By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM — I learnt the term that heads this page last Tuesday at a meeting in the Knesset. It was coined as a variant of the Hebrew for “money laundering” (halbanat hon) to read halbanat khok. The occasion was a meeting hosted by Zahava Galon, the leader of Meretz, to which members of Peace Now were invited.
The issue was the latest attempt to subvert the decision of the Supreme Court that ordered the government to remove the illegal settlement of Migron before the end of March. The 60 families that live there and their many supporters in the country vehemently oppose this. To prevent a battle between soldiers, who’d have to act on government orders, and the settlers and their friends, who would resist, one of the more moderate members of the cabinet, Benjamin Begin, was given the task to mediate.
He worked out a formula that Prime Minister Netanyahu hinted at soon after the Supreme Court decision: moving the settlers in “due course” (!) to a nearby site that, unlike the present location, isn’t private Palestinian property but deemed to be state land. Though the latter term is nebulous, it has nevertheless been established that Palestinian land not claimed by individuals or families will be declared state land. Building settlements on such land would apparently be legal. (Never mind the politics, the reaction of the international community and the effect on the so-called peace process.)
However, as the Begin “compromise” also means that the existing buildings would have to be razed to the ground, the settlers object. That’s the current impasse.
The settlers and the government nevertheless insist that they respect the law and that any compromise would have to be approved by the Supreme Court. It’s in response to this that one of the Knesset members on the Left used the term “law laundering.” He implied that the government is using settler intransigence and legal quibbles as covers for its own ideology of occupation.
This has become easier in recent years because surveys indicate that regard for the Supreme Court has gone down considerably, especially among settlers and haredim.
Several speakers accused the government of blatant and cynical manipulation and of lying when it says that it’s committed to a two-state solution. They viewed the Migron affair as conclusive evidence that the government intends to keep the whole of what it calls “the land of Israel” thus disregarding not only international law but also fundamental Jewish teachings. The settlers and their cohorts insist, in turn, that they’re at least as faithful to Judaism and its values as are their critics, most of whom are secular.
The Left argues that if Migron gets its way, whether on the site or a short distance away, the rule of law will have ceased to exist in the land spelling the beginning of the end of the Jewish democratic state: a negation of Zionism in the name of patriotism.
The defenders of the present coalition argue that the citizens have democratically elected the parties of the Right. The Left has no franchise on morality or politics. As the loser at the ballot box, it should know better than question the democratic process.
I spent a fascinating couple of hours in the Knesset and came away with the sad impression that the Left is no match for the forces that conspire against it and that form the current government. The only hope is a change of crew after the next Israeli elections and/or Obama’s more forceful intervention after the US elections.
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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. Now dividing his time between Canada and Israel, he may be contacted at dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com