Israel defines itself as both the Jewish state and a democracy. The Declaration of Establishment of the State of Israel, signed on 14 May 1948, explicitly calls for “the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate,… in their own sovereign State”; it also stresses Israel's commitment to democratic principles including elections, social and political equality, and “freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture” (Israel 1948). Israel lacks a constitution, …