OPINION: Israel’s election exposes questions it’s facing on democracy
Adam Ognall, CEO, New Israel Fund UK
Issues of democracy are front and centre of the current election campaign. As former Deputy Knesset Speaker Professor Naomi Chazan has written: “The ballot is shaping up into a referendum on the future of democracy in Israel.”
Sitting in London and watching the robust and passionate debate that is taking place on the streets, online and in the airwaves of Israel, it may sound counter-intuitive to make this claim.
But recent months have brought a number of developments with the potential to change the course and quality of democracy in Israel.
One of the immediate triggers for the calling of the election was the disputed ‘Nation-State Bill’, a set of proposals to re-balance the idea of Israel as a Jewish homeland and a democratic state with equal rights for all its citizens.
During the period running up to the election, there have been debates about press freedom with separate attempts to limit Israel’s two largest mass circulation daily newspapers – Yediot Ahronot and Israel Hayom.
There has also been electoral reform, with a rise in the electoral threshold that a party must reach to gain seats in the Knesset.
Many commentators contest that a partial motivation for raising the threshold – which was done without a wider programme of electoral reforms – was to make it more difficult for the parties representing Israeli Arabs to achieve seats.
Since the election campaign began, a number of issues relating to the substance of Israeli democracy have taken place. When I was in Israel last week, the High Court of Justice overturned the decision of the Central Elections Commission to ban Israeli Arab MK Haneen Zoabi and hard-right activist Baruch Marzel from running in this election.
Both politicians are often described as being on the extremes of Israeli politics (Zoabi was suspended from the Knesset following her comments during Operation Protective Edge, and Marzel is a former associate of Meir Kahane).
Their banning and re-instatement offers a fascinating insight into the questions of the boundaries of freedom of speech and who can set the limits.
There has also been much focus on issues of transparency and checks and balances.
Look at the expose of the ‘secretive’ allocation of state funding to settlements through the World Zionist Organisation’s settlement, and the criticism of V15 and other Get Out the Vote Campaigns.
The campaign discourse has hardened with the language adopted.
To give an example, one party’s campaign seems to be suggesting that if you are not with us, you are with the terrorists.
I was privileged to attend the Democracy Conference organised by Ha’aretz. It hit the news beforehand after right-wing politicians decided to withdraw from it.
Some of those cited my organisation’s sponsorship of it as the reason – despite knowing of the sponsorship when they signed up and, in some cases, having spoken at the 2014 conference, which we also sponsored.
What was significant was that the decision to boycott the conference was criticised not just by those on the political left but many leading figures on the political right.
Behind much of it was a sense that refusing to engage not only demonises people who have different opinions to yours, but that it profoundly disrespects the Israeli democratic tradition of debate and discussion.
President Reuben Rivlin delivered the keynote session at the conference.
He refused to pull out, despite his many political differences with many participants, and in his address criticised those seeking to narrow democracy in Israel. He also made a strong defence of the democratic rights of all citizens.
Former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni used her address to warn that ‘democracy [may] turn into a dirty word’.
The issues around Israel’s democracy won’t be resolved at these elections, whatever the results.
This campaign merely exposes the deeper questions Israeli society is facing on the quality, depth and limits of its democracy.
This is not an issue of whether or not Israel is democratic (of course it is!), but a question of how much emphasis needs to be given to strengthening the democratic discourse and educating towards it as part of the wider debates about Israel’s future direction.
What my trip to Israel underlined is that, beyond the headline seekers, there are many Israelis from across the political spectrum alive to these issues and who are now speaking out.
As supporters of Israel in the UK, we should be amplifying these voices.
It is not a simple matter of left versus right – as exemplified by President Rivlin – but rather a fundamental question of how Israel lives out the founding values of its Declaration of Independence.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
