Israel Time for an Overhaul

Disgusted with the nation's political paralysis, many Israelis are demanding electoral reform. Here are some sensible options

Britain has Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park. The U.S. has an alternative press. But in Israel it is the parliament that serves as the country's platform for outrageous minority views. With only 1% of the vote -- just 22,000 ballots in 1988 -- needed to win a seat, the 120-member Knesset must give house room to a stunning variety of opinions in an exceptionally opinionated nation. Its 15 parties offer something for everyone: ultra- Orthodox rabbis who disdain Israeli statehood, Zionist leftists and Arab communists who support Palestinian statehood, and right-wing extremists who want to expel the Palestinians.

That diversity can...

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