8 | SEPTEMBER 22 • 2022 

opinion

Israel Among the World’s 
Strongest, Most Successful Democracies
I

srael’s enemies need little 
excuse to criticize — and 
more often condemn — 
the world’s only Jewish state. 
Their baseless accusations 
of apartheid, 
genocide, 
slaughter and 
European 
colonialism 
seemingly 
respect no 
requirement of 
proof or rules of 
evidence.
Thus, despite Israel’s superb 
record of civil liberties, 
elections, rule of law applied 
to all citizens and equal 
opportunity at all levels of 
society, the country receives 
outsized doses of vitriol for 
its alleged lack of democratic 
values.
Such condemnation, 
of course, is rarely fact-
based, but rather springs 
from ignorance and, in 
too many cases, irrational 
bigotry. These attacks are 
usually targeted at presumed 
treatment by Israel of its 
Arab citizens … as well as, 
especially, of non-Israeli 
Arabs living in surrounding 
disputed territories.
In stark, refreshing 
contradiction to unsupported 
accusations against Israel, the 
new “Democracy Index 2021” 
by the EIU — Economist 
Intelligence Unit — ranks 
Israel 23rd among modern 
democracies, scoring it 
higher than the United States 
(No. 26), Spain, Italy and 
some 139 other nations.

The index ranks countries 
according to 51 criteria, 
covering each nation’s 
performance according to 
its 1) electoral process and 
pluralism; 2) functioning 
of government; 3) political 
participation; 4) political 
culture; and 5) civil liberties.
Israel’s 2021 ranking shows 
consistent improvement in 
its democratic processes 
compared with the first such 
report in 2006, when the 
Jewish state came in at No. 
47. In the current report, 
Israel was lauded for its 
inclusion of an Arab party 
in today’s ruling government 
coalition.
No surprise, since Israel’s 
robust democracy has a 
vibrant electoral tradition, 
stable governing institutions, 
high political participation 
among its citizens, a vigorous, 
even boisterous political 
culture, and broad, equal civil 
liberties for all its citizens.
Unfortunately, even as 
Israel’s democracy improved 
in the past year, the EIU 

noted that democracy 
globally actually deteriorated. 
This was due to the COVID-
19 pandemic, it said, which 
caused “an unprecedented 
withdrawal of civil liberties,” 
including “a huge extension 
of state power over large 
areas of public and personal 
life.”
In contrast to Israel, the 
next highest-ranking Middle 
East nation was Tunisia, 
which only reached 75th 
place — and then not as a 
democracy, but as a “hybrid 
regime.” The Palestinian-
controlled territories 
were ranked as a frankly 
“authoritarian” regime, at No. 
109.
Like all countries in the 
index, Israel’s performance 
in the EIU evaluation was 
based on the health and 
performance of democratic 
institutions among its 
citizens.
While critics often unfairly 
blame Israel for a lack of 
democratic freedoms in 
Judea and Samaria (“the 

West Bank”) and Gaza, 
they ignore the fact that 
the Oslo Accords give 
governance responsibilities 
over Palestinians in those 
territories almost entirely to 
their respective dictatorships 
— the Palestinian Authority 
and Hamas.
Unfortunately, neither 
of these Palestinian 
governments holds regular 
elections, supports basic civil 
liberties — like freedoms 
of speech, assembly and 
religion — or enforces 
rule of law. Neither respect 
women’s equality, and both 
violently persecute members 
of LGBTQ and religious 
minorities.
Anti-Israel commentators 
also usually neglect to 
acknowledge that Palestinians 
have been waging terrorist 
war against Israel’s existence 
since the state’s birth in 
1948. Much of Palestinian 
suffering results from Israel 
defending itself against these 
unrelenting attacks, as well 
as the Palestinian refusal to 
accept offers of land for peace 
and a state of their own.
Israel is often also faulted 
for passage of its “nation-
state law” in 2018 — which 
declares that the country 
exists to fulfill the Jewish 
people’s “right to self-
determination.” This attack, 
however, is a red herring, 
attempting to discredit a 
statute that in no way limits 
Israel’s democratic liberties.
Note that this law does 
not infringe on the rights of 

PURELY COMMENTARY

James 
Sinkinson
JNS.org