When a state reaches a round-numbered birthday, we usually try to
evaluate the balance of its achievements and failures and, at the
same time, ask questions.
The Full Half of the Glass
There is no doubt that the state of Israel, with its over 7.2
million citizens, has attained great achievements. It is rare to
find a state that has succeeded in making a renewed nation out of
people who through the centuries had been dispersed in different
parts of the world. It successfully absorbed waves of immigrants
who came to start a new life, and many arrived after experiencing
trauma.
The emerging society succeeded in developing a democratic system in
a region where authoritarian regimes are the rule. It developed a
tradition of freedom of information and media openness, with daily
newspapers and other publications, TV channels and radio stations
all carrying debates about Israel and the world. The Israeli public
has access to international channels of communication, including
Arab ones, to absorb information and knowledge. During the last
decades this society witnessed the accelerated development of a
civil society that consists of hundreds of NGOs that raise many
different issues and serve as a place for involvement and
participation. These trends indicate a positive ongoing process of
different excluded societal sectors entering the political and
social arenas and expanding the scope of issues that society
debates.
Many of the founding fathers, influenced by socialist ideas,
established a state that took responsibility for the weak, the
sick, the elderly and the needy. Israel enacted a wide range of
social legislations and set up extensive social programs for all
Israeli citizens to provide them with a broad range of benefits and
assistance. In 1995, the National Health Insurance Law guaranteed a
standardized basket of medical services, including hospitalization,
for all residents of Israel. Israel's extensive medical network and
high doctor-patient ratio are reflected in the low infant mortality
rate (4 per 1,000 live births) and high life expectancy (82.2 years
for women, 78.5 for men). This reflects a high medical standard in
Israel and high-level training for the medical professions,
including a very advanced research level.
Similar achievements should be noted in education, despite recent
setbacks. School attendance is mandatory from ages five to 16 and
free through age 18, though less than half succeed in obtaining
matriculation, the passport to higher education. Higher education,
with over 270,000 students, is well regarded and plays a pivotal
role in the development of the country. The universities are well
known and advanced and, together with other R&D institutions,
serve as vehicles for scientific achievements and technological
development. They research a wide scope of research questions that
few decades ago were unthinkable. The percentage of Israelis
engaged in scientific and technological inquiry and the amount
spent on R&D in relation to its gross domestic product (GDP)
are among the highest in the world.
After having enjoyed one of the fastest GDP growth rates among
world economies, Israel is now continuing the economic recovery
that began in 2003. Israel's GDP has been rising at about 5% a
year; earnings per capita reached about $21,000 (in 1980 it was
about $5,500 per capita); unemployment has been steadily decreasing
to 6.6.% in 2007; inflation is under control; and foreign debt has
been eliminated, with Israel becoming a creditor in recent years
and very attractive to international investors.
International-level progress was made in medical electronics,
agro-technology, telecommunications, fine chemicals, computer
hardware and software, food processing and solar energy. Hi-tech
industries, which accounted for only 37% of industrial production
in 1965, grew to 70% in 2006 ($29 billion plus another $5.9 billion
in hi-tech services), and almost 80% of hi-tech products are
exported.
It is also necessary to look at the cultural achievements. Israeli
society has succeeded in developing out of a dying language a
culture that can pride itself on many positive measures: writers
whose works are translated into many languages; films that win
awards in major festivals; plays that are performed on the
prestigious stages of the world; some 2,500 books that are
published annually and that can be found in the many bookshops of
every town and city.
All these achievements are taking place under conditions of
continuous threats and dangers. Israel is coping with a conflict
that began prior to its birth. Through the years of its existence,
Israel has fought at least six major wars, suffered from ongoing
hostile and violent activities, especially terrorism. To be
successful in facing its enemies, Israel has invested enormous
efforts in satisfying its security needs and has a strong and
well-equipped army; at the same time, Israel is becoming a regional
power that has great influence over the events in the region.
The Empty Half of the Glass
Having given recognition to these impressive achievements, I have
chosen to focus on the empty half of the glass. When you talk with
many Israelis, irrespective of their personal political
orientation, it is possible to observe despair and feelings of
helplessness and even hopelessness in their assessment of the
situation - though they focus on different problems because they
differ in their values, ideology, goals and concerns.
I would like to focus first on two colossal failures of Israeli
society and then to elaborate on more specific major
deficiencies.
The first failure is that since the establishment of the state,
many hundred thousands of its citizens - estimated to be about
800,000 - have emigrated, mainly to the United States, Canada,
Germany, Australia and even Russia. This number is staggering and
indicates that the state did not succeed in creating satisfactory
conditions for its citizens.
The second failure relates to the continuation of the occupation of
the territories conquered in the Six-Day War in 1967. This
occupation underlies many of the problems that Israel is facing and
has many negative implications for life in Israel. The continuation
of the occupation touches, first of all, on the security problems
and on the moral soul of the state. The fact that the occupied
territories were settled by Jews represents an added folly. This
act not only contravenes international law but also constitutes one
of the biggest barriers to solving the Israeli-Arab conflict. In
addition, it is estimated that Israel has spent at least NIS100
billion to build the infrastructure for the settlements and roads
and to maintain the settlers' security, which violates both the
Fourth Geneva Convention and Israeli law. This will either bring an
end to the state that the founding fathers dreamt of, or Israel
will have to spend a similar amount of money in compensation
payment to those settlers who will have to leave their homes, with
feelings of alienation, frustration and anger. In addition to these
major failures, there are a number of other serious problems that
can be added to the empty half of the glass.
The Dominance of Neo-Liberal Policies
When neo-liberalism was being questioned for its severe
consequences in various parts of the world in the 1980s, Israeli
society accelerated its attempt to institute this economic-social
model. The outcome is well known. The state is reducing its role in
the life of the citizens, and abandoning its social responsibility
towards them, while favoring the business sector. The government is
decreasing its expenditure on education, health care and welfare,
and these systems are constantly deteriorating, raising the need
for increased private spending, which does not provide an antidote
to the destructive policies. And economic growth is not equally
beneficial to all classes. Over the past 20 years, inequality in
income has been rising, and social disparities have grown to the
extent that Israel is now ranked second in the Western world (after
the United States) in terms of the gap between rich and poor - at
present 1% of the population account for 60% of the wealth in
Israel. This widening gap between rich and poor has also coincided
with a significant narrowing of the middle class in Israel and a
dramatic increase in poverty, even among working families. In 2007,
24.7% of Israelis and 35.8% of children lived below the poverty
line - in 1998 only 22.8% of children lived below this line.
Dysfunction of Liberal Democracy
Although the state of Israel has established a well-functioning
structural democracy, it still suffers from many deficiencies,
especially in implementing democracy's spirit and values - human
and civil rights, respect for the law, equality, fair treatment of
minorities and preserving basic freedoms. One of the major problems
is the disregard for laws and ethics practiced by the public at
large and even by the state institutions and leaders. A diagnosis
of the situation presented by jurist Moshe Negbi describes the
process undertaken by the Israeli political culture in recent years
as "a slope leading from a government of laws to a banana
republic." A specific example is the report by attorney Talia
Sasson, appointed by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to
investigate the functioning of the state institutions with regard
to building outposts in the West Bank. She concluded that public
authorities, such as ministries, the Israeli army, the settlement
division of the World Zionist Organization and the municipalities
used their authority illegally to actively assist and/or did not
prevent the establishment of the unlawful enterprise. A recent
report shows that about one-third of the settlements were built
illegally.
According to the reports of Israel's state comptroller, the
governmental institutions are plagued by protectionism, by
politicization of the public services and by the use of public
resources to advance personal-political interests. Close
connections have been observed between the government, capital and
mass media, as well as the penetration of criminal groups into
party centers, and an extensive economic and political power of
several dozen very wealthy families. A recent study has determined
that Israel ranks sixth among developed countries around the globe
in the scope of its black market.
This failure is related to the deterioration of the Israeli
leadership in the last decade. The leaders have been accused of
corruption, lack of accountability and lack of vision, manipulation
of the public and, as a result, they have been losing the trust of
the Israelis. According to a recent survey, 86% of citizens state
that the government is not dealing adequately with the country's
problems, and 68% believe that the people running the country are
motivated by personal interests rather than the public good.
Another deficiency is the growing political power and influence of
anti-democratic groups. The centers of these groups within Jewish
society are found mostly in the ultra-religious sector, which
rejects democracy both as a value and as a mechanism for governing.
This view is expanding, as about half of the public rejects the
democratic system. The trend of undermining democracy is also
reflected in steady and continuous attempts to undercut the legal
system, especially the Supreme Court - even by the present minister
of justice - by trying to limit its function and politicizing its
control.
Moral Deterioration
The problem of deficiencies in the democratic system is related to
the deterioration of the moral values and standards. Corruption has
been on the rise dramatically. While in 2001 Israel was in 16th
place among the world's nations in Transparency International's
Corruption Perceptions Index, in 2007 it fell to 30th place. In the
last decade, all the prime ministers, some of the ministers and
over a dozen lawmakers have been accused of corruption in various
affairs. In addition, trafficking of migrant workers has become an
industry, with a staggering annual turnover officially estimated at
no less than $300,000,000 annually. This includes illegal
trafficking of women for the sex industry, as Israel has become one
of the major trade centers in the world. Moreover, various
practices by the employers and even the government regarding these
migrant workers point to a consistent violation of human
rights.
Institutionalized Discrimination against the Arab
Minority
Problems of democratic dysfunction are also reflected in the way
Israel treats its Arab citizens, who are an indigenous minority.
Israel is probably the only state among developed countries that is
currently practicing institutionalized and cultural discrimination
against its minority, including legal discrimination. This
discrimination has created, in essence, an ethnic democracy and not
a liberal democracy - a reality in which structural preference is
accorded to the dominant Jewish majority.
Formal discrimination against Arabs by Israeli law and practices
exists not only in symbolic areas, and is inseparably linked to
continuous discrimination in every aspect of life. As a result,
there are continuously growing gaps between Arabs and Jews in
socioeconomic and living conditions in all major areas of life:
housing, health, education, land, welfare, employment and
more.
The governmental Orr Commission Report, published in 2003,
presented for the first time an official recognition of the depth
of discrimination and institutional exclusion experienced by
Israel's Arab citizens. The report stated that:
[T]he state and all of its governments have failed to cope
[…] with the difficult challenges posed by the existence of a
large Arab minority within the Jewish state. The governmental
handling of the Arab sector is mostly characterized by neglect and
deprivation. The establishment has not demonstrated enough
sensitivity to the needs of the Arab sector and has not done enough
to assure equal allocation of state resources also to this sector.
The state has not done enough, and has not tried enough, to grant
equality to its Arab citizens and remove manifestations of
discrimination and deprivation.
This is accompanied by substantial support for the discriminatory
practices among Jews in Israel and the normative discourse of Arab
delegitimization. In 2007, for example, it was found that about 45%
of the Jews in Israel denied the existence of Arab discrimination
in Israel, and about 56% of them supported full equal rights
between Jews and Arabs, citizens of the state, but only 22%
supported political equality for the Arab minority and about 55%
supported governmental encouragement of Arab emigration from the
state.
The Ruthless Outcomes of Occupation
The most salient sign of the democratic and moral deterioration of
Israeli Jewish society is the ongoing occupation. A deep-rooted
system of dual sets of legal norms has developed in the West Bank:
One for the Jewish settlers and one for the Palestinian population.
These double standards have enabled the establishment of a system
of segregation, discrimination and control on ethnic grounds in the
occupied territories, with all the negative implications.
Many thousands of Palestinians, including civilians and children
who were not engaged in any violent activity against Israel, have
been killed or injured by Israeli forces. More than 600,000
Palestinians have been arrested, many thousands have spent years in
prisons and administrative detention, many have been tortured and
some expelled and their houses demolished. Many aspects of the
Palestinians' collective and individual lives are controlled by the
Israelis and this has had an immense negative effect on the
development of their economic, societal and political
infrastructure. According to a 2007 United Nations report, 57% of
households in the territories live in poverty. This occupied
population lives without basic human and civil rights, under
continuous humiliation and discrimination that cannot be accounted
for by threats to the security of Israel. About 100 checkpoints and
several hundred roadblocks turn the lives of the Palestinians into
a miserable experience. Many of the settlements and outposts were
built on private Palestinian land confiscated under false pretexts,
and parts of the separation wall are being built beyond the Green
Line to take control of more Palestinian land.
Some claim that this behavior is a result of the threats that the
Jews in Israel experience because of the Palestinians' purported
goals and their violent behavior, or that it is a necessary
by-product of occupation, and Israel does not differ from other
occupying states through the ages, and is even more restrained.
Even if they are partially valid, these arguments cannot justify
the scope and extent of the violations of the Palestinians' human
and civil rights.
Militarization of Israeli Society
Another major problem of Israeli society is the dominance of the
military. Compared with other democratic states, the security
forces in Israel, and especially the military, have determinative
influence on policies, decision-making and the execution of
actions, starting with the policies of peace and war and policies
dealing with the allocation of resources and infrastructure.
Because of this influence, military thinking has been adopted by
the political echelon, as the military serves not only as a source
of intelligence but also as national evaluator and chief source of
strategic plans. The domination of public discourse by the Israel
Defense Forces' aggressive worldview and its status as epistemic
authority has brought about a degradation of moral values within
Israeli society. The universal values of human rights and the
sacredness of human life came to be associated only with the Jewish
population.
This has a determining effect on the ability to carry out basic
democratic processes, such as criticism of the military branch by
the political branch, or inquiry into military operations or
"mishaps" by those who are not in uniform. Comparative studies of
the political and democratic echelons have shown that Israel ranks
36th and last on the measure of military involvement in political
and social affairs.
Influence of Religion
Israel has not separated state and religion. This has had an
immense effect on the personal lives of the citizens and violates
basic human and civil rights. For example, matters of marriage and
divorce as well as matters of conversion to Judaism are the
monopolized responsibility of Orthodox Jewry. This monopoly creates
tremendous problems for many of the citizens of Israel, especially
those who came in the last wave of immigration from the former
U.S.S.R.
The ultra-religious sector is growing. A majority of this sector -
constituting over 11% of the potential conscripts - does not serve
in the army, and a substantial portion of this sector - over half
of the men - does not work, relying on external financial
assistance.
Objectionism to Peace
In contrast to the widely accepted and shared belief among Jews
that Israel never missed an opportunity for peace, evidence
indicates that Israel has missed opportunities to solve the
Israeli-Arab conflict and has frequently carried out intransigent
policies. Examples range from Golda Meir's refusal to engage in
negotiations with Egypt or to accept the Rogers Plan, the ignoring
of proposals to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict put forth
by various security institutions in 1967, the rejection by Itzhak
Shamir of the London agreement with Jordan in 1987, the decision to
declare and treat Arafat as a non-partner after the failure of Camp
David in 2000, the ignoring of the Arab Peace Initiative (the Saudi
Plan) initiated in 2002, to the rejections of Syrian attempts to
resume negotiations. As the stronger side in the conflict, Israel
has much more power to move the conflict towards its peaceful
resolution, but this advantage is rarely translated into
actions.
Conclusion
I believe that supporting Israel means seeing Israel with all its
achievements and deficiencies - and then engaging in the ongoing
debates and striving to create a better society, which is the best
indication of love and care. This is the true nature of patriotism.
The clash over the future of Israel is a crucial struggle.
1 The writer would like to thank Corinna Gayer, Uri Gopher, Nimrod
Goren, Carmit Keter, Tamir Magal, Ofer Shinar and Shiri Tal for
their help in collecting data for this article.
