Democracy

US democracy's decline is a warning to Israel - opinion

America is being tested as to whether it can keep its republic, just as we are being tested as to whether we can retain our democracy. Let us all hope that both of us can pass the test.

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump delivers a speech to a joint session of Congress in March 2025.
Amb. Tom Barrack, US Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria, US Department of State, speaks during the 2025 Concordia Annual Summit on September 24, 2025 in New York City.

Israel is not a democracy, US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack suggests at Doha Forum

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to the courtroom at the Distrcit court in Tel Aviv, before the start of his testimony in the trial against him, October 28, 2025.

Netanyahu's pardon request a 'direct attempt to bypass courts,' scholars warn

Natan Sharansky attends a meeting of the Knesset plenum in 2000. Imagine if Sharansky was not just a name in textbooks but again a living presence in our parliament, says the writer.

Israel needs moral giants, not more politicians - opinion


Challenges of a parliamentary system: How Knesset emasculated Israel - opinion

Seventy percent of Israelis want a new prime minister - yet voters have no mechanism to make it happen.

CHAIRMAN OF the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee Simcha Rothman leans over to speak to Justice Minister Yariv Levin. The writer asks: How do we convince the Knesset to change the rules when that would result in many of them no longer serving?

Israel must restore equality under the law or risk collapse of its liberal democracy - opinion

A danger that Israel's liberal democracy might collapse does exist, unless a change takes place in the foreseeable future in the way the state is being run.

Israeli security forces clash with Jewish settlers during the evacuation of Illegal structures in Tzur Misgavi, an outpost in Gush Etzion, in the West Bank, November 17, 2025

Demonizing Netanyahu won’t save democracy, only listening to the voters will - opinion

The public continues to support him because they believe he is strong, experienced, and capable of navigating the country.

PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu walks outside his office in the Knesset.

Brazil's Bolsonaro detained over flight risk, damaged ankle monitor

Bolsonaro has been under house arrest for violating measures in a separate case involving allegations of courting US interference to aid in his criminal case.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro leaves the hospital where he went to undergo a skin surgery procedure, authorized by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes,  in Brasilia, Brazil, September 14, 2025.

Israel must pivot from US partisanship dependent on Republican loyalty - opinion

The more Israel is perceived as a purely partisan Republican project, the harder it will be to restore cross-party trust, risking the long-term erosion of legitimacy.

PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu and US Vice President JD Vance meet at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem last month. US politics has transformed Israel into a volatile symbol of domestic partisan identity, the writer asserts.

Is this next election cycle our last chance to save Israel’s future?

POLITICAL AFFAIRS: Professor Dan Ben-David, a leading economist, warns that Israel’s future depends on urgent education reforms, with the next election potentially its last chance.

Israel has ‘the worst education system in the developed world,’ according to Prof. Ben-David. Here, President Isaac Herzog greets students at the opening of the school year in September at Rambam Religious School in Kiryat Shmona.

The New York battle of Hattin: Does Mamdani’s election portend the fall of the West? - opinion

Mamdani’s victory is comparable to Salah ad-Din’s Battle of Hattin. In 1187, the Muslim commander defeated the Crusader army, marking a turning point on the road to the Muslim conquest of Israel.

A reenactment of the Battle of Hattin in Israel.

Peace and democracy: The legacy of Yitzhak Rabin - opinion

What will remain of Rabin’s heritage will depend on whether we manage to establish stable national unity governments in the future, rather than unstable, extreme, and relatively uniform ones.

RABIN FAMILY members sit in the Knesset VIP gallery, as the plenum holds a special session in 2022, marking the anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination. Hopefully, Israel’s future will continue to be determined by free elections, the writer affirms.

The right to vote should not depend on IDF service - opinion

Voting is not a privilege to be earned; it is a fundamental right of citizenship. 

Israel heads to another round of elections on November 1.

The 'peace' president: Trump fights to end conflicts abroad, wages war on US democracy - opinion

Donald Trump wants to be seen as the peace president, even if the Nobel Committee doesn’t, while back at home, he is waging an all-out war on American democracy.

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump speaks at the US Ambassador’s Residence in Tokyo on Tuesday. Whatever his achievements in recent diplomacy, his administration remains one of the most inept, unqualified, corrupt, and dangerous in American history, the writer argues.

Israel needs real reform, not a lower electoral threshold - opinion

Lowering the electoral threshold is not intended to bring new voices into the Knesset but only to assist those who are already there.

PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG addresses the Knesset plenum at the opening of the winter session on October 20, 2025.