Total Eclipse

So it seems while all eyes on are Gaza, The Israel Central Elections Committee decided to disqualify the two major Arab parties from running in the elections.

There’s nothing new to the claims that the Arab parties (the only one left, Hadash, is an Arab-Jewish communist coalition) do not accept Israel as a Jewish state. It’s been tested before, and the High Court of Justice has already determined over much more significant claims of treason, that the Arab parties should be allowed to run. No doubt, they will appeal to the High Court, and will be allowed to run. It’s a technicality, but still a blow to Israeli democracy.

No Taxation without Representation

I am of the opinion that all ethnocentric parties should be disqualified. There’s something amazing and very democratic about the Israeli parliamentary system. In the coming elections, 34 parties (including the 2 Arab parties) are going to run. This is an amazing and significantly more accurate representation of the spectrum of political opinions in our fine democracy than a 2-party system.

However, Sectarian parties are also inherently anti-democratic. They bring about a common denominator which has nothing to do with political opinion, and while I can see why minorities would like to join hands to bring about greater influence, in my humble opinion the proper place for such things are ‘wings’ or lobbies within established parties.
While our democracy is healthy in that many different perspectives get parliamentary representation, it’s very ill in our parliament’s stranglehold over government, which leads to an almost ungovernable state. While there’s room for more than just two major blocs, I strongly feel our democracy would be much healthier if Jewish-Religious, Jewish Ultra-Orthodox, Sepharadic Jews and Arabs were not allowed to present a party solely based on such denominators. A person should vote for a party because he agrees with their social, political, economic etc. agenda, not because the party members belong to the same ethnic group or faith.