Challenges of the Israeli democracy today

The episode explores with Avrum Burg the challenges with which the Israeli democracy is confronted. As Israel stands at the crossroads after the defeat of its longest serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with his expansionist politics, which have marked the country's territorial expansion over the last decades, this episode asks: Will the new eight party coalition government mark the beginnings of a fight against the radicalization of the Israeli state and society? 

And what are the long-term effects of this radicalization, not just for the Israeli democracy itself, but also for the rights of Arab and Palestinian people in the region? Can democracy survive in Israel when the Arab minority is denied its legitimate claims to equal citizenship in the country? And what is the relationship of religious sentiments, religious resurgence, with democratic politics?

 

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

• Central European University: CEU

• The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

• The Podcast Company: Novel

 

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Bibliography

Burg, A (2018). In Days to Come["A New Hope for Israel"]. Israel: Nation Books

Burg, A. (2016). The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise From Its Ashes. United

States: St. Martin's Publishing Group.

Burg, A (2012). Very Near to You: Human Readings of the Torah, Jerusalem,

Israel: Gefen Pub House.

Elkana, Yehuda (1988), ‘The Need to Forget’. Ha'aretz.

Hirschman, A (1970). Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms,

Organizations, and States. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Glossary

1. Jewish Agency (for Israel)

The Jewish Agency since 1929 provides the global framework for Jewish people, ensures global Jewish safety, strengthens Jewish identity and connects Jews to Israel and one another. Source:

1. Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli politician and diplomat who served as Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations in the ‘80s and twice as his country’s prime minister (1996–99 and 2009–21) and was the longest-serving prime minister since Israel’s independence. Source:

1. Nation Law

Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People informally known as the Nation-State Bill  or the Nationality Bill, is an Israeli Basic Law largely symbolic and declarative in nature,passed by the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) on 19 July 2018. The legislation declares that Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people, and that “the right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.” It establishes Hebrew as the official language of Israel and downgrades Arabic to a language with “special status”. The law also asserts that Jewish settlement—without specifying where—is a national value, and promises to encourage and advance settlement efforts. Source:

1. Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)

The OPT consists of the West bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza. Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza during the 1967 war. The launch of the 1993 Oslo peace process between Israel and the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) led to the creation of  the Palestinian Authority (PA). Source:

1. Targeted prevention or targeted killings by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF):

 Targeted prevention occurred in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict against persons accused of carrying out or planning attacks on Israeli targets in the West Bank or inside Israel. Source:

1. Yehuda Elkana (1934-2012)

Yehuda Elkana was a historian and philosopher of science, the third President and Rector of Central European University (1999-2009), an Auschwitz survivor who became an international scholar and public intellectual with a deep commitment to open society. He was an academic pioneer, leading CEU for nearly half the life of the University. Source:

1. Green Line

Israel's territory according to the agreed 1949 Armistice Demarcation Line encompassed about 78% of the Mandate area, while the other parts, namely the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, were occupied by Jordan and Egypt respectively. The 1949 Armistice Lines between Israel and its Arab neighbors came to be known as The Green Line. Source:

1. ’73 War

Yom Kippur War, also called the October War, the Ramadan War, the Arab-Israeli war of October 1973, or the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was initiated by Egypt and Syria on October 6, 1973, on the Jewish holy day of Yom kippur. It also occurred during Ramadan, the sacred month of fasting in Islam. The war was launched with the diplomatic aim of persuading Israel to negotiate on terms more favourable to the Arab countries. The Six-Day War in 1967, the previous Arab-Israeli war, in which Israel had captured and occupied Arab territories including the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights was followed by years of sporadic fighting. When Anwar Sadat became President of Egypt  shortly after the War of Attrition (1969–70) ended, made overtures to reach a peaceful settlement if, Israel would return the territories it had captured. Israel rejected those terms, and the fighting developed into a full-scale war in 1973. Source:

1. Peace with Egypt known as Camp David Accords

Camp David Accords, agreements between Israel and Egypt signed on September 17, 1978, that led in the following year to a peace treaty between those two countries, the first such treaty between Israel and any of its Arab neighbours. Brokered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and officially titled the “Framework for Peace in the Middle East,” the agreements became known as the Camp David Accords because the negotiations took place at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland. Sadat and Begin were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1978 for their contributions to the agreements. Source:

1. Intifada

Intifadah, (“shaking off”), either of two popular uprisings of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza aimed at ending Israel’s occupation of those territories and creating an independent Palestinian state. The first intifada began in December 1987 and ended in September 1993 with the signing of the first Oslo Accords which provided a framework for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The second intifada, sometimes called the Al-Aqṣā intifada, began in September 2000. Although no single event signaled its end, most analysts agree that it had run its course by late 2005. The two uprisings resulted in the death of more than 5,000 Palestinians and some 1,400 Israelis. Source:

1. Oslo accords

The Oslo Accords were a landmark moment in the pursuit of peace in the Middle East. A set of two separate agreements signed by the government of Israel and the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)—the militant organization established in 1964 to create a Palestinian state in the region—the Oslo Accords were ratified in Washington, D.C., in 1993 (Oslo I) and in Taba, Egypt, in 1995 (Oslo II). While provisions drafted during the talks remain in effect today, the relationship between the two sides continues to be marred by conflict. Source: