Can Israel's becoming more Jewish make it more democratic?
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked's claim that the more Jewish Israel becomes, the more democratic it will be, actually challenges the Zionist idea of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
“Pathways to Governability” is the title of an article by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked in the new journal HaShiloah. It is an important, comprehensive 19-page piece in which the minister from HaBayit HaYehudi lays out her personal creed — a coherent and carefully thought-out conservative worldview that includes a vision of how to strengthen the Jewish component of Israel’s character. As would be expected, Shaked’s document — which she describes as a “Thatcherite manifesto” — has evoked considerable interest. It has also set off a political firestorm.
Leading the forces warning against “Shaked’s vision” is Zionist Camp Knesset member Tzipi Livni, herself a former justice minister. She used an interview with Army Radio on Oct. 2 to present counter-arguments and express her own coherent worldview, which attempts to defend the balance between the Jewish and democratic components of the State of Israel.
The argument between the current justice minister — the strongest woman not only in the religious, right-wing HaBayit HaYehudi, but on the right as a whole — and her predecessor — one of the most prominent leaders of the political center-left — is one of the most important in the past few years. This is not only because it sets one of the core issues about the character of Israel at its center, but also because both sides present in-depth arguments in such meticulous detail. In an age when statements by Israeli politicians are judged by their ability to rouse vociferous discourse on social networks by taking their positions to extremes and by attacking their opponents, as Culture Minister Miri Regev is so prone to do, the Israeli public finally has a chance to enjoy a serious debate on two conflicting worldviews.
Shaked deserves considerable credit for her thoughtful article. Although the mainstream press may have given it such diminishing titles as “Shaked’s Jewish Vision,” the piece actually covers many other key civil, judicial and political issues. Shaked proves that although she was raised in the new politics, which draws its strength from social networks, she nonetheless has the capacity to present a complex worldview. It is not by happenstance that so few politicians were ready to pounce on her manifesto. They realized that this time, the message is more complicated than usual. Very few of them would delve into such a long article, especially one academic in nature and that cannot be summarized in a single headline.
