Rationale

On November 4, 1995 Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in Tel Aviv at the close of a demonstration that called for peace and protested against violence. Like most Israelis I was shocked and deeply disturbed. The Israeli democracy is a fragile democracy. Authoritarian regimes surround it. Israel survived six wars and two Palestinian uprisings in 55 years of independence. It is hard to maintain normality under such a hostile environment. In addition, Israel suffers from internal schisms: between Israeli-Palestinians and Israeli-Jews inside the Green Line; between Palestinians under the Palestinian Authority and Jews; between orthodox Jews and secular Jews; between Sephardim and Ashkenazim; between cities and kibbutzim; between the ideological right and the ideological left, and between socialism and capitalism.

Yet, it seems that the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin constituted a milestone in the short history of Israel. The tragedy compelled many Israelis to think harder than before about the society in which we live, and about the vulnerability of the unripe Israeli democracy. After collecting myself I realized that there is a pressing need to establish a center for democratic studies. I believe that the values of democracy need to be enshrined within the community, and that the best way to advance this cause is through education. The Ministry of Education does not do enough in this sphere. For better and for worse, for many years its heads focused on more Judaism and less democratic studies. As someone who cares deeply about Israel, I realized that it is about time to do rather than to talk. We should invest our energies to promote liberty, tolerance, equality, justice, peace and multiculturalism in our troubled society.

Unfortunately, no such center exists in Israel. The only organization that is active in this sphere is the Israel Democracy Institute, a private organization that is active as a lobby group in the Knesset to advance laws that coincide with the institute’s worldview. No organization is working on the grassroots level: education in primary schools, in high schools and even in the university level. Israeli democracy is saturated with racism and hostility toward the foreigner. The values of liberty, tolerance and equality are not part and parcel of the Israeli citizenry. Quite the opposite. The basic Jewish value of Rabbeinu Hillel: “What is hateful to you do not do unto your fellow people” gave way to contrary notions. Israeli democracy is under stress for many years and the sense of a besieged nation undermined the liberal-democratic values of do not harm others, and respect for others.

Furthermore, the majority of people in Israel take democracy for granted, fail to understand the values of democracy, or contest democracy. Bearing in mind that twenty per cent of the population are immigrants from the former Soviet Union where no democracy existed, and that large segments within Israeli society wish to transform democracy into theocracy, or preach one state for all Jews and Palestinians on the western side of the Jordan River, which would effectively mean the end of Israel as we know it, make us realize how vulnerable Israeli democracy is. Indeed, repeated public polls have shown that some thirty percent of Israeli citizenry wish to transform democracy into "a government based on strong hand", limit free expression and freedom of the press so as to have "better control".

Democracy should be nurtured and sustained through active participation and through constant efforts on the part of the citizenry who care for the society in which they live. The participatory mechanisms need to be strengthened, otherwise the decision making process will be left in the hands of partisan politicians whose interests do not necessarily coincide with the interests of the people.

I have been studying liberalism and democracy during the past twenty years. I believe I know something about democracy and about the problems that Israeli society is facing (see my short biography). I dedicated most of my life to work in the public sphere, doing for my community. Inter alia, I was the Chairperson of a large voluntary organization that had more than 2,000 members, including ministers and members of the Knesset. I am determined to make this much-needed University of Haifa Center for Democratic Studies a successful endeavor. I would very much cherish your support.