Democracy watchdog chief Yohanan Plesner: Don’t take Israel’s democracy for granted
Ben Caspit talks this week with Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute. Plesner warns that the undermining of Israel’s democracy may seem unconceivable, but is indeed possible. For Plesner, some eastern European countries — where democracy is being eroded — are models that Israel should not learn from. "Under certain circumstances we could find ourselves in a similar situation. It’s a situation where populist leaders frame their rule as the rule of a strong man representing the people against the elite, undermining free media, professional bureaucracy, civil society and independent judiciary,” he says. Why Israel’s democracy is weakening Netanyahu’s Democracy Excludes Israel’s Arab Citizens How Netanyahu is turning Israel into a banana republic
Ben Caspit talks this week with Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute. Plesner warns that the undermining of Israel’s democracy may seem unconceivable, but is indeed possible. For Plesner, some eastern European countries — where democracy is being eroded — are models that Israel should not learn from. "Under certain circumstances we could find ourselves in a similar situation. It’s a situation where populist leaders frame their rule as the rule of a strong man representing the people against the elite, undermining free media, professional bureaucracy, civil society and independent judiciary,” he says.