Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State

Francisca Pérez-Madrid and Montserrat Gas i Aixendri (eds) La Gobernanza de la diversidad religiosa (Aranzadi 2013) 195-206

13 Pages Posted: 28 Apr 2015

See all articles by Yael Ronen

Yael Ronen

Academic Center for Science and Law, Hod Hasharon; Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Faculty of Law, Minerva Center for Human Rights

Date Written: April 27, 2015

Abstract

Israel’s Basic Law: The Knesset allows disqualification of lists of candidates from participating in parliamentary elections if they negate the character of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. The phrase ‘Jewish and democratic state’ is entrenched in Israeli law and jurisprudence, and is highly controversial. The present contribution focuses on the extent to which the Jewish character of the state may encroach on its democratic character in the context of elections, examining it from the perspective of international human rights law. It concludes Disqualification of candidates advocating a change in the character of the state is a violation of the fundamental aspects of democracy and of political rights, and cannot be justified by analogy to the protection of the state’s existence or of its democratic character. Nor can it be justified on self-determination grounds.

Keywords: Israel, Jewish, democracy, self-determination, elections, right to be elected

Suggested Citation

Ronen, Yael, Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State (April 27, 2015). Francisca Pérez-Madrid and Montserrat Gas i Aixendri (eds) La Gobernanza de la diversidad religiosa (Aranzadi 2013) 195-206, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2599465

Yael Ronen (Contact Author)

Academic Center for Science and Law, Hod Hasharon ( email )

5 Margoa St.
Hod Hasharon, 45101
Israel

HOME PAGE: http://en.mishpat.ac.il/yael_ronen/

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Faculty of Law, Minerva Center for Human Rights ( email )

Mount Scopus
Jerusalem, 9190501
Israel

HOME PAGE: http://https://en.law.huji.ac.il/people/yael-ronen

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
115
Abstract Views
1,044
Rank
431,186
PlumX Metrics