Is Israel a democracy or an elected theocracy?

Question

Israel claims to be a democracy yet hundreds of thousands of (non jewish) adults living in Israel are deprived of the vote. How can this be democracy?

Additional Details

Blapath, you are quoting US papers which is a little disingenuous. Try the UN documents. A country must have borders to be a country and Israel controls, for its own purposes, huge areas where the borders are, to say the least, disputed. Within those areas Israelis can vote, Palestinians cannot. Within those areas Israeli can, and does, demolish villages to make way for settlements without reference to the inhabitants or any judicial review which includes the disposessed. Can this be democracy?

To others who say things like 'Israel is a cancer' may express your feelings but gets nobody anywhere.

I really feel that one of the problems in this context is the heavily pro Israeli stance of the USA, to the point where academics are being removed from there jobs for even allowing discussion of the problem.

We MUST be able to discuss this rationally, even if we disagree.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

I think it's very clear that Israel is a Theocracy.

I don't think that they've ever claimed otherwise.

They don't need to justify themselves when they are in the middle of many Muslim Theocracies where people of other faiths have no powers and are even worse off than the Muslims in Israel.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

I do think they claim democracy, but it interests me that you make this comparison, altho' the question was specifically about Israel. not about Jordan Syria et al

Answer 2

Neither, it's a cancer.

Answer 3

You don't really know all of the facts, so don't be tempted to make a judgment.

To black hole above - why don't you crawl back into your black hole?

Answer 4

Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian land,
democracy doesnt play a role there

Answer 5

Israel is democracy. Your claim about depriving votes from non Jews is totally incorrect. Every citizen, regardless of age, sex or religion has full voting rights and possibility.

You can check article on the subject in Wikipedia if you don't believe me at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_right… In Israel even parties denouncing the right of existence of Israel has rights to run for election (see the article).

From Wikipedia: According to 2005 US Department of State report on Israel, “[t]he law provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage...The country is a parliamentary democracy with an active multiparty system. Relatively small parties, including those primarily supported by Israeli Arabs, regularly win Knesset seats.”

In some instances, however, parties have been disqualified from listing candidates for election.

The Kach Party had run candidates under a platform which proposed forced transfer of Arabs from Israel and establishment of a theocracy in Israel ruled by traditional Jewish law. This platform was felt to be inciting of racism by the Knesset and was banned from participation in elections. In 1988, the Supreme Court of Israel upheld this Knesset decision. After a member of the Kach party slayed 29 Palestinians, the party was outlawed completely.

A concurrent 1985 decision to disqualify the Progressive List for Peace, a party which was founded to negate the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people was conversely overturned by the Supreme court in 1988.

Answer 6

israel never be , and never gonna be democracy , if it was democracy, it will never ever live and take and steal others country and say it's ours ....... history witness what they done to the whole world !!!!!!

Answer 7

Good point, it is very clearly an elected theocracy, and they claim its a democracy, ha!

Answer 8

blabath hit the answer spot on.we are a democratic goverment.we have arabs also in the knesset.as for those who say "we stole their land"is a load of crap.before israel came to be a nation.the land that the jews built up,into a thriving country,it was a waste land.nothing built or growing.have you seen how they live in the west bank and gaza?.slums.they dont want progress,even jordan and egypt dont want them.the land that sharon gave back,is been used as a launching site to fire kasam rockets into israel.instead of building homes .schools etc.this is what they want the world to see.poor people struggeling to to live.give me a break.they have money for arms,yet they dont have money to feed their children.thats why we are a democratic nation.put that in your pipe and smoke it.from mikhal in israel.

Answer 9

Israel is a parliamentary republic, not a democracy or a theocoracy. Elected representatives make decisions and laws in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), but the people themselves don't make the laws.

Look at Israel's neighbor: Jordan. Don't the Jordanians have a king? A parliamentary republic with representatives chosen by the people is closer to a democracy than Jordan's monarchy.

Answer 10

Israel has a democraticlaly elected government, just as we have here in the UK, or as they have across the rest of Europe, the USA and most of the rest of the Western world.

There are no people - jewish or otherwise - living in ISrael who do not have the vote - no idea where you got that notion from.