Israel has held three indecisive general elections in the past two years. Now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called a fourth, and Israelis are fed up with them

“We are the only democracy in the Middle East.” I used to be irritated when Israeli apologists spun that propaganda line. “What about Turkey?” I would retort. After all, both countries held regular elections, enjoyed a government responsible to parliament, a more or less free press and an independent judiciary.

Alas, that riposte is no longer available. Turkey, under the leadership since 2003 of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is now classed with the likes of Hungary and Poland, countries that apply a veneer of democratic procedure the better to conceal authoritarian rule. Turkey currently ranks 104th on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Democracy Index.

Israel, on the other hand, ranks 28th. So is all well? Not quite. While Turkey is categorised by the EIU as a “hybrid regime”, Israel is placed among so-called “flawed democracies”. France, Italy and the US fall into the same pigeonhole, so you might still say that’s not so bad. And clearly Israel is way ahead of Turkey.