Apparently a number of people still believe in the myth that Israel can be both a Jewish and democratic state. Of course, any thinking person with a rudimentary understanding of democratic systems understands why this is impossible.

In Israel, the state is defined as being Jewish, but democracy safeguards the rights and equality of non-Jews. Nothing in this definition is contradictory in theory. In practice, however, a Jewish state completely contradicts a democratic state as defined by Western tradition. Why? Because a liberal democracy is founded upon the principal that no citizen has exclusive rights over another.

As Gideon Levy stated, “[d]efining Israel as a Jewish state condemns us to living in a racist state.” Rather, Israel should simply be a secular liberal democracy that is the ethnic homeland for the Jews. A liberal democracy that guarantees the equal rights of both Arab and Jew, and all of its citizens.

A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute illustrates the contradictory and depressing reality of this impasse in Israeli society.

• 53% said the state should “encourage” Arab citizens to leave, aka ethnic cleansing.
• 55% said Jewish cities should receive more funding than Palestinian citizens’ ones, aka apartheid, or more generously, Jim Crow
• 46% of Israelis wouldn’t want to live next to an Arab, 25% near a gay person, and 17% near Ethiopian Jews. This paints a gross picture of racist, discriminatory attitudes.
• 62% said that Palestinian citizens of Israel should not be able to voteabout foreign policy matters.
• 34% of secular Jews oppose equal rights for Arabs, as do 51% of traditional Jews, 65% of religious Jews, and 72% of haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews). Thus, ideals of racist supremacy appears to be highly correlated with religious fervor, rendering problematic the “democratic” part of the “Jewish and democratic” mantra.
• 55% of Israelis support the statement “Israel’s situation would be much better if Israel considered the rules of democracy less, and focused more on keeping law and order.”

To explain this poll in a favorable light, to even attempt to justify a Jewish and democratic state in Israel is possible (as many will do)… is a sick and distorted worldview that has bred policies and sentiments similar (if not worse) to the United States under Jim Crowe Laws.