Recently, Israel’s constitution (Basic Law) was changed to described the country as ‘the national home of the Jewish people’ and Jerusalem, even the parts claimed by the Palestinians, as the ‘complete and united … capital of Israel.’ Needless to say, the Palestinians and human rights groups around the world condemned the changes that, to some, merely constitutionalised the de facto apartheid that they claim already exists between Jews and Arabs. The interest here is with Sammy Smooha’s -Emeritus Professor at the University of Haifa, Israel – claim that Israel is an ‘ethnic democracy’ (‘The model of ethnic democracy: Israel as a Jewish and democratic state’).
Among other things, in an ethnic democracy the ethnic majority ‘claims ownership of a certain territory that it considers its exclusive homeland. It also appropriates a state in which it exercises its full right to self-determination. The ethnic nation, not the citizenry, shapes the symbols, laws and policies of the state for the benefit of the majority.’ As generally understood, democracy is based upon universal citizenship with equal rights, and, therefore, you could not be faulted for viewing his formulation as a contradiction and nothing short of an attempt to attach the virtue of a democracy to the Israeli condition.
