DIVERGING VALUES:

More than 12 million people live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Roughly half are Jews and half are Arabs. Arabs who live in Israel and who hold Israeli citizenship can vote in Israeli elections. The millions of Arabs who live in the territories Israel conquered in 1967 cannot. Jewish citizens of Israel vote in Israeli elections no matter where they live.

These facts lead some observers to question Israel's commitment to democracy. Some go so far as to attribute declining American-Jewish support for Israel to Israel's treatment of Palestinians. But the changing relationship of American Jews to Israel goes beyond the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It stems from American Jews' growing recognition that democracy means something very different to Americans and Israelis. American Jews see liberalism, the idea that an individual's civil rights must be protected from the government, as a necessary foundation of any democratic society. Israeli democracy doesn't place the same emphasis on individual rights.

From the earliest years of the state, Israeli leaders cared more about establishing a strong government than about protecting the rights of individuals. Israel's founders -- including its first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion -- expressed reservations about liberal values. So today, Israel has no separation of church and state or acceptance of pluralistic religious expression (for example, the state rabbinic authority recognizes conversions only by Orthodox rabbis). Other policies challenge free expression, such as Minister Miri Regev's proposed Cultural Loyalty Law, which defunds cultural institutions and programs that memorialize Naqba Day (the Palestinian name for Israeli Independence Day).

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