AhlulBayt News Agency: The Zionist regime and its leaders have
long tried to brand themselves as “the only democracy in the Middle
East,” fabricating a false image through media manipulation. This label
is not only mocked by some of the regime’s own intellectuals, but a look
at history reveals that this title acts like a disguise for a cancerous
tumor, spreading and attempting to whitewash its corrupt nature.
Far from being democratic, the Zionist regime is an illegitimate,
criminal entity, likened to a cancerous tumor in the ancient and Islamic
region of West Asia.
During the inauguration ceremony of the 14th
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khamenei stressed:
“The Zionist regime is presenting and showing itself in the most
grotesque image of a criminal gang. They’re not a government. They're a
gang of criminals. They’re a gang of murderers. They’re a gang of
terrorists. In their acts of terrorism, cruelty, and crime, they’ve
reached a new level in their shocking crimes in the history of human
criminality in the world. They've reached a new level.”
But why is the title “the only democracy in the region” so absurd?
1. The origins of the Israeli regime:
The core problem with the claim of being a
democratic entity lies in the very foundation of its existence. The
Zionist regime was established on undemocratic principles, rooted in
racial superiority and ethnic supremacy. Legally, its creation was
entirely based on undemocratic, inhumane, and unlawful processes. This
didn’t just happen in 1948; it has continued ever since. As Imam
Khamenei stated at the Sixth International Conference in Support of the
Palestinian Intifada: “ An intelligent quest in
history shows that no people in any era of history have ever been
subject to such pain, suffering and cruelty. It has never been witnessed
that a country is completely occupied in a supra-regional plot, that a
people are driven away from their home and their country and that
another group of people from remote areas in the world are brought there
in order to replace that nation. It has never been witnessed that a
real entity is ignored and that a fake entity takes its place. But this
is another dirty page in history which will be closed with the
permission and assistance of Allah the Exalted, just like other dirty
pages in history: “Falsehood is bound to perish” (Quran, 17: 81) and He
says: “My servants the righteous shall inherit the earth” (Quran, 21:
105).
Looking at history, Britain’s betrayal and illegal actions during
its mandate over Palestine facilitated the increase of the Jewish
population in Palestine from 40,000 to over 650,000 between 1930 and
1950. In early 1947, Britain asked the United Nations to take up the
Palestine issue.” At the time, major powers
needed UN approval to establish a Jewish state and partition Palestine,
but they couldn’t secure the necessary two-thirds majority. On November
26, 1947, realizing the vote would likely fail, the Brazilian president
of the General Assembly delayed it. Afterward,
Jews, Zionists, and Americans worked tirelessly to gain more votes. The
partition plan passed through questionable tactics. For instance, the
wives of Latin American representatives were showered with lavish gifts
like diamonds and expensive leather coats. Some governments that
initially opposed the resolution changed their stance after receiving
promises of US economic aid. The votes of Guatemala and the Philippines
were also bought through various means. Eventually, the partition
resolution passed on November 29, 1948, by a slim margin: 23 votes in
favor, 14 against, and 10 abstentions. It’s important to note that this
resolution has faced numerous legal challenges, as General Assembly
resolutions are not legally binding and do not impose obligations under
the UN’s own charters. Resolution 181 fundamentally conflicted with the
core principles of the United Nations, which were based on the
recognition of peoples' rights to freedom and self-determination.
There is no constitution in this so-called “democracy”
One of the key legal arguments made by
figures in the Zionist regime to support their claim of being "the only
democracy in the region" is the structure of their legal system, the
separation of powers, and the role of the people within it. However,
it’s important to note that the Zionist regime’s legal framework lacks a
constitution, making it difficult to accurately compare the role of the
people there with other legal systems in the region.
In reality, the Knesset, or parliament, is the central institution in
the governance of the Zionist regime. Its primary role is to elect the
prime minister and the government. The Knesset forms the core of
Israel’s political structure and holds significant influence. A party or
coalition that secures a majority of seats can form the government.
Voting in Israel is entirely based on party lists, not individual
candidates. Residents of the occupied territories can only vote for a
party list in elections and cannot select individual candidates or
remove specific people from the list. Israel’s electoral system has long
been criticized by both Israeli and non-Israeli experts, who argue that
it minimizes the role of the people and is fundamentally flawed. Some
of these critiques include the following: One of
the main criticisms of Israel’s electoral process is that voters must
choose from a set list with no flexibility.
This limits individual
choice significantly. Another issue that challenges the democratic
nature of the system is the rise of party dictatorship. Individuals
often strive to be placed higher on party lists in order to secure a
seat in the Knesset, leading them to make concessions to party leaders.
This, in turn, increases their dependency on the head of the party.
After Knesset elections, the party or coalition that holds the majority
has the power to form the government and select the prime minister. As a
result, the leader of the majority party essentially consolidates
power. Once in office, the prime minister, supported by a Knesset
majority from their own party, has wide latitude in shaping policies,
appointing ministers, and more. These factors have allowed the political
system in the Zionist regime to evolve in such a way that Netanyahu has
remained in power for about 15 years. Whenever faced with criticism
from his ministers, he has either dissolved the cabinet or dismissed
them, taking control of the ministries himself. At certain times,
Netanyahu has held leadership over four ministries simultaneously, and
the law does not prevent him from doing so.
The apartheid law of jewish Nation-State
One of the clearest signs of the regime's
non-democratic nature lies in its internal laws. On July 19, 2018, the
Jewish Nation-State Law, which had been under discussion in the Knesset
since 2011, was finally passed. This law explicitly defines "Israel" as
the nation-state of the Jewish people. The first clause of the law is
entirely anti-democratic, as it emphasizes Jewish ethnicity rather than
the Jewish faith, revealing the law’s racist undertones. Additionally,
the claim that the Jewish people have a natural, religious, and
historical right to the land of Palestine is completely illegal and
inhumane under United Nations, Security Council, and UNESCO resolutions.
This clause asserts that the right to self-determination in "Israel"
belongs solely to the Jewish people, blatantly excluding Arab Jews,
Druze, and even Falasha and African Jews, who many Zionists do not
consider ethnically Jewish.
When the law was
initially proposed in 2011 by 40 members of the Knesset, the "Israel
Democracy Institute," a Zionist think tank focused on studying the state
of democracy in Israel, strongly criticized the proposal. In a note
titled "A Jewish State, Not a Democracy," Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer
wrote: "The proposed Israel - Jewish Nation-State Law signals the
collapse of Israeli democracy, reducing it from a true democracy to an
empty shell... One-third of Knesset members now seek to establish, once
and for all, that equality, the core value of any democratic regime, is
not part of the Jewish state's values." Despite these concerns, the law
was passed in 2018. Ayman Odeh, leader of the
Joint List, a coalition of Arab parties in the Knesset, described the
passage of this racist Jewish Nation-State Law as the "death of
democracy." The Antiwar magazine, in response to Odeh's comments,
questioned, "Did Odeh really think he was living in a true democracy
before this law was passed? Seventy years of supremacy, genocide, ethnic
cleansing, war, blockades, mass killings, and numerous discriminatory
laws should have been enough to show him that Israel has never been a
democracy".
Behavioral examples of the Zionist regime over 70 years
The Zionist regime's false claims of democracy are evident in its consistent behavior over the past 70 years. Despite changes in government, these actions have remained unchanged:
- During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel expanded its territory, taking control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.
- After the 1967 conflict, Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip and began extensive settlement construction in the West Bank.
- In 1981, Israel officially declared sovereignty over the Golan Heights without holding a referendum, which was an undemocratic move.
- Following the Six-Day War, Israel sought to control East Jerusalem and officially annexed it in 1980. This annexation was carried out without a referendum, forcing the local population to accept it against their will.
- Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem do not have voting rights or other civil rights in Israel. Therefore, the Israeli regime does not adhere to even basic democratic standards in these areas.
The problem is that no institution or authority within the Zionist regime has made any effort to address or correct these issues. The situation for Arabs and other groups in the occupied territories has deteriorated, especially with the rise of radical nationalist influences.
Conclusion
The ongoing conflict in Gaza is not just a reflection of the Zionist regime's departure from democracy and its misleading claims but also a result of the global and Western media's and intellectuals' disregard for 70 years of undemocratic and racist behavior by Israel. If this regime had not been falsely labeled as democratic over the years, such atrocities in Gaza might have been avoided.
A telling perspective on Israeli democracy can be found in the work of Avi Katz, a cartoonist for the Jerusalem Report, a publication under the Jerusalem Post. Katz depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several Knesset members as pigs from George Orwell's Animal Farm, including a quote from the book: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others/129