The process of the establishment of the State of Israel is not
over. It goes on every day.
By ELIEZER YAARINetanyahu in Knesset alone 311(photo credit: REUTERS)
Every so often, and especially when I see the dark clouds of war gathering on the horizon in the east and I begin to feel that we are on the verge of Judgment Day – be it military, political or national – I console myself by thinking about the vibrant young democracy in which I have lived my life.I have nothing to complain about. I am the son of pioneers and I have been a pioneer. My parents were dreamers and I am a dreamer.I have done my best to be both decisive yet open to change, in just the right proportions. I have had the privilege of taking part in one of the most moving experiments in history. I sit here on my shining planet, just like that little prince in that marvelous book, stuck in the heart of the evil, hostile Middle East. And while I have been fighting/creating/writing, I’ve also established a wonderful family.(Every biography worthy of its name has to include that sentence about creating a wonderful family.) I have never stopped believing that, in the end, the power of free democracy would win out and that this sweet little democracy of ours would bring us peace. After all, human beings are born free of chains, and that is how they should live.So over the years, I hardly paid any attention to that democracy that I so enjoy. I didn’t give much thought to the freedom that allows individuals to develop themselves in any direction without fear, express their opinions and take part in an open political and civil debate.But every so often, maybe because of what I do in life, I do start to think about our democracy. I think about our hubris, how we take democracy for granted, as if it will always be there, even though we don’t have a constitution, even though our political map is torn and conflicted, and even though we have never managed to separate religion from state or state from the bureaucrats.We act as if our democracy will always be there, even though we haven’t solved our central problem for far too long.What problem am I referring to? Uh, you know.You see, I’m only hinting at what I really want to say, because as a person who’s become accustomed to expressing his opinions, I should at least begin to adapt my writing style to changing reality.You readers should change your habits, too. The time has come.
Every so often, and especially when I see the dark clouds of war gathering on the horizon in the east, I think about our miracle democracy. Without a constitution or a democratic tradition, despite our burning passions and the divine dictates that dictate the policies of some of the parties, and even though there is a bleeding wound in our national heart – we have managed to persevere.We have managed to persevere because we created watchdog mechanisms and they serve as valves for the release of antidemocratic pressures. These mechanisms aren’t enshrined in any constitution, but they have become an integral part of our daily lives. They rest on three cornerstones, and the lines between them form the structure of the State of Israel’s system of checks and balances.The Supreme Court has been the first cornerstone. By momentously deciding that “everything is within the province of the court,” former president of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Aharon Barak transformed the court. From defending citizens from the tyranny of the executive branch of government, the court came to be the defender of Israeli democracy from the insanity of the legislator. Using various excuses and ruses, it based its rulings on everything from the Declaration of Independence – which is not part of Israeli law but is recognized as a constituting document – to common sense and tradition. The court has thus been able to save the overactive legislator from itself.But by doing this, the court also made many enemies along the way. And these enemies – politicians, religious parties, rabbis, commercial interests, legalists with different intellectual opinions – have all been waiting for the opportunity to get back at the court.A free press has been the second cornerstone. The Israeli press has gone through many transformations since the establishment of the state. It has transformed itself from the party-affiliated newspapers and government radio of the 1950s and 60s, and now includes newspapers filled with differing opinions and numerous radio and TV channels filled with the free flow of thoughts and information. And none of them suffer from any intervention by the government or other centers of power.But a new coalition, created to limit the power of the press, has been lying in wait for its opportunity. This coalition, one of the most powerful we’ve seen in a very long time, is composed of two major players: the “oligarchs” of the Israeli economy, who last summer watched as democracy in action demanded that they cut back on their benefits, and the politicians who always hated the press and would love to see it leveled to the ground. And both are now ready to pounce on their real victim – Israeli democracy.The free press and the Supreme Court are connected through the third cornerstone, which serves as an active element of checks and balances. I am talking about civil society, which didn’t even exist in Israel until the beginning of the 1980s.Organizations promoting civil and human rights, organizations promoting freedom of religion, women’s rights organizations, Arab rights organizations, organizations protecting the homeless and the weakest members of our society, environmental organizations – taken together, they, too, helped to create the multiplicity of voices that has brought us legislative changes, a more just division of the national pie and limits on the government’s ability to act capriciously or maliciously.Antagonism towards social change organizations is not new, either. Every government has viewed them as a thorn in its side and resented the attempt to limit its power. No government has ever liked them, and the tension between government and civil society is natural – as long as government doesn’t attempt to demolish the basic structure of civil society and squelch any voice other than its own. But every so often, when I think about these wondrous mechanisms, I get to thinking about their vulnerability, too. And I’m not the only one who recognizes those vulnerable points – all those enemies recognize them, too.And they are taking advantage of those vulnerabilities to wage a bitter battle against democracy in the Knesset. The opponents of democracy have launched a three-pronged attack on each of the cornerstones.First, they are trying to make the Supreme Court more like the Supreme Court in the US by passing legislation to ensure that they can appoint chief justices who are more in tune with the current majority in the Knesset; this will guarantee that the Supreme Court will no longer intervene in the unconstitutional laws promoted by the Knesset, will not touch the rabbinic establishment, will not object to Israel’s one-sided actions in areas where Israeli law isn’t valid. (You can see that I’m being very cautious here and only hinting at what I mean. After all, we have to get used to this.)They’ve been attacking the press for years and gradually they’ve been taking over public broadcasting and putting it under the authority of the central government. Now they’re trying to make sure that they have control by legislating a new libel law that is intended to stifle any type of political or economic criticism by making it just too expensive to take the risk.And they’re attacking civil society at its most sensitive point: they’re going after the money. By their very nature, advocacy organizations cannot accept contributions from the state. So the opponents of civil society are now proposing legislation that will levy a 45 percent tax on any organizations that do not accept money from the state. In this way, they will choke the organizations, silence their voices and destabilize civil society’s already wobbly legs.As a result, those of you who are not citizens of Israel but contribute to those organizations that give voice to the many opinions in Israel, like the Religious Action Center of the Reform Movement or the Association for Civil Rights in Israel or the many organizations like them, should know that according to the legislative proposals currently being debated in the Knesset, the government will take 45 cents out of every dollar that you contribute. This is sheer robbery committed by the State of Israel in order to wipe out civil society organizations. These organizations are barely surviving anyway, and once their funding is cut, they won’t survive at all.It’s really that simple. Soon, when we really have to try and solve the real problem that we face, the one that we’ve been dealing with for more than 40 years and still can’t solve because the price is too high – (figure it out yourselves, I can’t take the chance of spelling it out) – we will find out that the foundations that once kept the establishment’s natural tendencies towards tyranny and centralization of power in check no longer exist.That’s the strategic goal of the current war.And so, from now on, you must know: Iran is not Israel’s most pressing problem. The feverish activity in the Knesset has made that clear. In the Knesset, they’re busy dealing with burning issues such as excessive freedom of speech, unacceptable judicial activism in the Courts, and those pesky journalists, who lie in wait for the politicians and the rich.And I address this to you, my friends and colleagues abroad, because this is not merely a problem for those of us who live here.All of us who care about the future of the State of Israel, about its character and its soul, must realize that the situation is critical.
All of us who have taken part in building up this democracy, whether we have agreed with a particular government’s policies or not, must now take a stand to protect what we have tried to establish. If you still feel even the least bit choked up as you read the Declaration of Independence, then you must become involved.The process of the establishment of the State of Israel is not over. It is going on every day, and these days your voice is more important than ever before.There is a lot at stake right now.Because if we don’t win over the powers that would destroy our democracy, then, as we are told in the Book of Judges, the land will be quiet for 40 years. Very quiet, indeed.The writer is a Jerusalem author. He can be reached at eliezeryaari1@yahoo.com.
