Israel: A Democracy in Danger?

From the streets of Tel-Aviv to the courthouses, from civic protests to the hills of the West Bank, ‘Israel: A Democracy in Danger?’ follows former military officials, legal experts, journalists, families of hostages, activists, and ordinary civilians who refuse to watch the country’s democratic foundations erode in silence.

Long portrayed as ‘the only standing democracy in the Middle East’, Israel is facing the most serious, existential crisis in its history. The shock caused by the 7th October attacks has triggered a series of reactions from an authoritarian government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu —the longest-serving leader in the country’s history—is now held hostage by a far-right that is more radical than ever. As the world gradually turns its gaze away from the tragedy in Gaza, and no political or civilian solution is found there, the consequences are fragmenting Israeli society. 

The prolonged state of war has accelerated dynamics already at work: concentration of executive power, weakening of institutional checks and balances, and marginalization of dissenting voices. Under the guise of national security, exceptional decisions are tending to become entrenched over time, blurring the line between temporary measures and structural transformations of the regime. The judiciary, the police, and the military find themselves at the center of unprecedented tensions, caught between operational imperatives and democratic demands.

In the public sphere, criticism remains formally possible, but its social and political cost has grown heavier. Protests, independent investigations, and calls for transparency are increasingly perceived as obstacles to national unity rather than as ordinary mechanisms of political accountability. This reframing of dissent profoundly alters the implicit rules of democratic debate.

The protestors we follow each bear witness to the tensions running through Israeli society today: weakening checks and balances, violations of the freedom of expression, polarisation of public debate and the questioning of values which once shaped the state of Israel. Through protests, legal battles, and civic initiatives, these men and women keep democratic debate alive despite fear and division.