Is Israeli Government Truly Democratic?

Is Israel a true democracy or, like so many other things the Israelis do, are they playing a game with appearances in order to make the world think of them as truly democratic? Having the right to vote for a candidate is only one part of the democratic equation. Who you’re able to vote for is certainly as important.

Why does Shimon Perez never go away? Why does Benjamin Netanyahu never go away? Why does Ehud Barak never go away? And why when Ariel Sharon was prominent did he never go away till he was stricken with illness? Why are the top positions held by a handful of people, who rotate among those top posts in Israel? It’s like the same committee plays musical chairs every time there’s an election. Somebody can’t hold a post except for a certain number of years, so all they do is run for another post. It’s always the same people. Israel acts like Russia and looks like China. Where are the new people from the populace? Why can’t they get in?

Even Tzipi Livni, who can’t seem to stay in the lime light long enough to secure one of the top positions, has been around the Israeli block so many times it’s dizzying. IDF. Mossad. Knesset. Member of Likud party. Co-founder of Kadima party. Chair of Kadima party. Constitution, Law and Justice committee. Regional Cooperation and Agriculture. Immigrant Absorption, Housing and Construction. Justice Foreign Affairs. Director General of the Government Companies Authority. Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Minister of Justice. Come on, with all that experience, the people of Israel can’t even get her elected? If the “pocket book” protestors want change, then they’re going to have to get rid of the old committee who just keeps going around and around and around, making everybody think they elected them through a fair and democratic process.

Israelis deserve to be fairly represented. For the people, by the people, should be the mantra, instead of being ruled by a committee locked into a dictatorship whose only goals are expansion, and war to achieve that expansion. That’s oppression in a nutshell. Know that when dictators oppress their neighbors, they also, in order to keep doing that, oppress their own people. It’s time for Israelis to stand up in unison and say NO. End this game of musical chairs–once and for all.