Identity again and press freedom.

So now it is the freedom of the press. They make fun of Syria, in Haaretz, "No media like official media". Let's try to draw a picture of Israel. I think there are two circles of political authority in Israel, The larger is Zionism as a defining factor of the state. Whatever political parties disagree upon they have to agree to zionism. Zionism as such has a great moral and ideological authority to all Israelis. The smaller circle of authority is that which we find in every other country, ie. the political system of parties and their different interests, which are all secondary to zionism.
So if you try to analyse the Israeli system according to what you see in the internal circle, you find, a completely dynamic political system with democracy freedom of press and the whole lot. Where else in the middle east would you find criticism of those in power, corruption stories published by the press and even criticism of the army's actions all of this falls under the smaller circle.
In the larger circle, those in power are not individuals but rather an ideal, Zionism. So where in the Israeli society do you find comptetition with zionism. They do, indeed, have a one party system don't they. Think of it as if Red Russia allowed slight variations, so you would get pink, orange and maroon as acceptable.
SO the grass is not really greener on the other side. Or, as a Jewish South African teacher of mine used to say, it is only greener on the otherside because there is so much shit on the other side.