By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM — The usual complaints about the inadequacy of democratic governance are about the majority that disenfranchises a minority. InIsrael, it seems to be the other way around. Often it’s relatively small groups that hold the rest to ransom – democratically. Today’s examples: two minority groups, the settlers (probably around 5% of the Jewish population ofIsrael) and the haredim (7%), show signs of tyrannizing the rest.
Example One: Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the illegal settlement of Migron should be dismantled because it’s located on private Palestinian land. In response, the settlers threatened all kinds of repercussions.
The Prime Minister took it to heart and proposed to circumvent the Supreme Court decision by moving the caravans in which the settlers now live a few yards away to land deemed to be state-owned while using the area now occupied as their agricultural land. In this way the letter – though not the spirit – of the Supreme Court decision would be upheld while the land would still remain in the settlers’ hands. But they wanted more.
Netanyahu has, therefore, now established a three-person commission to re-examine the whole question of Palestinian private lands in the West Bank. In addition to some doubts about one of the three commissioners – a retired Supreme Court judge – another – Alan Baker, former legal adviser to the Foreign Ministry and former ambassador to Canada – is said to have until now represented settlers’ claims by reportedly arguing that the land is only notionally private because its possible owners now live in countries that are nominally at war with Israel.
The intention behind the commission, supported also by the Minister of Justice, seems to be to declare lands once considered private not to be so, thus allowing so-called illegal outposts to become legal settlements: a threat to both peace and democracy.
Example Two: The so-called Tal Law that de facto exempted haredim from serving in the army is due for renewal for another five years. But in view of the declaration by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his party – which, despite its reactionary stance on many issues is staunchly anti-haredi – that he would vote against the extension, Netanyahu now intends to bypass the cabinet and take the issue direct to the Knesset where he hopes to get a majority for the renewal of the Tal Law.
No doubt supporters of Netanyahu would defend the manipulations which have come to mark his time in office as prudent because accommodation to settlers and haredim will avoid civil unrest, perhaps civil war. Early signs of both, in the one case, settler terrorism (the so-called retaliatory price tag actions that included not only damage to Palestinian property in the West Bank but also infiltration of an army base in the area) and, in the other, haredi violence against fellow-citizens and police are no doubt cited as evidence of Netanyahu’s skill and prudence in acting for the good of the country.
However, what may look like prudence may, in fact, be either cowardly appeasement or tacit consent and thus further evidence of the ongoing threat to Israeli democracy. Bypassing the decision of the Supreme Court and the will of the cabinet are serious erosions. If they succeed, others will no doubt follow down the slippery slope.
The painful question many should, and hopefully are, asking is: How long can the country endure this kind of governance before ceding the right to be called democratic?
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Rabbi Mamur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple. He may be contacted at dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com