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Comment by JumpCrisscross | Hacker News Reader

> Calling for the destruction of the only Jewish state is hate speech

I’m generally pro-Israel, but I don’t agree with this at all. Israel is a theocracy, and an increasingly right-wing one at that. Arguing against even theocracies in principal would technically argue for dissolving Israel as a Jewish state; I would hardly call that hate speech.

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Huh? Israel is a parliamentary democracy not a theocracy. It is more irreligious than USA/Canada and plenty of Europe:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_irrelig...

There are at least 5 parties in the ruling coalition that have specific religious orthodoxy as primary parts of their platform.

I agree that the traditional definition of theocracy is probably overkill when describing the Israeli government but specific religious beliefs drive politics there well out of proportion to the beliefs of the constituents.

In a way that feels out of line with secular western democracy at times.

Israel likes to say this, but it is not true. The hasidic jews especially enjoy rights that other Israelis just dont have, and they have a large amount of control over the government.

It is true… that is literally their governmental type. There are religious parties in Israel (just like the religious are largely in the GOP in the USA) but that doesn’t make it theocratic… unless you bend the definition of theocracy beyond all meaning.

That is all not to mention my second point which is that Israel isn’t even a particularly religious country compared to the west.

Theres no reason democracies cant be theocracies. You can come up with a pained definition to make it so, but if everyone votes for the religious party I think most would agree that thats a theocracy.

That just plainly isn’t what a theocracy is though- by your definition the US could easily be called a theocracy for most of its history and even today. Beyond that you continue to ignore my other point - the people in Israel are less religious than the US/Canada and much of Europe. They are a less religious democracy than the US and yet you continue to call it what it just patently isn’t?

> Israel is a parliamentary democracy not a theocracy

Israel legally defines itself in law as the nation-state of the Jewish people [1].

It isn’t a textbook theocracy, but neither is Iran. Elected governments with theocratic characteristics?

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_Law:_Israel_as_the_Nat...

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