Washington Post: Israel ‘Suppressing Its Majority Population?’

Criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a legitimate activity in the opinion pages of a newspaper. Indeed, Israelis themselves can be some of Netanyahu’s fiercest critics.

So while David Rothkopf’s attack on Netanyahu in the Washington Post and comparison with US President Donald Trump may be debatable, it is not beyond the rough and tumble of political discourse.

However, Rothkopf goes one step further in his critique of Israel as a state:

What is Israel’s “majority population” and is Israel suppressing it in order to survive?

According to Israeli population statistics for 2017, the Jewish population makes up 6,484,000 (74.7%); 1,808,000 (20.8%) are Arabs; and, those identified as “others” (non-Arab Christians, Baha’i, etc) make up 4.5% of the population (388,000 people).

So Israel’s majority population is clearly Jewish and it would be virtually impossible to argue that they are being suppressed. As for the other approximately 25% of the population, they are also equal under Israeli law, enjoying the civil, humanitarian and political rights that Israeli democracy bestows on all of its citizens.

To be clear, the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are not Israeli citizens and are not counted in Israeli population statistics.

As for the “selective application” of democracy, it is the Palestinians living under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza who have been denied a democratic vote for their leadership, as President Mahmoud Abbas is currently in the twelfth year of a four year term while legislative elections were last held in 2006.

So what exactly is Rothkopf critical of? The state of Israeli democracy? Israeli policy towards the Palestinians? Either way, his throwaway line is ill-thought out, grossly inaccurate and a slur on Israel.

Opinion pages are for opinions based on grounded facts but not for spreading falsehoods. You can send your considered comments to the Washington Post – [email protected]. You can find out more about the Washington Post’s requirements for publishing letters here, and tips on good letter-writing at HR’s own slideshow.