Building A Jewish Democracy

Our Mission

To reinforce Israel’s character as a Jewish, democratic state,
Strengthen Israel’s democratically elected representative institutions,
Defend the liberty of public debate, and
Promote good citizenship in Israel based on commitment to
Jewish values, democracy, civil liberties and civic responsibility

Israel’s Crisis

Israel is in the throes of a crisis unparalleled since the aftermath of the 1973 war. Opinion surveys show that since the Second Lebanon War, confidence in all public institutions (not to mention political leaders) is at a nadir. Israelis perceive authority as being corrupt, incompetent, and remote from their concerns. Disengagement from Gaza in 2005 opened deep breaches within society that have yet to heal. Widespread skepticism about Israel’s institutions and public policies accelerate the erosion of patriotism and of Israelis’ willingness to contribute to the public good (as reflected, for example, in widespread draft-dodging among young people), just as the emergence of grave new external threats make domestic unity, patriotism and public spiritedness necessary as never before.

The Israel Policy Center believes that public spiritedness and public morale in Israel can be restored through the renewed commitment of citizens and public institutions to core values: Jewish values and identity, civil participation and representative democracy. Our work is based on these core principles:

1. Israeli public institutions’ commitment to Jewish values and identity should be strengthened, through legislation, if appropriate. This includes a Constitution for Israel.

2. Citizenship and civics education in Israel should be founded on renewed commitment to Jewish identity, open government and democracy.

3. Liberty and democracy cannot be preserved by making their preservation the job of unelected, elite institutions such as the courts. They require the active commitment and participation of ordinary citizens and of their elected representatives in the Knesset. The Knesset’s authority and capacity to govern should be reinforced.

4. Israeli public institutions with the power to affect domestic civil liberties, such as law enforcement authorities, the IDF and the GSS, need to operate with much greater transparency and accountability.

The Israel Policy Center’s Programs

The Israel Policy Center seeks to implement these principles by operating three programs:

A. Advising and consulting with members of the Knesset, especially the Knesset Law and Constitution Committee on constitutional affairs, including but not limited to advice on how to draft an Israeli constitution founded on Jewish and democratic values.

The Knesset has been actively considering a constitution for Israel since 2003.  The leaders of the Israel Policy Center have acted as formal advisers to the Knesset’s constitutional project from the beginning, and have given critical advice to MKs from a wide range of political parties who seek to craft a constitution that preserve Israel’s character as a Jewish and at the same time a democratic state.




In addition, the Knesset is constantly bombarded by piecemeal private and governmental legislative proposals that would alter the structure of Israeli government or change the balance between civil liberties and government authority in favor of the latter. Many of these proposals are ill-conceived and some pose serious threats to Israel’s liberties or to its character as a Jewish state.  The Israel Policy Center seeks to advise Knesset members on this bewildering array of legislation, to anticipate and present MKs with position papers on these proposals while MKs are deciding their positions and to help MKs craft legislative and constitutional proposals that strengthen civil liberties, transparent government, and Jewish values in the public realm.




B. Documenting abuses of civil liberties by Israel’s law enforcement authorities and other official bodies, reporting them to the public and the Knesset, and advising Knesset members on legislative initiatives to increase transparency and accountability for the redress of abuses of civil liberties.

Recently the Israel Policy Center identified, exposed, and largely redressed the IDF’s policy of subjecting draftees to political interrogations on the basis of their religious affiliation. We are advising MKs on ways to reform portions of Israel’s criminal code currently used to criminalize political expression or dissent.

See the Israel Policy Center’s landmark Civil Rights Reports on our homepage.

C. Developing degree programs in civics for teachers of civics in Israeli high schools.

The objective is to develop civics programs that a) ground good citizenship in Jewish values and identity, and b) ground democracy in the Anglo-Saxon tradition of limited government and the primacy of certain rights. Standard Israeli civics curricula serve neither of these objectives well.

IPC is currently collaborating in a pilot program (24 academic credits, leading to a certificate) with Efrata Teachers Training College in Jerusalem intended to train civics teachers for Israel’s religious public school sector. The program is aimed at both “ordinary” teachers’ training students and a special group:  Rabbinical students who get teaching degrees and go on to become role models and leaders in religious high schools. In the future Efrata, together with IPC, plans to open a Bachelors of Education program in political science.




It is particularly important to start with the religious sector, and to develop a program suited to its culture, because the greatest relative erosion in civic commitment has taken place in this sector, which was deeply alienated by the disengagement of 2005. However the object is to train teachers who can go on to become civics instructors in any high school in the country. 

IPC also plans to engage a consultant to help develop curricula for teachers and high schools in the general, i.e. nonreligious population, for use in general (nonreligious) teachers’ training colleges.