How do Israel’s protests impact the Middle East? -analysis

The ongoing protests in Israel and also the court ruling and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dismissal of Arye Deri, have been of limited interest to the Middle East. This is not to say that no one is paying attention, but in general, the state media apparatus of most Middle East countries is not interested in spreading a story about courts, democracy and protests. This isn’t 2011, there is no interest in another “Arab spring” and Israel’s politics are far removed from the processes of the region. 

With that in mind, it’s worth considering what kind of low-level influence the protests may have in the region. First of all, in Turkey the ruling party has set elections for May. The AKP party is an authoritarian ruling party that has jailed its opponents for “insults” and has shut down most independent media. It has also worked to reconcile with Israel in the last year. Turkey’s current politics has some commonalities with Israel. Turkey has become more religious and right-wing, in a manner similar to Israel. In other commonalities with Israel, the ruling party has been accused of trying to hijack democratic institutions, whether the judiciary or the media. READ MORE