V-Dem index cites government attacks on judiciary and ‘substantive decline’ in freedom from torture as reason Israel is now considered an ‘electoral democracy’ – in which elections are held but civil liberties and equality before the law are not safeguarded

As a result of the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul and repeated attacks by ministers on the country’s justice system, Israel has been downgraded from a “liberal democracy” to an “electoral democracy” by one of the world’s most important indices for assessing the nature of a country’s governmental system.