There is a point where Jewishness identifies as multiculturalism, and at that point Israel is a failure.
A nation divided against itself cannot stand!

Dan

Israel's democracy is not in peril because Israel's democracy only exists in part. The meaning of democracy changes with the times. Ancient Athens would not be a democracy in today's definition of democracy because it denied the vote to women, slaves and foreigners. Israel is not a democracy in today's terms because it does not have civil marriage, an integrated public school system and separation of religion and government. Israel can be a Jewish state or a democracy. It cannot be both. Israel has some elements of democracy, but it cannot be both a Jewish state and a democracy. The US is polarized. A sizable percentage of the population of the US would tear down the separation between religion and state. Should they succeed the US will no longer be a democracy. For Israel to be a democracy it must create such a separation.

Absolutely agree! A house divided against itself cannot stand! Need to remove the blinders and lift head to see a world tittering toward the brink of WW111 and a nuclear Armageddon.

And needs to address its internal issues and unite as one people and their better angels and now, before it is too late!
Alan B.

I have said it before, but please allow me to say it again.
The policies and principles which underpin the belief system of any person or group of persons, must be based on demonstrably truthful concepts.
Where this basis lacks truth, it will not be stable.
Over time it will crumble away.
Only truth remains solid and inviolable.
For truth is written in the very fabric of the universe.
Whole civilisations can crumble, when truth is ignored.
They can flourish for a time, but like the hardiest flower, will eventually fade and die away.
A 'new' civilisation can be born, but history tells us it will almost certainly repeat the errors.
And the strangest thing is, that any persons remaining look for reasons in outside forces.
They don't seriously look inside themselves.
And they should, because their thinking controls almost all that happens to them.
They can thus be the source of their own decline.
Where a country has serious divisions within it, truth is being ignored.

I.F. Yes, the only thing any of us has absolute control over, is the thoughts we care to entertain in our heads. And through those thoughts lead us into every decision we make, every action we take and every mistake we make, and every attitude we accept for ourselves! Think, there is great power there!

If we must believe in something and we must, then the almighty irrefutable truth is the key to everything and humankind's ultimate survival and fulfilment!
Alan B.

Sad but mostly¹ true.

It all starts and ends with Netanyahu, but Netanyahu is not immortal. He had a medical episode last week and like Putin and Trump (possibly also Xi), once he is out of circulation the whole political map will change irrecognisably.

In the news today, following long indirect negotiations, Israel and Lebanon have reached an excellent win-win agreement regarding their maritime borders, which gives both countries amazing prospects of gas production and export. Now only Netanyahu opposes it and declared that if elected he would not respect that agreement...

I would like to question why the author omitted the stupid feud between some center-left parties and the Jewish-orthodox representing parties, which as a result cling to Netanyahu. Without that feud, Netanyahu could be out already.

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Dear David F.,

While I know of no democracy on this planet, Australia is even less democratic than Israel.
Democracy assumes "one person one vote", but in Australia a person who happens to live in a "marginal seat" can effectively have 100 times more voting power than their neighbour on the other site of their boundary-street.

Now claiming that "Israel is not a democracy in today's terms because it does not have civil marriage" is equivalent for example to claiming that Australia is not a democracy because it does not allow us to import and inject our own COVID vaccines, even that "Australia is not a democracy because you are not allowed to drive on the right side of the road".

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¹ just one detail I disagree with: "the prospect of a Palestinian uprising of unprecedented scale is becoming increasingly plausible, when extremist groups such as Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah pose an omnipresent danger" - none of these weak parties poses any danger to Israel: they can be a bit of a nuisance, but nothing more serious for Israel. Rather, as the author explained, the danger to Israel comes from within.