muman613: It is horrible how anti-Jew the Israeli government has become. It is hard to support a state which treats its wise Rabbis as if they were criminals.
muman613, With all due respect, you've got it all backwards.
A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, or a majority decides what is the law.
Let's say, hypothetically, that there are 50 Jews and 50 Arabs which make up the total population of a town in Israel.
The 50 Arabs vote as a bloc to kill the remaining 50 Jews.
One insane typical Israeli Jew throws their vote in with them, making 51 - which in a democracy is all that counts.
That's the majority.
The "democracy" can by popular vote then legally kill the Jews.
The Zionist Movement has from its inception been democratic and secular in the same sense that the Communist Parties of the world have always insisted that they were the most democratic of any of the world's democracies.
This is because the Zionists who succeeded in assuming power in Tel Aviv back in 1948 were mostly the products of Soviet influence and political thought, and rejected any notions of religion.
Zionism, as a political movement and political power, has never been based on the teachings of Torah or supported Judaism.
Labor Zionists succeeded in destroying their religious and political opposition, and from the outset have merely used the trappings of Judaism - the Hebrew language and the symbols of menorah and Mogen David to establish their vision of a "Peoples' Movement of National Liberation" based entirely in Marxist Socialism.
And being a "democracy' does not confer on the individual any rights whatsoever.
Unless there is a Constitution guaranteeing freedoms, individual rights and liberties, and separation of powers within the government, then you don't have any rights of any kind.
Period.
In a "democracy, you have whatever "the majority" decides you have.
And Israel is most definitely a "democracy", because each and every political party depends on the votes of the Arabs in order to maintain a power base; so much so that it turns out that all party platforms must kowtow to the Arab point of view if they don't want to vanish from politics.
Why is this so?
Because in Israel Arabs have the same vote as all other citizens, and they are a growing population.
So...If it's "democracy" you want, then it's "democracy" you'll most certainly get in Israel.
All it takes there for a "majority vote" is for the leaders of all contending parties to promise things to the Arabs in exchange for their support.
And the Jews?
No longer count so much, because the Arabs' votes determine the majority vote in almost every election in Israel!
To add insult to injury, I remember North American olim complaining that when they appeared at political party conventions to vote, the officials handed out to them already marked ballots which they were told to deposit in the official tally boxes. When the officials were asked "What's the meaning of this?" - "Giving us ballots already marked with the candidates chosen by you and the other officials of the Party?" The Party officials replied "We do this to save time because we all know what we stand for and so there's no need to waste time having anyone marking ballots with pencils!". This is again a classic hallmark of elections inside the Soviet bloc.
So, muman613, do you still want "Democracy"?
Or...do you opt for Constitutional Republican Government with a Bill of Rights as exists in the United States of America?
Or...do you prefer a Theocratic Monarchy like once existed in ancient Israel?...just a blood line Monarch with Absolute power, an inherited blood line Temple Priesthood, and a Sanhedrin chosen to decide all matters of civil law?