Another:
COVER STORY: Why Israel is not a democracy
BY TIM WISE
NASHVILLE ?- Webster's New World Dictionary defines democracy as, among other things, "the principle of equality of rights, opportunity and treatment, or the practice of this principle". Keep this in mind, as we'll be coming back to it shortly.
Now, imagine that the United States abolished its constitution, or perhaps had never had one to begin with. No Bill of Rights. No guarantees of things like free speech, freedom of assembly and due process of law.
And imagine if Congress passed a law stating that the US was from this point forward to be legally defined as a "Christian nation". As such, Christians would be given special privileges for jobs, loans and land ownership, and Christians from anywhere in the world would be given preference in immigration, extended automatic citizenship upon coming to America.
Furthermore, imagine if political candidates espousing certain beliefs ?- especially those who might argue that the US should be a nation with equal rights for all, and not a "Christian nation" ?- were no longer allowed to hold office, or even run for election.
Imagine that laws were passed that had the effect of restricting certain ethnic and religious groups from acquiring land in particular parts of the country, and made it virtually impossible for members of ethnic minorities to live in particular communities.
And imagine that in response to perceived threats to America's internal security, new laws sailed through Congress, providing for torture of those detained for suspected subversion. This, on top of still other laws providing for the detention of such suspects for long periods of time without trial or even a formal charge against them.
In such a scenario, would anyone with an appreciation of the English language, and with the above definition in mind, dare suggest that we would be justified in calling America a democracy?
Jewish state
Of course not: and yet the term is repeatedly used to describe Israel ?- as in "the only democracy in the Middle East". This, despite the fact that Israel has no constitution; despite the fact that Israel is defined as the state of the Jewish people, providing special rights and privileges to anyone in the world who is Jewish and seeks to live there, over and above longtime Arab residents. This, despite the fact that Israel bars any candidate from holding office who thinks the country should be a secular, democratic state with equal rights for all. This, despite the fact that non-Jews are restricted in terms of how much land they can own, and in which places they can own land at all, thanks to laws granting preferential treatment to Jewish residents. This, despite that fact that even the Israeli Supreme Court has acknowledged the use of torture against suspected "terrorists" and other "enemies" of the Jewish state.
For some, it is apparently sufficient that Israel has an electoral system, and that Arabs have the right to vote in those elections (though just how equally this right is protected is of course a different matter). The fact that one can't vote for a candidate who questions the special Jewish nature of the state, because such candidates can't run for or hold office, strikes most as irrelevant ?- hardly enough for them to call into question Israel's democratic credentials.
If what we see in Israel is indeed democracy, then what does fascism look like?
I'm sorry, but I am over it. As a Jew, I am over it. And if my language seems too harsh here, that's tough. Because it's nothing compared to the sickening things said by Israeli leaders throughout the years. Like former prime minister Menachem Begin, who told the Knesset in 1982 that the Palestinians were "beasts walking on two legs". Or former PM Ehud Barak, who offered a more precise form of dehumanisation when he referred to the Palestinians as "crocodiles".
Speaking of Barak, in his April 14 op-ed in the New York Times, he insisted that democracy in Israel could be "maintained", so long as the Jewish state was willing to set up security fences to separate itself from the Palestinians, and keep the Palestinians in their place. Calling the process "unilateral disengagement", Barak opined that limiting access by Arabs to Israel is the key to maintaining a Jewish majority, and thus the Jewish nature of the state. That the Jewish nature of the state is inimical to democracy as defined by every dictionary in the world matters not, one supposes.
Barak even went so far as to warn that in the absence of such security fences, Israel might actually become an apartheid state. Imagine that ?- unless they institute separation they might become an apartheid state. The irony of such a statement is nearly perfect, and once again signals that words no longer have meaning.
Continued here:
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2002/494/494p11.htm
