From: Inside Story
Israel: A ‘democratic’ violator of rights?
As Israel severs ties with UN human rights bodies, we ask if it can lay claim to being the only democracy in the region.
28 Mar 2012
![Protesters take part in a sit-in in Toronto, Canada, last year to mark Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in Texas, two years after the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves elsewhere in the United States [File: Carlos Osorio/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2020-06-19T000000Z_2136904116_RC2KCH9MRTNV_RTRMADP_3_MINNEAPOLIS-POLICE-JUNETEENTH-TORONTO.jpg?resize=170%2C113)
![An Afghan soldier on top of a vehicle outside the UN compound in Guzara district of Herat province [Hoshang Hashimi/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/000_9HP7XW.jpg?resize=170%2C113)
![Lebanon's military warned that its forces would shoot at anyone 'carrying a gun on the streets of Khaldeh' [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-08-01T172852Z_580698413_RC2HWO9VEVDZ_RTRMADP_3_LEBANON-SECURITY-CLASHES.jpg?resize=170%2C113)
![Barshim of Qatar, left, and Tamberi of Italy did not have a failed attempt until they attempted to clear the 2.39-metre mark [Christian Petersen/Pool/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/000_9J47NW.jpg?resize=170%2C113)
As Israel severs ties with UN human rights bodies, we ask if it can lay claim to being the only democracy in the region.