democracy

Finance Minister and Religious Zionist Party chairman Bezalel Smotrich tours the Mahane Yehuda Market as part of the party’s election campaign, in Jerusalem, October 9, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Why Smotrich still defines the horizon of Israeli politics

In the nine years since the MK’s ‘Decisive Plan,’ Israeli liberals acceded to the religious right’s maximalism — while claiming to oppose ‘messianic’ violence.

By Avi-ram Tzoreff October 20, 2026

A Palestinian man casts his ballot during local elections, on the outskirts of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, January 23, 2021. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

What’s at stake as Palestinians go to the polls for the first time in years

With local elections set to take place across the West Bank and one city in Gaza, residents are split as to the vote's legitimacy and potential for change.

By Shatha Yaish and Ibtisam Mahdi April 24, 2026

Syrians in Germany celebrate the fall of Assad Regime, December 8, 2024. (Wikimedia Commons)

‘Democracy won’t come to Syria overnight. But now, we have hope’

From exile, Bassam Al-Kuwatli long dreamed of Assad's fall. As head of the Syrian Liberal Party, he now plans to return to push for a democratic future.

By Meron Rapoport December 11, 2024

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Israeli reserve soldiers from the Golani Brigade seen during a military training in the Golan Heights, northern Israel, October 29, 2023. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90 )

For all its military might, Israel succumbed to its most fatal weakness

The illusion that Israel could control Gaza endlessly is rooted in a dysfunctional political system that is incapable of imagining an alternative future.

By Lev Grinberg November 15, 2023

Netanyahu supporters hold a counter-protest to the mass demonstrations against the far-right government and its judicial overhaul, Tel Aviv, March 18, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

In the looming civil war, the Israeli right has the upper hand

While the government can rely on national-religious identity to mobilize supporters, the opposition’s counternarrative suffers a serious weakness.

By Menachem Klein July 24, 2023

Israelis block the Ayalon Highway during a protest against the Israeli government's planned judicial overhaul and in response to the removal of Tel Aviv District Commander Amichai Eshed in Tel Aviv, July 5, 2023. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

The narcissism that blinds Israelis to Jenin’s oppression

Not only did the anti-government protests not condemn the assault on Jenin, its leaders even praised the 'brave men' who took part in the invasion.

By Orly Noy July 7, 2023

Mustafa Hammad, Farkha's mayor, on the farm by his house, January 10, 2023. (Ahmad Al-Bazz)

The Palestinian ecovillage putting grassroots democracy into action

In the West Bank community of Farkha, a young communist leadership is championing feminism, sustainability, and care for elders.

By Fatima AbdulKarim January 10, 2023

Palestinian Bedouin in the Naqab/Negev, protest on Road 31 near the village of Sawe al-Atrash, against an afforestation plan carried out by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), January 13, 2022. (Oren Ziv)

What’s behind the Israeli right’s renewed war on Palestinian citizens?

Having moved on from its failed bid to formally annex the West Bank, the Israeli right has trained its sights back on an old target.

By Meron Rapoport February 10, 2022

A supporter of Egypt's ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, holds a poster of him with Arabic writing reading "The people support the president," Cairo, Egypt, on July 06, 2013. (Wissam Nassar/Flash90)

In Morsi’s death, Israel proves it prefers a non-democratic Middle East

Israel is not interested in democracy as a value. On the contrary — it has a great deal of interest in making sure it keeps bearing the title of ‘the only democracy in the Middle East.’ While many Palestinians were perturbed by the death of Egypt’s former president, Mohamed Morsi, and Knesset members of four of the…

By Orly Noy June 21, 2019

Israeli right-wing protesters shout at a pro-peace demonstration, Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, August 9, 2014. Hundreds gathered in Tel Aviv to protest Israel’s attack on Gaza, despite a police decision to revoke the demonstration permit. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

Attempts to ‘bypass’ Israel’s High Court will create a ‘tyranny of the majority’

The government wants to strip the High Court of Justice of its ability to strike down unconstitutional laws, giving the government carte blanche to violate civil and human rights. The Israeli government has in recent days advanced legislation to limit or strip the country’s High Court of Justice of its ability to strike down laws it…

By Joshua Leifer April 17, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, January 3, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A Netanyahu indictment won’t save Israeli democracy

In Netanyahu’s Israel, checks and balances are irrelevant or corrupt, accountability is conspiracy, and a watchdog media is a national saboteur. Tough times are ahead. There has been no shortage of people who were thrilled by the announcement Tuesday night that Israeli police recommend indicting Benjamin Netanyahu in two corruption cases. A Haaretz headline crowed…

By Dahlia Scheindlin February 14, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an event in Jerusalem, October 15, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90, cropped)

Netanyahu compares human rights groups to Russian election interference

The prime minister is trying to turn human rights and anti-occupation groups into a subversive boogie monster, this time by conflating them with Western democracy’s contemporary super-villain — Russian election interference. What if he’s right? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conflated European Union funding for human rights groups in Israel with Russian interference in U.S.…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man October 15, 2017

Right-wing protesters wave Israeli flags as they demonstrate against a ceremony commemorating the Nakba that was held by Palestinian and Israeli students in the entrance to the Tel Aviv University. The event took place under heavy police presence, May 13, 2013. (Photo by: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

The redundancy of Israel’s ‘Jewish Nation-State Law’

The Israeli government is pushing a law that would force judges to prioritize Israel’s Jewish character over democratic principles. But that has always been the case. The “Jewish Nation-State Law,” which is currently making its way through the Knesset as a proposed Basic Law – the closest thing Israel has to a constitutional amendment – would require…

By Amjad Iraqi July 12, 2017