Israel-Palestine Mega Fact Check!

According to the Economist Intelligence unit, for the year 2023 Israel is the only country in the Middle East with a relatively high ranking (7.8) in the Democracy Index. This Index measures the extent to which citizens can participate in free and fair elections, enjoy civil liberties, and have a government acting on their behalf. The next-highest country in the Middle East is Turkey with a rank of 4.3. Palestine ranks lower at 3.5, and most other Middle Eastern nations have an even lower ranking.

Israel defines itself as both Jewish and democratic. Its Arab citizens have many of the same rights as Jewish citizens, including the right to vote. But the Israeli government discriminates against its Arab citizens in a number of ways, such as by severely restricting their ability to purchase or lease land, by underfunding Arab-majority towns and cities, and by restricting the ability of such places to expand territorially.

If we consider Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories as a single unit, Israel does not give occupied Palestinians the right to vote over the Israeli government that exerts significant control over their lives—which is, of course, undemocratic. These Arabs have instead been granted the right to vote for a Palestinian government with very limited powers. However, when the Palestinians voted for Hamas in the 2006 legislative elections, Israel (with the US’s assistance) immediately started working on pushing out the democratically-elected Hamas government and replace it with its preferred government (Fatah). Since then, they have deliberately prevented future attempts at democratic elections in Palestine, which also constitutes undemocratic behaviour.