President Ron Lauder of the World Jewish Congress said on Monday that Israel as a Jewish democratic state is threatened by "the possible demise of the two-state solution" and "Israel’s capitulation to religious extremists and the growing disaffection of the Jewish diaspora."
Regarding the first threat, in a New York Times op-ed piece entitled "Israel’s Self-Inflicted Wounds", Lauder wrote, "If current trends continue, Israel will face a stark choice: Grant Palestinians full rights and cease being a Jewish state or rescind their rights and cease being a democracy." As for the second, "Many non-Orthodox Jews, myself included, feel that the spread of state-enforced religiosity in Israel is turning a modern, liberal nation into a semi-theocratic one," and "They are bewildered by the impression that Israel is abandoning the humanistic vision of Theodor Herzl and taking on a character that does not suit its own core values or the spirit of the 21st century."