Illiberalism in Israeli Public Opinion

Abstract

Israel has long identified as a democracy. However, scholars have expressed concerns that it is engaged in democratic backsliding (Kremnitzer and Shany 2020; Oren and Waxman 2022). Despite holding repeated elections, its liberal credentials are weakening, as the rule of law and judicial independence are threatened. Institutionally, then, it is fulfilling Dahl's (1971) contestation requirement for democracy but not the inclusiveness requirement. At the citizen level, there is questionable democratic culture (Inglehart and Welzel 2003). If the public supports electoral institutions but not liberal values, then the democracy's foundation is weak (Mounk 2018). This article analyzes recent Israeli public opinion data on political attitudes and regime preferences - the Israel National Election Survey (2022) and an original iPanel survey (2024) - with machine learning techniques. Both datasets demonstrate that while Israelis assert a preference for democracy, they are open to non-democratic alternatives and illiberal policies. The community is particularly divided on minority rights (i.e. Palestinian Citizen of Israel rights) and free expression/protest rights. As such, democracy is on shaky foundations in Israel in the face of the ongoing democratic recession.