A jewish Democracy, the case of Israel.

There are people for whom the values of democracy and Judaism are compatible and others for whom they are not.

But in Israel it can be seen as a dichotomy where both sets of values need the other’s existence to survive. Thus the Jewish values in the state are its primary ,even only cohesive glue, and thus a necessity for the existence of the Israeli state. Therefore the existence of democracy in Israel is dependent on the existence of Jewish values in the state.

There are thus two groups that can be seen to endanger the Israeli democratic polity, these are the religious and secular extremists. This leads to the need for a synthesis of views to be represented – of liberal democracy and Jewish ethnocentrism. This is generally what is present in Israel today. As the mixture of tolerance and openness with hatred of others and a willingness to restrict their rights and freedoms is found in other western liberal democracies. The point is, if it reflected in the laws and is officially institutionalized.

Therefore the biggest threat to democracy is from the political composition evolving post 1967. here can be seen a great deal of religious ideological zeal, which is a mixture of religion, territorial increase and enmity of the Arab minority, this has led to the founding of anti-democratic religious groups auch as Gush Emunim, kach, the Jewish underground and to people like Yigal Amir who assassinated Rabin.

Though it must be stated that these are generally peripheral groups, and not all religious groups are anti-democratic. Thus groups such as Meimad allow a more pluralistic religious ethos to imbue the public realm of debate.