Knesset outlaws political boycott by 48 votes to 37

The only democracy in the Middle East. Mazel tov, Israel!

Yes, a democratically elected legislature passed a law. Private citizens have the right to petition against it. I don’t see the problem.

You mean a government funded organization cannot boycott parts of its own country…Seriously!!! that is Rasc…..wait….that actually makes a lot of sense.

I can taste the leftist rage from here. How dare we allow those ‘Zionists’ a vote? Better a Syrian style totalitarian regime where ‘voting’ doesn’t exist and dissent is fired from the rooftops! Viva La Revolucion!

I don’t think it’ll make it through the Supreme Court.
Frankly, I don’t see who BDS is hurting except the Palestinians. No salaries from the settlers and the other boycotted which means in the long term reduced social security checks to the Palestinian workers in the West Bank, which means a needy and weak PA who will come to the negotiating table tail between legs.
I am even more enthused by the cultural BDS: it succeeded in eliminating the importation of mediocrity, and as a result we are getting only the “creme de la creme”, those who have nothing to prove and do not need to kiss anyone’s seat, while the nobodies are going elsewhere.
As to the settlers, they do not lose a penny. All they do is raise the price of their product for Israeli consumers.

It is my way- or no way!
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Israeli left parties are:
- losing in elections repeatedly?
- Early decreasing number of supporters?
-reality proves repeatedly that their ideas and policy are wrong?
—
What is their democratic solution?
Loosing in Israeli public?
Impose their ideas and will on the Israelis by foreign intervention!
Bashing and incitement abroad against Israel!
And they have the guts to call their action legatine democratic actions!
It is their way- or destroys the country by foreign intervention!

That the passing Knesset majority < an absolute Knesset majority of 61 means that this law cannot be seen as overriding the Basic Laws. I think the Supreme Court will annul the law as repugnant to the Basic Law on freedom of expression. But there is certainly a slow motion constitutional crisis in your country; strangely, all sides, including the dominant right fortress mentality, seem unwilling to push the crisis to a head. Perhaps because no one can envision a solution that would abide. I know not.

KM Ze’ev Elkin is a real danger to the Israeli parliament and democracy: any Knesset member and even Government ministers needs Mr. Elkin’s help in assuring that at the right moment their bills are going to have the necessary majority in the Knesset to pass – simply because Mr. Elkin’s job is to make sure that the coalition is going to have a majority in every voting (it supports) in the Knesset. Without his work no Law can pass. That’s some mighty powerful position at the Knesset, which Elkin (mind you, the last member on the Likud’s list to enter the Knesset) received because he is a diligent member of the Knesset who was willing to work hard and do the work other members are probably to busy (with doing good for their country) or lazy to do.
The problem is that Mr. Elkin, knowing that there’s almost no member who can stop him (aside from PM Netanyahu), abuses his position to aggressively pass bills without proper negotiation. I saw this law being formed, discussed and finally approved. It was a one-man-show of Mr. Elkin, with very minor changes made along the way simply because Mr. Elkin refused to listen to any of the ideas offered by others. I have no doubt that many of the KM who voted for the law last night did so because they were “afraid” of what might happen to their bills if they don’t. I’ve seen KM argue passionately against this bill but at the end vote for it, without any apparent reason, other than their dependency in Mr. Elkin.
The man is dumb, megalomaniac and dangerous.

So now they’re saying people cannot express political opinions about not supporting the genocide in the occupied territories? That expressing an opinion against genocide is in fact the real crime?

Bob, there’s no legal definition of what constitutes a democracy, but all agree that it goes well beyond the mere act of voting, and must include elements such as free press. There’s also no definition of which voting system is more democratic, proportional or regional. What one can observe is that winner-takes-all seems to result in bodies were it’s easier to take decisions and small interest groups have less chance of acquiring influence well beyond their electoral size. At the same time – as you write – their influence may completely vanish.
An interesting extension to election is that of popular votes.
BTW, Switzerland may be as close to what you refer to as ‘ideal’, but also not without its problems.
The important element, however, is that the modern term of democracy emphasizes as much the importance of supporting minorities as that of deciding by voting.
And once voted, what does democracy say about the obligation of the winner to its pre-election pledges?
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I don’t think that Israel is the most democratic or moral country in the world.
I do think that it is a democracy, and under attack by mostly non-democratic countries and people. I also think that it starts having a dangerous influence by people that have a different understanding of what democracy means, some of them for religious reasons.
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The claim that Israel is a theocracy reflects either ignorance or bigotry, most probably both.
Orthodoxy is a minority in Israel, and so is its representation in the government. One will be hard pressed to find a more anti state-religious person than its vilified foreign minister.