate. The only ask of those 156,000 was a commitment to live in peace.
At the same time, about 600,000 Palestinians sided with surrounding Arab states and said - "nah...we're good with the kill Jews thing so we're gonna take our ball and leave - for now". For the most part, they are the ancestors of today's 2.7 million Palestinians that live in Gaza/WB...about a 2% annual growth rate
So the folks who said - yeah, we're willing to live in peace, it ain't perfect but we can build a life here. For the folks who said - let's keep this war going, our Arab brothers who talked us into this position will support us. Not as good for them, especially since few Arab states have done much more than use Palestinian refugees as a weapon against Israel...both physically and emotionally.
As I said - it's not perfect in Israel for Palestinians. It can and should get better and it likely takes a new government to make that progress. But let's remember our own history at 75 years old...we were still arguing about whether slaves who escaped to the north should be forcibly returned to the south and it would be another 10 years before we fought each other to end the formal structure of slavery. Many would say we're still fighting the fight.
I guess the question to ask is this: "is it apartheid to maintain secure borders relative to a group that wants to wipe you off the face of the earth, in spite of several substantive efforts to literally give them a country of their own...if only they'll just leave you in peace"?
Lots of groups throw that word apartheid around because it's so emotionally and politically charged from the atrocities of South Africa. I couldn't find any statistics on it but maybe someone else knows how many representatives in South Africa's Parliament or judges on the bench in South Africa were Black between 1948 and 1996 ? Probably a lot fewer than Palestinians in Israel politics today.
Right. And the difference between the two groups was that the 600k Jews were welcomed into a country of Jews independent of where they started and the 600k Palestinians were shunned by virtually every Arab country save Jordan.
That 600k immigration might not capture the influx of Russian Jews in the late 80s. That was a mess and a half.
As a separate point, I was amazed looking at a chart comparing jewish populations across the Arab world…1948 to today. 950k down to 11k across 11 countries with 6 of those countries having a total of 7 Jews. I’m sure some of that was voluntary migration but hard to imagine some percentage wasn’t involuntary. I don’t know but it’s an interesting stat. Anyway…more numbers for the group. 
.
At the same time, take a look at the 1948 Partition maps proposed by the UN. Jews said fine…Arabs, speaking through the Palestinians said we want it all.
And the Palestinian position, at least from the Hamas perspective, hasn’t moved in 75 years.
And you’re right about the power dynamic but I believe that the world likes to see it as big bad Israel vs. poor little Gaza/WB rather than looking at the broader landscape of the Middle East. Israel is surrounded on all sides by Arab countries, most of whom still wake up and wonder if today’s the day they get to push Israel into the Mediterranean.
Don’t get confused by Gaza as it’s the tip of a very big iceberg of existential threat to Israel.
I think you're right about Bibi's approach to the Palestinians although I would respectfully argue that if Hamas and the PA wanted to work together, they would be doing it in spite of Bibi. Let's not forget - Hamas in not the "de facto" government in Gaza...it IS the government of Gaza elected with 45% of the voters. At the same time, the PA parties got somewhere around 8% IIRC ??? So Gaza wanted a different governing group than the WB and Bibi had nothing to do with that - other than stepping back and letting it play out.
I don't think Bibi was or is right for the job - never had. At the same time, the whole "he was asking for it" thing re: 10/7 feels a little like blaming the victim here. It's kinda like saying "well what did she expect?" when talking about a Harvey Weinstein victim. I think we can all agree that's a bridge way too far...but when people talk about 10/7 there's more than enough "well what did he expect" as if somehow there are any actions that could justify 10/7.
I don't know about the crusades analogy. Maybe it works but I'm not clear on who's who and I'm usually not a fan of putting Jews and burning in the same sentence independent of the context. But that's just me.
I think your reference to peace treaties with many Arab states and being on the precipice of an historic agreement with Saudi is a key reason for the 10/7 attack and it's timing. Hamas saw it's influence waning and knew nothing stokes global anti-semitism than a Jews defending themselves...especially against an enemy perceived as being an oppressed weakling.
So we'll see. Once the hostages are home, this broad brush destruction will abate and Bibi either resigns or is forced out of Likud leadership so we'll see a new PM. Then we move from hostage recovery mode to balancing the scales mode. As I say to friends: Think Munich. It took 6-8 years but ultimately, every single person involved in that debacle paid the price with surgical precision. Long after 10/7 recedes from the headlines, they'll be working this for as long as it takes. Independent of what government is in power, it will be a priority.
a thriving LGGTQ Community that doesn't thrive in Muslim communities.
A big part of the issue is the degree to which bibi’s coalition has pandered to the Orthodox parties to form a government.
They much more control over everyday life than is visible to the casual secular viewer.
Example. All marriages have to be approved by the central rabbinate…which is orthodox. Secular, reform, and many conservative marriages are not allowed. BUT (thank god for loopholes)…Israel recognizes marriages performed in other counties. Hello Cyprus !!!
Every weekend dozens of couples take a boat ride to Cyprus, get married, have a nice dinner and come back the next day to register their international marriage in Israel. It’s nuts.
And visit the Western Wall. If you’re obviously a secular tourist the orthodox teens don’t even notice you but if they decide you might be a non-orthodox jew, buckle up. You haven’t lived until you try to maneuver through a dozen orthodox teens spitting on you at what is effectively Jewish ground zero. And don’t even think about going to the western wall if you’re female..y’all get a couple brick over there on the right side that don’t really matter anyway. Pretty much a joke.
Anyway, just wanted to offer a flavor of some normal goings on in Israeli Jewish life.
Oh…and the military dictatorship thing…any evidence? Given their not run by the military snd they have free and fair elections at least every four years and usually every other year…unclear how one draws that conclusion. 
Very interesting for me, thank you for this insight on life in Israel. The marriage thing is absurd. The Orthodox seem like a pretty intolerant, authoritarian bunch.
If this is how they treat their fellow Jews...
They are becoming more powerful due to the increase in their population and willingness to intimidate. In my other post I cited some stats on the youth turning hard right. Due to birth rates, most (?) of them are Orthodox. Not interested in a two-state solution.
It's all pretty frightening. Israel seems on the path to becoming a very different society. Is there any solution?
As for the military dictatorship, I didn't mean Israel proper. I meant the West Bank/Gaza, though of course the latter can be argued as to the extent of the Occupation since the withdrawal from that territory.
You might think differently.
5-6 years ago Israel survived the Great Passover Pizza crisis.
Passover is an 8-day spring celebration commemorating the story of Moses leading Jews out of Egypt. As part of that, many Jews avoid foods that "rise" and while there's some difference of opinion what all that includes, it definitely includes bread...and pizza crust.
There was a move in the Knesset initiated by several Orthodox members to shutter all the pizza parlors in Israel during passover since no "good" Jew should be eating pizza crust. Not taking this lying down, the pizza parlor owners were livid and marched on the Knesset (albeit in small numbers...lol) to make the point that the 8 days of passover were responsible for almost 2 months of average revenue. Why? Because so many people, mostly men, came in for lunch or a slice on the way home from work because they kept passover at home. When the news interviewed some of the customers who talked about being "bread cheats", they actually blurred their faces. I'd like to think it was because they didn't want their families to know their vice but I fear they may also have been avoiding some Orthodox blowback. In the end, pizza remains a staple fast food during passover...but it was a close call.
So you're right about creeping authoritarianism and the differential birthrate. A solution? I don't know. We put a lot of weight on the "two-state solution" and while that's necessary, it's far from sufficient and I'm not sure anyone in the Palestinian hierarchy has credibility to make and deliver on any promises. The fractious nature of both Gaza and WB seem to make them ungovernable. Someone, most likely a coalition of Arab states, is going to have to finally decide they need to reign in Palestinian extremists. Israel can do that, and I suspect will in the next rounds, through elections but that's not going work in Gaza/WB.
Re: military dictatorship...I think differently. It's a no win situation and Israel has no political influence over Palestinians. I think of a military dictatorship as a government that uses the military to stay in power and I don't see Israel in power in the territories.
In 2004-5, the global demand was for Palestinian Autonomy so Israel agreed and forceably removed thousands settlers from over 20 communities throughout Gaza. I still remember images of the IDF carrying recalcitrant settlers to transport vehicles while bulldozers razed their homes. In the election, Hamas won 44% of the vote and became the duly elected government of Gaza. While Israel didn't like it, they didn't do anything to "overthow" the government. Instead, Israel honored the global request for Palestinian Autonomy.
So we'll keep slogging through this. Releasing hostages (if they can find them) is fueling global good will for Hamas so it'll probably continue but I do believe that just like in the physical war Hamas uses human shields for protection, in the global PR war they are very effective in recruiting and activating human minds for protection. In no other global conflict would we so quickly flock to support Boko Haram, the Tutsi, or the Khmer Rouge. To be clear - I'm NOT attributing that support to you or your posts...just a commentary on the world.
Rec'd.
I will respond but for now life calls...
The Great Passover Pizza Crisis. That's hilarious!
They won't recognize the Armenian genocide either. This area is 1500 years old. I was always so proud of it. Now the Israelis are telling us we're going to hell. Armenians do not have rights in Israel, even though we have been there for 1500 years!
Where are you? On the frontlines fighting? Or playing armchair insulter?
‘We won’t leave’: Armenians in Jerusalem push back against armed settlers
A controversial real estate project threatens the world’s oldest Armenian diaspora community. But they refuse to move.
Old City, occupied East Jerusalem – After learning that settlers had returned to bulldoze in an area of the parking lot near his house in the Armenian Quarter, 80-year-old Garo Nalbandian, a professional photographer, joined a community sit-in in the area known as the Cows’ Garden with, of course, his trusty camera.
This Armenian community – the oldest Armenian diaspora in the world – has seen its population decline from some 27,000 people a century ago to about 1,000 today.
Nalbandian’s family risks losing the home they’ve lived in since 1969, under the deal. Garo’s wife, Hrout, whose family has been in Jerusalem as far back as the 8th or 9th century, describes her sweet memories of the decades of getting engaged, married and raising kids in their modest one-storey home.
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/24/we-wont-leave-armenians-in-jerusalem-push-back-against-armed-settlers
Link to tweet
Around 15:00pm, a group of Israeli extremist settlers arrived on scene where the Armenian community was having a peaceful sit-in.
Danny Rothman, backed with 15 settlers, demanded the expulsion of the Armenians:
“This is our land, leave the parking lot now!”
The Armenians refused to back down, and stood firmly on their rightfully owned property. Israeli Police arrived on the scene to diffuse the situation, which prompted more settlers to arrive in a show of force.
George Warwar, a Christian Arab, head of Xana Capital and Mr. Rothman’s business partner, also made threats to Armenians: “I will get you, one by one!”
Furthermore, one of the settlers gleefuly announced: “You are all Goys and when the messiah comes, you will all die”.
The Israeli settlers and the united Armenian community were at a stand-off.
Karnig Kerkonian, heading the legal team called for an emergency meeting with the members of the legal team in Jerusalem and the community activists on the ground to discuss undertaking further legal measures in light of the incursion into Armenian Patriachate grounds in the Old City.
As of now, the settlers have left the premises.
Same-sex couples are allowed to jointly adopt, following a landmark court decision in 2008
Snip//
Tel Aviv was referred to by the Calgary Herald as one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world,[3] famous for its annual Pride parade and gay beach,[4] earning it the nickname "the gay capital of the Middle East" by Out magazine.[5] According to users of the website GayCities, it was ranked as the best gay city in 2011
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Israel
Good ON Israel.. it's their Country and they made this happen.
https://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2023/04/26/how-democratic-got-left-out-of-israels-declaration-of-independence/
snip
Here is what is often completely overlooked when we assess Israel’s democracy: While there was much to learn from America, Israel was never meant to be the sort of democracy that Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison had in mind for the United States. It was founded for an entirely different purpose; that purpose had to do with the future of the Jewish people, not with a political experiment in self-governance that had implications for the entire world, as was the case with the United States.
Though neither Israeli nor American Jewish leaders were ever inclined to stress this point, Israel was never intended to be a liberal democracy. Israel has always been something different, commonly called an “ethnic democracy.”
In an ethnic democracy, all citizens have equal claims on civil and political rights, but the majority group (Jews in Israel’s case) have some sort of favored cultural, political and, at times, legal status. The motivation for this type of democracy in Israel stems from the very purpose of the state, which was, as British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour had put it in the Balfour Declaration in 1917, to be “a national home for the Jewish people.” If America was devoted (in theory) to a universal vision of “huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” whoever they might be and wherever they might have come from, Israel was a more particularistic project, about healing, protecting and cultivating the flourishing of the Jewish people.
Yes, Israel would be a democratic country, but not in the classic liberal democratic sense. And that is a critical distinction. One cannot understand some of what Israel does—such as passing a law declaring that it is the nation-state of the Jewish people when 20 percent of its population is not Jewish—without appreciating this fundamental difference between Israel and Western democracies.
Fucking Control of Palestine.
Something that gets studiously overlooked by those Insulting Israel.
Mahalo!!!