Category: Blog

Israel’s new government threatens to weaken Israel’s democracy and fray U.S.-Israel relations on two fronts: Its proposed overhaul of Israel’s judicial system and its refusal to refrain from settlement expansion.

This is a sampling of statements from progressive Jewish organizations that support self-determination, democracy, and pluralism for all Israeli citizens and Palestinians.

TTN colleagues are anguished over Netanyahu’s proposed new governing coalition, as are many stalwart supporters of Israel.  One striking example is Abe Foxman, the retired head of the Anti-Defamation League, featured in a recent Jerusalem Post news article (and in a JTA article), declaring that he will not support a “non-democratic Israel”.

In results analogous to how Donald Trump won in the U.S. Electoral College, despite a popular vote deficit of 2.8 million in 2016, Benjamin Netanyahu is returning to power due to an artifact of Israel’s electoral system — the 3.25% minimum threshold required of competing lists to be elected to the Knesset (raised from 2% in 2015).