By Victor Rosenthal
Israel is a democracy. We keep hearing this. It is “the only democracy in the Middle East,” as many of us are fond of saying. Lately, it is beginning to seem as though we would be better off with a little less “democracy.”
One election wasn’t democratic enough, so we had another. Now we are headed for the disaster of a third one. But we are very democratic, so apparently we will keep having elections until the “democrats” (small ‘d’) who want to have a government without Benjamin Netanyahu finally get their way.
I am absolutely certain that if it weren’t for the endless investigations against the PM and the associated leaks to the media, we would have a normal government, with Bibi at its head. A government that would not be perfect, but what coalition is?
But we are democratic. Everyone gets to have their say. The police, who – it has just been disclosed – threatened to ruin the life of one of the key witnesses against Netanyahu if he didn’t agree to turn state’s witness and say what they told him to. The Attorney General, who when asked to investigate the continuous leaks to the media over a period of years concerning the allegations against Netanyahu, as well as the content of confidential police interviews, responded that there was no place (ain makom) to investigate the leakage and punish the leakers. And of course, 90% of the media, which express their opinion that Netanyahu is the illegitimate son of the devil every day – they too, have their democratic rights.
There is plenty to criticize about Netanyahu, especially the fact that he crushes anyone who might be competition for him in his party. His wife is volatile and possibly (although this could just be more slander) has too much influence over his political decisions. His son should keep his mouth shut, both in the presence of disloyal drivers and on Twitter. His security policy, in which Hamas is allowed unlimited liberty to destroy property in the south of the country, has been criticized by many. And Bibi’s been PM long enough.
But what has been done to him by his enemies (mostly his unelected ones) is outrageous. The police and prosecution went on fishing expedition after fishing expedition, and the media gleefully reported every one. “This time he’s going down,” they implied. But he didn’t – and he may not yet, if it turns out that the investigations are poisoned by police and prosecutorial misconduct.
Polls consistently show that more Israelis believe that Bibi should be Prime Minister than his main opponent, Benny Gantz (the most recent one, right before the election, came out 46% vs. 31% for Bibi), and even 25% of Arab citizens prefer him. His right-wing bloc has one more seat in the Knesset than the opposition, and if you don’t count the declaredly anti-Zionist Arab parties, 14 more. But this is a democracy, and most of the TV stations and newspapers don’t like him, nor does the Bar Association (which provides the PM with a list of acceptable candidates for Attorney General, and has a controlling influence on the selection of Supreme Court justices), nor does a majority of academics, artists, and media personalities. They all seem to have votes in addition to the ones they put in the ballot box.
They don’t like him, and this is a democracy, so we need to democratically pick someone else. And we’ll keep democratically trying until they we succeed.
Bibi outmatches Ganz in polls. Going one against one is a good move. The charges against Bibi are bogus, just more liberal Deep State shenanigans as in the U.S. and the U.K., and he is a great prime minister. Ganz would be a disaster.
The problem of the moment is not Israeli democratic arrangements but Netanyahu insisting on staying in a manner to avoid a court case or plain ambition. If this were a US case he would be dismissed by an impeachement and if it were Britain by a cabinet rebellion.
Either way if he were a mensch he would step down and go to court whether to clear his name or to clear the case from the public business. Then he could return like Deri or retire to be a national treasure like BG at Sde Boker. Meanwhile the country could get on with coalition building and business.
For those who want a facility to vote for or against an individual print on the back of the party ballot slips the part list in list order and let the electors – the voters – tick three names or cross out three names. The count would then proceed as now to decide the distribution of seats to parties and a second stage count for each party would total the ticks and deletions and so shift up or down the list the names in question before the seats are distributed to individual MK’s.
Another way to cut the fraudulent careerists, vanity factions of small differences would be to “print a space” at one end of the ballot slip for the voter’s second choice if their first choice does not cross the threshold. This would return a lot of pact making power to the voters and trim the talons of the faction chiefs.
Democracy? That’s why Israeli voters are only allowed to vote for parties instead of candidates and they don’t have a representative government.
Some democracy when they banned Rabbi Meir Kahane for being a threat to this Stalinist government and four years later they banned his son. Their assassinations by the Bolshevik Deep State show what a democracy we have.
If this is a democracy, why was Michael Ben Ari and other Otzma candidates banned for ‘racism’? The real reason is that they are the real right wing religious party unlike the right wing fraud named the Lickud Party. The Lickud sees them as a threat to their power and that’s why they worked to have them banned and to undermine the other right wing religious parties with the help of Naftali Bennett.
“They don’t like him, and this is a democracy, so we need to democratically pick someone else. And we’ll keep democratically trying until they we succeed.”
They appear to a lot in common with the EU. Brussels also insist that folks keep right on voting until the ‘right’ result is registered.