A brief presentation of the tensions between Jewish and democratic in the context of the right to be elected and article 7A
The Committee discussed the limitations on the right to be elected, most important among them the disqualification of candidates whose platform repudiates of the existence of Israel as the state of the Jewish people. Should this limitation, they asked, be ensconced in the constitution? The question captures the basic tension between “Jewish” and “Democratic”. While free and open elections are the cornerstone of a functioning democracy, refusing to set guidelines for candidates could one day undermine the basic values -- including the Jewish character -- of the state.
The legislature and courts in Israel have struggled to strike the right balance between these competing values, and the Constitution will need to address the issue directly. The current Basic Law: The Knesset includes limitations on the right to be elected intended to protect both the Jewish and democratic characters of the state. However, the courts have been reluctant to apply these limitations, requiring clear and convincing evidence that the danger to the Jewish character of the state is real and imminent. Ironically, despite the legislation allowing disqualification of lists which deny the existence of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, and in spite of heated legal and political controversy surrounding the platforms of some of the Arab-Israeli parties, the only parties which have been disqualified to date have been Jewish anti-Arab parties.
MK Azmi Bishara contested in Committee debates the prohibition on candidates that oppose the Jewish nature of the state, expressing the view that the Constitution should protect only the democratic nature of the state, leaving the question of its Jewish identity to be determined by ordinary processes of democratic government.
Bookmark
Print
Send to Friend
Post a comment