Israel's claim to be a democratic state

The strong claim of Israel to be a democratic state, and David Cameron's endorsement of this yesterday - " a beacon of democracy to the region" does not sit comfortably with me. 

Obviously not with Avigail Abarbanel in Mondoweiss on February 3rd either. Avigail was born and raised in Israel. She said:

"Many, if not most Israeli Jews still believe, incredibly, that their country is a democracy like any other Western democracy, with real freedom of opinion and expression.

All formal Israeli state institutions, and the education system in particular, have always been staunchly Zionist and have always taught and promoted one view of history. They all uniformly work for the state, whether they are public or independent... Schools carefully avoid exposing their students to views that challenge the official narrative, thus successfully averting any danger of real debate on the nature of the state and its history, the history and nature of Zionism and Israel’s settler-colonialist relationship with the Palestinian people. As a result, the vast majority of students do not even know when something might be controversial and might warrant questioning.

The idea that the Zionist movement had every right to colonise and settle historic Palestine to create a Jewish safe haven, while displacing and ethnically cleansing the indigenous population, is never questioned or debated. In fact, the word ‘colonise’ is not part of the narrative at all. The accepted consensus on all sides of mainstream Jewish Israeli politics is fundamentally that the Zionist movement, and later the state of Israel, have been doing what is necessary to ensure the survival of the Jewish people; indeed that the existential need for an exclusively Jewish state overrides all other considerations. Left or Right, Zionism itself is never questioned.

We learn to question a dominant narrative and think critically when we realise there are alternatives. Israeli schools might be teaching students to think critically in some areas, but they have no intention of teaching students to question the state narrative about Israel’s history. Alternative versions of history are just not offered for consideration.

Israel prides itself on its democracy and its freedom of opinion and expression. But this freedom exists only within a well-defined boundary. There is an invisible but clear line that everyone there instinctively knows not to cross. Beyond this line lies a taboo...

The Israeli education system has always been perfectly aligned with the goals and aims of the state... I attended high school at ORT Yad Singalovsky in Yad-Eliyahu near Tel Aviv from 1978 to 1982. It was a great school and I loved it, but we were taught the standard Zionist version of history. When you live in a bubble like I did, you have no idea that there is anything to question. As hard as it is for others to understand sometimes, the way I was raised in ‘downtown’ working-class Israel, I had no exposure to alternative viewpoints and had no idea they were even there. I am sure that the courageous minority of high school graduates who end up as conscientious objectors learn about alternative views mostly outside the school system, through informal channels and personal experience."
Maybe Cameron is justified to praise Israel when compared with the serious issues regarding democracy being faced in neighbouring states. As Netanyahu says, one of the obstacles to peace, is the refusal of the Palestinians to accept Israel as a Jewish State. But evidently, making everything dependent on accepting Israel as a Jewish State raises concerns among the Palestinians that discrimination can then be legitimately exercised on the grounds of being non-Jewish without the possibility of challenge.

The final part of the Balfour Declaration, i.e. 'it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..." cannot be said to have been implemented, and this would not be any easier within a "Jewish" State. Of course, in any democracy, the majority sets rules which may affect groups of citizens in different ways. However, defining the ethnic or religious nature of the state seems to fly in the face of human rights and democracy.