[ April 26, 2024 ]
A think tank based in Turkey has found that Israel is now the only “free country” in the Mideast — that Turkey no longer fits the bill.
Specifically, Freedom House found that in an evaluation of 195 countries, Israel scored 79 on the freedom scale.
Three Arab countries, meanwhile, were rated the “worst of the worst” in terms of repression.
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In a related flashback, nine people were arrested in May 2017 outside the Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C., during a protest that turned violent:
World Israel News has more on the latest, though:
The Washington-based think tank Freedom House, a US-government funded NGO that assesses the degree of political freedoms and civil liberties in 195 countries, issued its annual report Tuesday. Freedom House evaluates countries on a range of parameters and gave Israel a score of 79 (out of 100), meaning that it is considered a free country.
Israel remains one of only 45% of surveyed nations judged to have a free society.
Israel dropped a single point over last year, due, according to the report, to “new legislation aimed at tightening restrictions on critical nongovernmental organizations and denying them access to international support.” This refers to the Knesset’s 2016 law forcing NGOs that receive most of their funding from foreign governments to openly declare who is giving them money.
Three Arab countries are among the “worst of the worst” repressive regimes: Syria, the only nation that earned a negative rating, and Saudi Arabia and Libya, each of which scored a paltry 9 out of 100. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip was not much ahead, coming in with a score of 12. While also not free, the PA administration in Judea and Samaria received 28 points.
Turkey was one country that was actually downgraded from “partly free” to “not free,” joining the 25% of nations in the world now found in that category. The report noted several factors for this slide including, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “intensified crackdown on his perceived opponents that began after a failed 2016 coup attempt. In addition to its dire consequences for detained Turkish citizens, shuttered media outlets, and seized businesses, the chaotic purge has become intertwined with an offensive against the Kurdish minority, which in turn has fueled Turkey’s diplomatic and military interventions in neighboring Syria and Iraq.”
The report also mentioned “a deeply flawed constitutional referendum that centralized power in the presidency, arbitrary prosecutions of rights activists… and continued purges of state employees, all of which have left citizens hesitant to express their views on sensitive topics.”
In general, the global index reported that 71 countries registering a decline in political rights and civil liberties and only 35 improved their score from the previous year.
Even the United States dropped from 89 to 86, due to “growing evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 elections, violations of basic ethical standards by the new administration, and a reduction in government transparency,” the report said.
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17 Comments
6 years ago
53 Mosques and Churches Vandalized in Israel Since 2009, but Only 9 Indictments Filed
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/53-mosques-churches-vandalized-in-israel-only-9-indictments-filed-1.5452856
6 years ago
Reply to
Kat Mandu
Your comment is rather OT, I would say. What do you make of the lack of indictments?
I cannot get to your article (Haaretz doesn’t have a certificate that meets my firewall’s standards). But I will hazard a guess that these incidents, deplorable as they are, did not involve loss of life or even casualties. As such, the Israeli police might reasonably not place a high priority on them.
Say, did any of these mosques spew out venom about killing Jews and Christians? (you know, that is common in the Moslem world). Just wondering.
But this does prove how much more tolerant Saudi Arabia is than Israel, doesn’t it? After all, I also will guess no churches or synagoges have been vandalized in the Saudi Arabia since the the nation was created. I do hope you are keeping matters in reasonable perspective, Kat.
6 years ago
Reply to
Kat Mandu
The destruction of the churches, and accompanying vandalism .. was perpetrated by moslems, the vilest of ALL creatures.
6 years ago
Reply to
Kat Mandu
Vandalizing a mosque according to brain dead muslims, consists of an unbeliever or unclean animal walking by it. Reacting to muslim outrage is a waste of time, it is more fun to outrage them.
6 years ago
Reply to
Mahou Shoujo
I fear deadly reprisal against the Kurds.
These brave Kurds deserve America’s support.
6 years ago
Reply to
Ron Cole
They are muslims, but they are more or less inclined to stay where they are, dealing with their lives, not constantly trying to control others. They have been controlled too long, they know what muslim oppression is all about.
6 years ago
Reply to
Ron Cole
Um, the Iraqi muslum kurds are allah about persecuting Christians and islamic blasphemy laws.
6 years ago
ISLAM prepares for all out WAR,…. while the West worries about the weather ?!!
6 years ago
Erdogan is a Caliph wannabe.
6 years ago
Reply to
R. Arandas
from your lips to G-d’s ears. Some say he will be The anti-Christ. His country not only has the “city where satan dwells” but is/ has been known as Gog & Magog& Mashak thruout history.
6 years ago
If Christians cannot sound church bells and Jews are prohibited from sounding the shofar publicly but the adhan bleated out its death knell 5 times a day how free was Turkey?
6 years ago
The USA needs to leave Turkey and tell Russia they can have it.
6 years ago
NATO should move from Turkey to Israel.
6 years ago
Reply to
John Rogers
NATO should just expel the Turks from Anatolia completely, it never really belonged to them in the first place.
6 years ago
I’m not a fan of US gov’t sending money overseas, but I believe that if Israel falls to pisslam, a new cRaPiphate will emboldem these s-heads.
6 years ago
Bibi Tells Davos Dimwits to Fix Iran Nuke Deal
Jan 24, 2018 @ 17:43
https://www.debka.com/mivzak/netanyahu-stresses-world-leaders-need-improve-iran-nuclear-deal/
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spent Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos in a round of meetings for promoting the need to improve and revise the 2015 nuclear with Iran, as per President Trump’s condition for staying in. He also stressed that Israel would act if needed to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in Syria. Chancellor Angela Merkel was receptive to his proposal for substantive, rather than cosmetic, changes in the nuclear accord, of which she is one of the six signatories. Netanyahu also held meetings on the sidelines of the forum with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, Swiss President Alain Berset and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev. Thursday, he is scheduled to talk with President Donald Trump.
