Having grown up in
the United States, I was raised to respect the institution of the Supreme Court.
Even if one could disagree with its decisions, there was a sense that there were
rules of justice to which all were bound to adhere. The ability of Presidents to
fill vacancies helped ensure that there was some kind of responsiveness to the
Executive Branch. The existence of a Constitution constrained the Court to rule
out legislation only when its deviated from the essential framework of American
law.
Alas, the past week has shown that, in Israel, the High Court sees itself as the
unfettered arbiter of the political system, ruling according to the whims and
biases of its overwhelmingly liberal bench, riding roughshod over the executive
and legislative branches in unbridled arrogance.
The first blow came in the over-ruling of the Knesset's Central Election
Committee, which had disqualified some Arab MKs who were determined by the
Committee to be in breach of laws preventing supporters of terror organizations
and opponents of Israel's Jewish character from standing for election to the
Knesset.
Based on their own public statements, there is not a shred of doubt that the
legislators in question, Arafat adviser Ahmed Tibi, and Azmi Bishara, outspoken
supporter of Hizballah and other terror organizations, conform to that
definition.
Yet the judges, for clearly political motives, refused to allow the enforcement
of that legislation, without explanation.
The second blow came Thursday, in the unprecedented decision by High Court judge
Michael Cheshin, to cut off coverage of Prime Minister Sharon's press
conference, called after days of slanderous attacks against him by his political
opponents and Israel's liberal press.
There can be little doubt that Sharon was responding in kind to political
attacks, but to prevent him from exercising his natural right of self-defense
was both unseemly and undemocratic. His opponents can, through the media, accuse
him of being a "godfather" of a "crime family," and his is not to be allowed a
public forum to reply?
The result is a feeling of many, if not most, Israelis, that the election is
rigged, that its coverage is slanted, and that, to our sorrow and regret, the
rule of law is always applied against the Right but never against the Left.
How else to explain the unwillingness of legal authorities, and the press, to
vigorously pursue scandals far more egregious than those for which Sharon, his
family and his party, stand accused?
It is an impression that bodes ill for Israeli democracy, and Israeli justice.
My only hope is that the Israeli public awakens in anger to the realization of
how they are being duped, and reacts to the blatant attempts by members of the
judiciary, and members of the press, to one-sidely blacken the name of the Prime
Minister while ignoring the far more sleazy, and in some cases, treasonous
offenses on the other side of the political divide.
Only that hope, after a week that began with the Tel Aviv bombing and ended with
the Cheshin outrage, gives me some prospect of enjoying the Sabbath peace.
Shabbat shalom.
Reuven Koret