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Yonatan Sindel, Flash 90
When the same prime minister serves four terms, is it still a democracy?
Yonatan Sindel, Flash 90
Musa Hasadiyah

Is Israel still a light unto the nations?

Op-ed: It is in the real stronghold of democracy that Israel is sometimes revealed as a dictatorship.

At this time of the year, the world is illuminated with many lights. The Christians are celebrating Christmas and the New Year, the Jews have just finished celebrating Hanukkah, and bright, sparkling lights can be seen in many houses in Israel and around the world.

  

 

Israel takes pride in being "a light unto the nations" - a democratic, egalitarian, enlightened, advanced and educated state. Moreover, its biggest source of pride is being the only democracy in the Middle East, among Arab states with a tyrant, dictatorial regime. An island of stability and democratic rule.

 

This may be true on the surface, but if we get into the thick of things, we will discover that we don’t really have a full democracy here, and that sometimes there is much less than meets the eye. In practice, it is in the real stronghold of democracy - the most important place for its existence, the State's leadership, the Knesset and government - where Israel is sometimes revealed as a dictatorship.

 

It’s enough to look at the voting profile in the latest Knesset elections. This is of course a rough generalization, but what do we see in the ultimate high of the democratic celebration, the election of a government? Tribal democracy. The Arabs vote for the Arabs, the "Ashkenazi Tel Avivians" vote for centrist and left-wing parties, Mizrahim and periphery residents vote for the Likud and right-wing parties, the Russians vote for Avigdor Lieberman or other rightist parties, the haredim vote for ultras-Orthodox parties, settlers vote for the Bayit Yehudi party, etc.

 

Not a single government has considered the fact that a minority which makes up 20 percent of the State of Israel should be included in the government circle (Photo: Ido Erez)
Not a single government has considered the fact that a minority which makes up 20 percent of the State of Israel should be included in the government circle (Photo: Ido Erez)

 

Naturally, that is not a sweeping distribution of all of Israel's residents, but it's a pretty established assumption. Moreover, the expressions and slogans in the latest election campaign proved it, with every party appealing to its designated electorate.

 

And of course, there is almost no need to mention Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's miserable comment on Election Day, when he called on Likud voters to exercise their right, as the "Arabs are heading to the polling stations in droves." A racist, dark and dangerous statement which has nothing to do with democracy.

 

This statement matched the regular intimidation policy of the prime minister, who generally believes that by scaring the public and excluding the other, he is uniting the people through a one "enemy" (be it Iran or be it Israel's Arabs), thereby removing the real problems Israel's residents are facing - in education, housing, economy, etc. - from the table.

 

It's every person's right to vote as he pleases, according to his family tradition or according to what his rabbi has told him, but what does that give us as a state?

 

It gives us a state of diplomatic, economic and social stalemate. We are failing to take advantage of the fact that we have a democratic state here in order to make a real change. And I'm not just talking about the Arab sector. Among the Arabs, it’s just more extreme. An Arab usually won't become a government minister. He can be a Knesset member, but that is basically the Arab politicians' glass ceiling. Unfortunately, not a single government has considered the fact that a minority which makes up 20 percent of the State of Israel should be included in the government circle.

 

But as I said, the Arabs are not alone. This applies to the ultra-Orthodox sector too. Not a single haredi man has reached the premiership, and neither has any Sephardic person. Only recently, we watched with envy as Canada's new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, presented a young and ethnically-diverse cabinet, including a team of minister with an equal number of women and men, for the very first time.

 

Israel had a female prime minister 40 years ago, but this phenomenon has not repeated itself since. Not only are women far from reaching that position again, but they also suffer from poor representation in the Knesset compared to their representation in European Union countries. So a woman prime minister seems like a far-off dream in the State of Israel of 2015.

 

By the way, where else does the prime minister hold five other portfolios in addition to his senior position? This is a unique thing, and it gives him enormous power to directly influence many issues.

 

But it doesn’t end at the top. We are witnessing decision making and appointments for positions in centers of power, which are extremely puzzling and annoying and have obviously not been affected by the smell of democracy. I am no prude, and the prime minister clearly wants to appoint his own people wherever he can, in order to make the privileges of being a ruler easier for him, but that too has limits and legitimate conduct.

 

But it seems the prime minister has consciously decided to become involved in all senior appointments, not necessary the best ones, of his associates, starting with the newly elected Mossad chief to the appointment of an attorney general, an extremely sensitive position with supreme significance as far as Netanyahu is concerned.

 

We aim to be a real Western state, where democracy is a top value, but when the same prime minister serves for four terms, three of them consecutive, is it still a democracy? It's true that on the surface the elections were conducted in a democratic procedure for all intents and purposes, but this is a red light for a sleeping society, which is following a dangerous path and could fall down a slippery slope.

 

Look in the mirror: Is Israel still a "light unto the nations?" in the meantime, it seems we are a limited democracy.

 

Musa Hasadiyah is a strategist and head of Sectors Albustani Advertising.

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.26.15, 15:04
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