Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks with Mansour Abbas, leader of the Islamist party Raam at the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 13, 2021. Photo: EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP

Foreign Affairs, a non-profit publication that examines American foreign policy and global affairs, recently compared the Middle East’s only democracy to some of the region’s most egregious human rights violators.

The article by Matthew Duss, ‘”The War in Ukraine Calls for a Reset of Biden’s Foreign Policy,” argues that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has precipitated a geopolitical turning point, and discusses how the United States should respond to this shift by furthering democratic values worldwide.

Duss suggests that the Biden administration has mistakenly framed the war in Ukraine as a battle between democracy and autocracy:

It is also unconvincing in light of Washington’s own support for many autocratic governments, particularly (but certainly not only) in the Middle East. The Biden administration’s politically expedient coddling of repressive partners such as Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates doesn’t just undermine its democracy and human rights agenda among global audiences — it makes a mockery of it.” [Emphasis added]

Comparing Israel to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE is absurd.

For one thing, Israel is the only country in the region where all of its citizens — Jews and Arabs alike — are guaranteed full and equal rights under the law.

Therefore, we must assume that Duss’ decision to lump Israel in with some of the world’s worst human rights violators is connected to the widely-debunked “apartheid” libel that falsely accuses Israel of maintaining a system of racial dominance over Palestinians.

Yet, as we pointed out in an article earlier this year:

Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, the vast majority of Palestinians have been governed by either the Palestinian Authority [PA} in the West Bank or Hamas — which, mind you, is considered a terrorist group by most Western countries — in Gaza. The PA, specifically, was created with the support of the international community, with Palestinian leaders willingly agreeing to adopt partial autonomy while granting Israel security control in some disputed areas.

Israel is a country where Arabs serve as Supreme Court Justices, fighter pilots, Members of Knesset, artists, athletes, in fact everything that Israelis do, Arab Israelis do…”

In stark contrast, Saudi Arabia executes dozens of prisoners each year; cracks down on free speech; fails to protect religious freedom; and oppresses both women and sexual minorities.

Likewise, the UAE is also well-known for its abysmal human rights record, enforcing oppressive gender laws; severely limiting free speech; and it has been accused of torturing prisoners.

In Egypt, opposition politicians and activists are subject to arbitrary detention; LGBT+ citizens face widespread discrimination and persecution; and enforced disappearances of detainees routinely occur.

Moreover, Duss’ assertion that Israel is an autocratic regime is undermined by the latest annual edition of the Democracy Index by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which placed Israel above the likes of the United States, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Scoring 7.97 out of 10, Israel was ranked 23rd out of 167 countries, which were assessed based on their electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. This is compared to Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, which all scored below 3 out of 10, and were ranked 132nd, 134th, and 152nd, respectively.

It is difficult to believe that, had Matthew Duss been aware of or cared about these salient facts, he would have nonetheless suggested that Israel is a “repressive” and “autocratic” regime.