By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM — Israel’s Minister of Justice Ya’akov Ne’eman (Yankele to Prime Minister Netanyahu, we’re told) is said to have described Israel’s quality newspaper Ha’aretz as Der Sturmer, the notorious anti-Jewish publication in Nazi Germany. (To call Jewish foes Nazis has become a despicable habit among Israelis, including public figures).
Ha’aretz has responded in today’s issue with several biting articles about Ne’eman, including a very long and less than flattering piece in its magazine section and an extremely critical editorial that again calls for his resignation.
One of the arguments against Ne’eman is that, as a commercial lawyer – he has been a senior partner in a well-known law firm – he’s accustomed to get the best deal for his problematic clients by hook or by crook rather than by pursuing the cause of justice.
His present client, so the argument continues, is the prime minister of Israel. For Ne’eman isn’t a member of the Knesset and doesn’t formally belong to any of the coalition parties. Like his predecessor, he’s appointed as a professional to represent the interests of the government rather than champion the cause of justice for all.
Netanyahu is accused of using him to manipulate things. When the manipulations are discovered and the heat on the government is too much to bear, the prime minister cools down the situation by not acting on the contentious proposal. Critics suspect a well-orchestrated collusive process engineered by two skilled manipulators.
That’s what may have happened this week. The minister of justice in allegedly characteristic fashion used some like-minded members of Knesset to propose a procedure that would invalidate the appointment of democratically elected representatives of the Israel Bar Association to the committee that appoints Supreme Court judges.
Those elected were deemed to be on the political left whereas the present government, including its minister of justice, is very keen to have a Supreme Court that tows the line instead of not bowing to high-powered efforts to subvert democracy.
When the outcry of the issue became uncomfortable for Netanyahu, as it also came from several respected members of his own cabinet, he backed off.
Throughout Israel’s history the Supreme Court has been the surest guarantor of the rights of the individual and the rule of law and democracy in the land. That has often created tensions between politicians and judges, especially in the last decades when the government has been right-wing. There’re, therefore, periodic attempts by the government and its Knesset majority to clip the wings of the Supreme Court.
This latest effort also included an issue about who should succeed the present president of the Supreme Court when she retires next month, but that’s relatively minor – though also problematic – compared to the attempt to tamper with the Bar Association.
Here we’ve yet another illustration of how Netanyahu tries to do business, especially in the likelihood of an election this year. He tries to keep his right-wing coalition partners happy by allowing for discussion of various potentially repressive measures, but when the situation threatens to become explosive, he backs off, probably by persuading his colleagues that the alternative is for them to lose their jobs.
One is left with the impression that Bibi and Yankele are in this together: two skilled manipulators trying to treat the rest of us fodder for their ambitions.
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Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. He now divides his time beteween Canada and Israel and may be contacted at dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com