Democracy is not compatible with Israel’s survival

Israel's Left embraces ‘democracy’. It defends ‘democracy’. It claims Israel can survive only by being a ‘democracy’ (Max Fisher, “Israel’s dark future”, vox, April 13, 2015).

Israel’s Left is passionate about ‘democracy’. But it has a problem. Democracy doesn’t work in Israel. It doesn’t help Israel. It threatens Israel’s chances for survival.

   

Consider ‘democracy’: a true democracy has four basic criteria and two underlying requirements. The four basic criteria are: free and fair elections; active participation by all citizens in political and civic life; basic human rights for all; and the rule of law equally applied (lecture, Stanford University, "What is Democracy", web.stanford. edu, January 21, 2004).

For a democracy, human rights means, specifically, freedom of religion, free speech, the freedom to enjoy one's own culture,  the freedom to choose between different sources of news and opinion, the freedom to associate with other people, the freedom to form and join organizations of your own choice, and the freedom to assemble and protest government action (ibid).

Israel allows all these freedoms to all citizens, subject to public safety and security--just like any other democracy. Still, Israel does not have a working democracy.

Look beneath the four criteria listed above and you’ll find two foundational requirements which must exist for a democracy to work. These are requirements Israel’s Left ignores: (1) for a country to be a democracy, its citizens must be willing to live together in peace; and (2) they must adhere to the rules of that democracy (ibid). If citizens can’t or won’t do these two things, democracy will not survive.

This is where Israel fails the 'democracy' test. Too many Israeli Arabs refuse to live in peace with Jews. They refuse to adhere to the rules of Israel’s democracy.

A democracy exists only when citizens observe certain principles and rules of democratic conduct (ibid). They must respect the law (ibid). They must reject violence (ibid).

The recent (current?) wave of Arab terror reveals the extent to which Israeli Arabs have become radicalized. Too many do not respect Israeli law. Too many choose violence in place of peaceful conduct. Too many listen to—and act on—incitement coming to their social media sites.

In a democracy, every citizen must respect the rights of his or her fellow citizens. S/he must respect others’ dignity as human beings (ibid). But Fatah-controlled mainstream Palestinian Authority (PA) media do not respect Jews or Judaism. It refuses to assign human dignity to Jews. Instead, it calls Jews pigs, apes and the spawn of Satan (see the website, Palestinian Media Watch). Israeli Arabs see this hate-speech every day.

This kind of hate does not exist in a democracy's mainstream media. It comes from outside democracy. It comes from those who embrace oppression, not freedom. It comes from the PA.

Too many Israeli Arabs turn to the PA for their worldview even as they reap the social benefits of carrying Israeli citizenship. Fewer and fewer think of themselves as equal partners with Jews in a democracy.

That's the fatal flaw in Israel's ‘democracy’. It has a population that grows increasingly unwilling to live in peace with its Jewish neighbours.

For example, in 2002-2004, 66% of Israel’s Arabs supported Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state (Meirav Arlosoroff, "Poll shows once again that for all their discontents, Arab citizens choose Israel--so why is Lieberman trying to kick them out?", haaretz, January 9, 2014).  Despite its misleading headline (ibid), haaretz still reported that, by 2014, Israeli Arab support for Israel had dropped to 47% (ibid).

In 2004, only 3% of the Israeli Arabs indicated a desire to live under the Palestinian flag (ibid). By 2014, that 3% had grown to 23% (ibid).

The further away from Israel these Arabs lean, the less democratic Israel will be. The current wave of anti-Jewish terror illustrates this point. The longer Arabs attack Jews, the more Jews will cry for a 'crackdown'. Can you blame them?

The longer Arabs continue their wave of terror, the more obvious it becomes that Israel's democracy doesn't work. That’s the bottom line here: democracy in Israel cannot work when 25 % of its citizens grow increasingly unwilling to follow the laws of Israel or live peacefully with Jews.

We know that Israeli Arabs express a growing willingness to reject Israel—and its democracy (ibid). That’s important because when citizens reject their democracy, violence begins (Stanford University, ibid). In that kind of environment, democracy fails.

Israel’s Left is wrong. Democracy has no connection to Israel’s survival.

Democracy is a false god. The Jewish people didn’t survive 3,000+ years because it remained loyal to 'democracy'. It survived because (despite its rebellions) its remnants remained loyal to HaShem, the G-d of Israel.

Ultimately, this is why Israel’s Left will fail. It embraces the wrong Deity.