Israel - Palestine Discussion | Post Respectfully | Discuss more, tweet less
- Thread starter esmufc07
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Almost 3,000 children killed - scroll up.
Hamas wants more from Hezbollah.
Yes, thank you. I've seen that number. Was wondering more on if it includes only civilians
Wow.
Is Israel a democracy? Dumb question
Yes, its a parliamentary democracy.
UN say the number of displaced Gazan has risen to 1.4m civilian.
I'm being really thick but you can't get elected if you are not Jewish? If that is the case, how is it a democracy? That's a theocracy.
Netanyahu has been in power since the beginning of time, it is a flawed democracy.
It’s a democracy in a very loose sense of the word. Netanyuhu has been PM since 2009 barring 1.5 years. That wouldn’t happen in any real Western democracy where you’re allowed at most 2 terms. The other thing is - he’s still has charges of corruption, bribery and a few things against him (before he came PM this recent time). He wouldn’t be allowed to stand in any real Western democracy.
You can be an Israeli Arab and be in the Knesset. There are 10 of them in government right now.
He could technically stand in a democracy like the UK, but Sunak couldn't stand in Israel? Is that right?
We're also ignoring the fact it's an apartheid state, where Arab Israelis are second class citizens, and native Palestinians are essentially boarded up in the occupied west bank, being told where they can and can work, walk or socialise. Real beacon of democracy that is.
Ok, thanks for clarifying
Arabs can and do get elected.
A theocracy is a religious state, run by religious elites. Closest contemporary example would be Iran. Israel is probably better understood as an ethnocracy or ethnic democracy, whereby the political system can accommodate diversity while systematically working to secure the dominance of one particular ethnic group. It's not a perfect way to understand it, as describing Jews as an ethnicity carries its own issues, but it captures what the state is about quite well.
I would call the Iraqi democracy (if we want to call it a "democracy") more closer to real democracies than the israeli "democracy".
Two term rule isn't really a thing for prime ministers in most eu countries as far as im aware.
Ignorant post. It's inaccurate.
Sorry not following you here bud.
Arabs that have Israeli citizenship are allowed in the Knesset but they’d never be PM.
This is the kind of thing that most Israelis make sure they are ignorant of. And because of that, the conclusions they reach after October 7 are that the state of Israel is blameless for what happened. Absolutely nauseating to read.
Raoul cleared it up for me.
Yeah, it's brutal and I think a lot of people aren't aware
Who do you actually consider real Western democracies? I'm genuinely curious.
It's not.
It's more of an ethnocracy where everything is done to guarantee the dominance of the Jews over any other ethnic group. And it is a democracy.
So the UK is still an option for him.
I can only assume you don't count the UK had being a "real Western democracy" then?
I guess he's a bit of a hardliner, who thinks the US are the only real democracy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_term_limits
Since Trump is about to run for office with a host of charges hanging over his head they aren't real either though. So I guess there are no real democracies.
3 out of the last 4 PMs have assumed office without a general election.
Edit: but yes we are democratic outside of that.
That doesn't preclude the system from being democratic.
Blair won three consecutive elections, same with Thatcher, and didn't Harold Wilson win four from five?
I’ve added an edit.
Okay, so in what way is Israel's system not democratic?
Scandinavian countries, Irland and Switzerland always the highest scores in all metrics of the democracy index.
Sweden specifically have topped the charts for a century since 1917.
Bibi is on multiple charges of corruption and bribery that would exclude him from running for PM elsewhere. He’s also tried to remove power from the Supreme Court which consolidates his power as PM.
As others have also mentioned, they’re more akin to an ethnocracy where your ethnicity or religion gives you more freedoms and rights than non-Jews. There are also specific laws and freedoms that apply to Jewish citizens only.
It’s also a state that practices apartheid according to human rights organisations.
All of these (and more) would suggest that it isn’t really a democracy if you’re keeping one distinct group of the population you rule over as a 2nd class citizen whilst keeping another group under military occupation. There’s too much inequality in the system to consider it democratic.
That is an oxymoron.