Israel is often hailed as the only democracy in the Middle East—a phrase repeated with the kind of reverence that suggests this status grants it moral immunity. But in the face of recent events, one might reasonably ask: so what? Democracy is not a shield against criticism, nor a licence for pre-emptive violence. If anything, we should expect more—greater restraint, more accountability, not less. When even commentators as ideologically opposed as Peter Hitchens and Piers Morgan are raising alarm about Israel’s actions, perhaps it is time to move beyond slogans and examine what democracy actually means in practice.
The events of 7 October 2024 aside, it is surely ironic that the only democracy is the one bombing everyone else and pre-emptively at that. When media figures as disparate as Peter Hitchens and Piers Morgan are questioning Israel’s actions, with Morgan wondering if they have not gone a tad over the top – especially in Gaza – it is surely time for thinking people to start thinking.
Israel is pulverising Gaza as a punishment – nothing else; they have not the slightest chance of eliminating Hamas and with each missile that hits home they must raise an incalculable number of Hamas supporters among the orphans, widows and widowers who survive. Israel is bombing Iran because, it claims, they have nuclear weapons. Yet, US Intelligence says they do not and Trump – always a critic of Iran – disagrees and is on the verge of joining in.
Israel is bombing Lebanon due to its Hezbollah faction who have been active against Israel in all sorts of ways. Israel deployed an exquisite technological attack on the Hezbollah leadership cleverly targeting mobile phones pagers. But – and I have corresponded with a credible eyewitness – they continue to destroy homes and neighbourhoods in Lebanon.
But we are constantly reminded, they are a democracy, as if that excused all and any action against anyone they perceive as a threat. I suppose, part of the message is, that we should be very glad they are not a dictatorship; just imagine how much damage they would be doing then.
I hope to visit but have never been to Israel. However, I have been to most countries in the Middle East. As a Christian, I think Islam is an abomination and I loathe some aspects of the way of life even in some of the less extremely Islamic places such as Bahrain and even Oman. But one thing I have always noted is how happy people seem, and the Saudis are amongst the happiest and friendliest of them all. They don’t seem to be pining for democracy, society is stable and, while punishment for crime is somewhat harsh, they are not aborting millions of babies a year or euthanising their older population.
Which segues nicely to the oldest democracy in the world and the ageing Mother of Parliaments. Just an hour or so before I started to write this UK MPs voted – albeit narrowly – to support ‘assisted dying’. Really, it is assisted or coerced suicide at best and murder at worst. Only earlier in the week, UK MPs voted to allow abortion up to the point of conception. Something that should rightly be called infanticide—or just plain murder.
The process which has led to these outrageous decisions by the UK Parliament is democracy. Democracy, in all its demonic splendour, implementing the will of the powerful and elite against the most vulnerable members of our society at either end of life. In Orwellian doublespeak ‘murder’ has become ‘compassion’, ‘healthcare’ has become ‘murder’ and ‘childbirth’ has become ‘child death’, if a mother changes her mind at the last minute.
The parallel between the Middle East’s only democracy and our own system is obvious. One is raining down death on thousands of innocent people while the other is administering it in a hospital bed.
If democracy can be used to justify mass killing abroad and the elimination of the most vulnerable at home, then perhaps it is not democracy at all—but a corrupted version of it, twisted to serve the powerful. When ‘compassion’ becomes code for euthanasia and ‘choice’ is weaponised against unborn children, we must ask not only what democracy is doing, but what we are allowing it to become. It is time to stop blindly invoking democracy as a moral high ground and start interrogating what it actually delivers, for whom, and at what cost
Roger Watson is a retired academic nurse who lives in the UK.
He is currently engaged in a range of professional consultancies in the UK, Europe and China. He writes regularly for several outlets including The Daily Sceptic, The European Conservative, Country Squire Magazine and The New Conservative.
