CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The Mythology of Israeli Democracy

Photograph Source: צילום: איציק אדרי – CC BY 2.5

“Supporting the U.S.-Israeli relationship is quickly becoming a minority view among congressional Democrats, a shockingly seismic shift in a brief period of time.  You have Socialists running on an anti-American platform: ‘yes’ to Hamas and ‘no’ to supporting one of our closest democratic allies.” – Representative Josh Gottheimer, Dem/NJ, The New York Times, July 16, 2026

“Supporting the U.S.-Israeli relationship is quickly becoming a minority view among congressional Democrats, a shockingly seismic shift in a brief period of time.  You have Socialists running on an anti-American platform: ‘yes’ to Hamas and ‘no’ to supporting one of our closest democratic allies.”

– Representative Josh Gottheimer, Dem/NJ, The New York Times, July 16, 2026

There are numerous myths espoused by Jewish and non-Jewish supporters of Israel that deny the violent displacement of Palestinians from Israel in 1948 as well as support for the belief that the June 1967 six-day war was preemptive.  The worst of the mythologies deal with whether Palestinians left their homeland “voluntarily” in 1967—there was nothing voluntary about it.  The myth heard most often, however, is cited by members of Congress—the contention that Israel is a democracy—indeed, the “only democracy in the Middle East.”

Israel was not a true democracy from the outset in 1948, since more than one-fifth of Israel’s citizens were........

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