Articles

Will the Israeli Supreme Court's ruling that the Tal Law is unconstitutional really guarantee that the burden of Israel's defense will be shared equally by the country's citizens? IDI's Prof. Yedidia Stern warns that this ruling may actually hinder the integration of the Haredi community into Israeli society rather than promoting it.

Israeli journalist Yair Lapid's announced intention to enter politics sparked both excitement and speculation as to whether he planned to start his own party or to join one of the existing parties. While IDI Former President and Founder Dr. Arye Carmon applauds the entrance of talented, committed people into politics, he stresses the need for them to join one of the large, existing parties in order to stabilize the political system. 

On January 3, 2012, IDI published an advertisement on the front page of Haaretz calling on Prime Minister Netanyahu to reconsider the "Bar Association Bill."

In an op-ed in Israel Hayom, IDI researcher Adv. Haim Zicherman argues that a temporary extension of the Tal Law would help the growing trend of ultra-Orthodox enlistment in the IDF and would enable volunteering for civilian service to continue.

On Friday, January 27, 2012, IDI Former President and Founder Dr. Arye Carmon delivered the keynote address at a ceremony convened by the Massuah Institute in commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Addressing the entire diplomatic corps assigned to Israel, Dr. Carmon shared memories of an encounter with a Holocaust survivor that had a profound impact on his life, and contributed to his development of a curriculum entitled “Teaching the Holocaust – An Education towards Values." 

Recently, the findings of the third Guttman-AVI CHAI report—A Portrait of Israeli Jews: Beliefs, Observance, and Values of Israeli Jews—were presented to the public. The findings have drawn much media coverage because they revealed that an overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews believe in God. In an op-ed from <em>Haaretz</em>, IDI Senior researcher Yair Sheleg responds to columnists who were alarmed by the findings regarding belief in God, and argues that what is really of concern is the inverse relationship between this belief and belief in democratic values.

As State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss approaches the end of his term, IDI Former President and Founder Dr. Arye Carmon takes issue with him for overstepping the bounds of his authority and for his excessive media presence, in an op-ed originally published in Hebrew in Yedioth Ahronoth on January 31, 2012. In particular, Dr. Carmon singles out Lindenstrauss's statements that the Comptroller's office is the "fourth branch of government" and that "everything is auditable." 

The Israeli public is increasingly demanding a more effective system of government. In this op-ed from Israel Hayom (February 2, 2012), IDI Former President and Founder Dr. Arye Carmon asserts that reforming the system of government is the only answer to stabilizing the executive so that a party that has been voted into power can actually govern, and points to two types of necessary change: structural and perceptual.

Israeli society has seen a recent push to exclude women from the public sphere. In this blog entry, translated from the Hebrew, IDI Senior Researcher Yair Sheleg, argues against the recent turn toward extremism, calling on Israelis from all camps to respond to these developments responsibly.

In an op-ed from Haaretz, IDI research fellow Yair Sheleg responds to settler leader Benny Katzover’s positions on the Jewish and democratic nature of the State of Israel, and argues that Israel should not prefer either of these two identities and should view its Jewish and democratic nature as two manifestations of human dignity.

In an op-ed originally published in The Jerusalem Post on January 11, 2012, IDI Vice President Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer and Attorney Lina Saba discuss the administrative restraining orders recently issued against 12 Jewish activists involved in "price tag" activity in Judea and Samaria. What is the legal basis for using these measures and what are the implications of their use?

On January 10, 2012 an amendment to the Prevention of Infiltration Act passed its second and third reading in the Knesset. In passing this act, the government—and the Knesset—chose to walk down a path that is incompatible with the protection of human freedom that is embedded in Israeli constitutional law and that is incompatible with Israel’s obligations under international refugee conventions. Below is a condensed version of an article on this matter that was written by Adv. Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler for the IDI Hebrew website.

The issue of the exclusion of women and their marginalization in Israeli society has dominated the media in Israel during the past few weeks. In this article, which was originally published in The Seventh Eye on December 25, 2011, Dr. Debora Lederman-Danieli argues that the media's struggle against the phenomenon of the degradation of women requires much more than disingenuous, populist outcries.

Why is the marginalization of women in Israeli society and their exclusion from the public sphere on the rise in Israeli society? In this op-ed, IDI Vice President of Research Prof. Yedidia Stern focuses on the religious Zionist community and the power struggle to determine who will control the public sphere and the space of the religious community.

The press is traditionally known as the guardian of democracy. In this article from The Seventh Eye Journal, however, Editor Uzi Benziman surveys trends in the Israeli media and asserts that Israeli journalism in 2012 is an ideological, agenda-driven journalism that is rife with intentional bias.

Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer and Attorney Amir Fuchs explain why they see the "Bar Association Bill" as undermining the rule of law. This bill would change the way that the Bar Association's representatives to the Judicial Appointments Committee are selected, and would apply retroactively.

In honor of International Human Rights Day, IDI interviewed Kadima MK Shlomo Molla, who has been involved in drafting the Basic Law: Social Rights and heads the Knesset Lobby for the Struggle Against Racism and the Knesset Caucus for Civil Equality and Pluralism.

In honor of International Democracy Day, the IDI Hebrew website interviewed Dr. Hannah Kehat, founder of the Religious Women's Forum Kolech, on the status of women in Israel today.

IDI International Advisory Council Member Prof. Vernon Bogdonor, Research Professor at the Institute of Contemporary History at King’s College in London, shares his thoughts on the Arab Spring in an op-ed originally published in The Jewish Chronicle.

A paper that reviews the state of research on health inequality between Jews and Arabs in Israel in order to develop a comprehensive research program that will contribute to the understanding of the factors leading to inequality.

Does Israel have an obligation to defend the rights of human rights NGOs under international law? IDI Senior Fellow Prof. Yuval Shany discusses the international legal framework relevant to this issue, the duties to respect and ensure human rights, the obligation to offer effective remedies to victims, and the specific obligation to defend human rights defenders.

On November 13, 2011 the Knesset Ministerial Committee on Legislation voted in favor of two private bills designed to impose restrictions on foreign funding of NGOs in Israel. In the following op-ed, published prior to the Committee's meeting, Attorney Shiri Krebs warns of the dangers of these bills.

The proposed "Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People" has the support of one third of the members of Knesset. In this op-ed, which was originally published in Hebrew in Yedioth Ahronoth, IDI Vice President of Research Prof. Yedidia Z. Stern, who is deeply committed to the Jewish nature of the State of Israel, warns that the shift from defining Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state" to a "Jewish state with a democratic regime" is not a semantic shift, but a seismic change.  

In this op-ed, Dafna Gruber, Head of IDI's Young Leadership Forum, reflects on the wave of social protest in the summer of 2011, and points to what it reveals about the nature of young people in Israel today. 

The percentage of Arabs in the labor market is lower than that of other groups in Israeli society and is among the lowest in the world. Because this discrepancy is based on national-religious schisms, raising the Arab employment rate has important economic, social, and political-national implications. Find out more about this issue in this report, which was submitted by IDI's Arab-Jewish Forum to the Committee for Socio-Economic Change headed by Professor Manuel Trajtenberg.

A research study conducted under the auspices of IDI’s Arab-Jewish Relations project on wage gaps between Jews and Arabs in the Israeli labor market in 1997–2009.

The terms of the Gilad Shalit swap presented Israel with a conflict between the interests of an individual and the interests of the collective. Prof. Yedidia Z. Stern discusses the factors that contribute to Israel's extreme sensitivity to captives, warns of the dangers of choosing the individual over the collective, and calls for steps to be taken to ensure that Israel will have firm guidelines for such situations in the future.

On September 25, 2011, IDI presented the 2011 Israeli Democracy Index to President Shimon Peres. Prof. Tamar Hermann, the director of IDI's Guttman Center and co-author of the Index, discusses the findings of this year's study in this video interview.

The period of the Jewish High Holidays is a time of reflection and introspection. In this op-ed, originally published in Yedioth Ahronoth on September 26, 2011, IDI Vice President of Research Prof. Yedidia Z. Stern reflects on the gap that emerged between the agenda of the Knesset and the agenda of the Israeli public during 2010-2011 and expresses hope that the message of the social-economic protest of the summer of 2011 will point the Knesset in the right direction in the year to come.

The establishment of the Trajtenberg Committee was a significant and substantial step in the social justice movement, but many found the Committee’s recommendations to be disappointing. IDI Senior Fellow Dr. Momi Dahan shares his views on the Committee's recommendations.