The news here in the last few days has been depressing for those of us in Tel Aviv (and other parts of the country) who dream of living in a liberal democracy. Early this evening six people were stabbed by an ultra-Orthodox opponent of the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem. The stabbings were allegedly perpetrated by the same person who attacked the Gay Pride Parade 10 years ago. Sadly, the accused had been released from jail just three weeks ago after serving nearly 10 years in jail.
Tonight’s tragedy followed the events of Tuesday and Wednesday at the settlement of Beit El, where soldiers were assaulted by settlers when they came to dismantle two buildings, operating under the direct orders of the Supreme Court. In addition, in reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision, one of the members of the Knesset from HaBayit Hayehudi (the Jewish Home) Party stated that the Supreme Court should be dismantled. Others have asserted that the “Leftist Court” needs to be replaced. All of these developments took place in the same week that the police released the identity of those who set the fire in the Church of Loaves and Fishes near the Sea of Galilee. Those assailants were young religious extremists who declared their hatred of Christianity.
These abominable events, and other similar episodes, continue to put a chill through many Israelis. How have these kids been educated? How different are our own Jewish ultra-Orthodox extremists from some of the extremists in the Muslim world? We used to be able to say that at least our extremists do not resort to violence. It is impossible to make that claim now. The idea that Jews would burn a down a Church, physically attack Israeli soldiers, or stab marchers in a parade is hard for the average Israeli to fathom.
A different and greater threat to Israeli democracy appears to be coming from politicians who seem to have missed what American students would call “Civics 101”. Everyone agrees that the call to destroy the Supreme Court was out of line – even Member of Knesset Moti Yogev (who uttered the contentious comment against the Courts) took his words back, claiming he was “just speaking metaphorically.” However, many are concerned that the power of the Court itself is under attack, simply for protecting civil rights. In a recent conversation with former Supreme Court Justice Dalia Dorner, she shared with me the fact that the potential weakening of the Supreme Court was her greatest concern. Justice Dorner feared that Basic Laws, those laws accepted by consensus as part and parcel of Israel’s legal system, might be overturned.
One of imperfections of the Israeli system is that fact that it does not have a Constitution and maintains a series of Basic Laws instead. The Basic Laws are considered more binding than regular laws – and require 61 votes, as opposed to a simple majority to pass. (There are 120 members in the Israeli Knesset). Israelis are distressed, since every governing coalition has a majority of at least 61 votes. According to Dorner, until now, there has been a Gentleman’s Agreement not to touch any of the Basic Laws. She is concerned, sadly, that that respect might be fading.
Last night, in the last moments of its first session, the current Knesset passed a number of last minute laws.
For someone like me, who has written about the U.S. Constitutional Convention, passage of what is called “the Norwegian Law”, (allowing a minister to resign from the Knesset, and be replaced by another candidate and then return if they stop being a minister) was most disconcerting. Without going into whether this is a “good” or “bad” law (I do not know enough about it to pass such judgement), the fact that what is considered a “Basic Law” was passed in a matter of three days, with the second and the third readings in the Knesset taking place overnight, seems patently absurd. Here, the Israeli political system was changed without any serious debate, public discussion or consultations. This change is both breathtaking and frightening.
The events of the day may have been enough to wake up the decision makers in this country to notice we may be heading down the wrong path. Tonight, President Riviln summed up our situation well when he said, “We must have no illusions, intolerance will lead us to disaster. We can not accept these types of crimes.”
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