In
order to assess the status of Israel in the international community, it
may be useful to look at the Middle East’s only democracy as “the Jew”
among nations. Privately admired for its pioneering spirit,
intelligence, aggressiveness and tenacity, the State of Israel has been
publicly condemned as racist, militant, xenophobic, uncompromising,
authoritarian and stiff-necked. During its century-long struggle for
nationhood and survival – following millenia of forced dispersion and
exile – the modern pre-state (yishuv) and state (medina)
of Israel has been far from perfect in its adherence to its own
professed elevated values and those of international law, human rights
and civil liberties (hereinafter described collectively as “the rule of
law”). But it is the thesis of this essay that no nation in the history
of the world which has faced comparable threats to its survival – both
external and internal – has ever made greater efforts at, and has ever
come closer to, achieving the high norms of the rule of law. Yet no
civilized nation in the history of the world – including totalitarian
and authoritarian regimes – has ever been as repeatedly, unfairly and
hypocritically condemned and criticized by the international community
as Israel has been over the years. The net result is that the gulf
between Israel’s actual record of compliance with the rule of law
and its perceived record of compliance with the rule of law is
greater than for any other nation. The underlying reason for this
misleading gulf is that Israel’s imperfections – and there are many –
have been greatly exaggerated by large segments of the
international community, the media, the academic world and public
opinion, while the comparative imperfections of other countries – indeed
sometimes their absolute perfections in the destruction of the rule of
law – have been minimized.
