Who Struggles with God...

Coat of Arms of Israel (Wikipedia)

For a moment, we will turn away from the curse upon our House the American people voted in last November and consider the consequences of another far-right movement brought in by a dissatisfied public.  For whatever its faults--and there are many--Israel is the only truly functioning democracy in the Middle East so far.  Although freedom can often be relative if you are an Arab, especially if you live in the West Bank or Gaza, the nation has strong democratic institutions and a largely free and open press.

It seems few Israelis realized those institutions, that they take for granted, yet often evoke, are under attack--from within.  For years Israel has identifed threats to its thriving democracy as country's like Iran or the terrorist organization turned Palestinian political party Hamas (which still refuses to acknowledge Israel's right to exist).  For the far right, the threats may also exist in what they call the "Fifth Column" of their society, Arab Israelis.  Although there is debate to what qualifies as the Israeli right-wing now, this latter belief has been a benchmark of hardliner Israelis since the nation was founded in 1948.

First some background.  Israeli politics have always been, er tumultuous.  The Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, was based on the Yishuv that ran Jewish affairs under the British Mandate.  After the UK left Palestine, the independent State of Israel formalized an electoral system in which voters choose parties rather than individual candidates in constituencies or districts (South Africa actually does something quite similar).  The parties receive seats roughly in proportion to the vote tally they win.  The result, is often a situation where no party has a majority, typically a prerequisite of forming a government (by way of comparison, the African National Congress dominates South African elections).  

Israeli Voting Booth (Wikipedia)

As a result, excluding a rare majority held by the Israeli Labor party's predecessor and a handful of unity governments between the two main parties, Israeli governments are formed through coalitions.  Per Israeli law the President of Israel, a largely ceremonial figure, usually selects the leader of the largest party to form a government.  This is done via bartering and bargaining with like-minded smaller parties and the religious parties, who often receive plum minister positions, but care little for the back and forth among the secular parties.  Last time, however, this did not happen even though Kadima, led by the former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won the most seats of any party (Livni used to be a member of Likud).  Instead, the former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of Likud, formed a government with the hardliner Yisrael Beiteinu, led by Avigdor Leiberman, and other like parties.  The result has been a fairly right-wing government.  Early on, it appeared as though Netanyahu, mindful that past hardliners like Menachem Begin had become peacemakers, had the upper hand even getting a freeze on new Israeli settlements in the West Bank.  However, the clock ran out and Leiberman, now the country's foreign minister, demurred.

Since that time, Israel has rebuffed prodding by President Barack Obama to restart peace talks and shuddered as its neighbor and Egypt underwent a dramatic transformation earlier this year.  There was talk of an absurd oath requirement that would have run aground of the secular principles the nation's early founders wanted for their country.  Laws were debated and defeated that could have undercut the Israeli Supreme Court's independence.  Then the Knesset passed perilously anti-free speech boycott bill earlier this month.  It was followed by a measure that would investigate the country's left-leaning Non-government organizations.  That bill failed spectacularly, due in no small part to several MK's walking out on the vote.  Political observers noted that Prime Minister Netanyahu bailed on the earlier boycott bill, while coalition partner and one-time Labor Prime Minister Ehud Barak skipped the NGO bill.