Abstract
The modern political philosophy, influenced by the Enlightenment and the ideal of individual liberty developed by Locke, considers that the political sphere must be independent from the religious sphere. In Israel, this separation between the State and the religion is not so clear. The Israel's declaration of independence explicitly defines Israel as "a Jewish state in the land of Israel". The religious and racial criteria are used in order to define Israel's identity. But, if Israel is a Jewish state, it cannot be a democratic one because a state employing racial criteria would be undeniably exclusive and a state based on religious principles would be by definition theocratic. According to Hans Kelsen, a country cannot be a liberal democracy without being a Rechtsstaat which literally means a "rule of law state "or "constitutional state".
