Should matters of state in Israel be decided by a Jewish majority or a majority of all its citizens?
By Ted Belman
Current Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, head of the newly created Zionist Spirit party and formerly of the Yamina party, continues to bang this drum:
“But ultimately, we have seen for four election campaigns already, that there was no majority of 61 MKs for a full-fledged right-wing government. Ultimately, we have to consider whether to form – and there’s no such thing according to any poll – a very narrow government that half the country’s residents will feel is not their government, and it is safe to assume will also not be stable, or to form a broader government and fight for what is important for us,”
First of all, all parliamentary systems require a majority government which is based on having 50% of the seats plus 1. In the case for Israel, 61 seats. There is nothing illegitimate about it because “half of the country’s residents may feel it is not their government”. That’s the way the cookie crumbles in a democracy. As an example, in the US, regardless of what office you are running for, except for that of the President, all you need is a plurality of votes to win. Regarding the presidency, all you need is a majority of electoral votes regardless of whether in achieving it, you don’t have a plurality of votes, which is often the case.
Secondly in many if not most democratic governments, a super majority is required to change the constitution. or other such weighty matters. Oftentimes, the need for such a majority hamstrings the government and favors the status quo which less that 50% of the voters want. Is that fair to the majority?
Why is Shaked insisting on a super majority to run the country? What issues does she say should require a broad government? That’s a prescription favoring inaction.
Would she be against a “broad Government” of both Center and Right parties, if it had only 61 seats?
Is her beef with any government of 61 seats or a government of exclusively right wingers?
Her prescription is to “to form a broader government and fight for what is important for us,” I have no idea what she is talking about . What is the connection between a broad government and fighting for “what is important to us”? Unless she is still naïve enough to think that if her views are not those of parties who are members of the broad government, she could fight and have them accepted. She has already seen that this does not work. She also doesn’t identify what “is important to us or who she means by “us”.
Why is it “safe to assume” that a 61-seat right wing government would be just as unstable as the last government? I left out the adjective “narrow” intentionally. I believe that such a government would be very stable because all the players are more or less on the same page. The previous government was extremely unstable because of the wide divergence of opinion.
She justified forming the last government, because she felt that Israel was in dire need of a government, any government, even one including an Arab party. But now she rejects the need for a government other than a broad government.
I notice that all recent polls talk about the right-wing block and the left-wing block being very close. And for the first time they include the Raam party in the left-wing camp. If you leave out the Ra’am party the rightwing block dominates the leftwing block.
Which brings me to another issue. Should matters of state in Israel be decided by a Jewish majority or a majority of all its citizens?
Israel ‘s Nationality Bill is an Israeli Basic Law which specifies the nature of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
In July 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that the law was constitutional and did not negate the state’s democratic character. The court’s majority opinion concurred with arguments that the law merely declares the obvious — that Israel is a Jewish state — and that this does not detract from the individual rights of non-Jewish citizens, especially in light of other laws that ensure equal rights to all.
What does this mean? What is the significance of being deemed a Jewish state? Except for the Law of Return with its controversial Grandfather Clause, this has yet to be decided. What are the “the individual rights of non-Jewish citizens, especially in light of other laws that ensure equal rights to all.” The Supreme Court has obviously declared that being a Jewish state is meaningless as it doesn’t give the Jews the right to decide anything on their own.
This does not cease to bother me. Jews should be the sole determinates of who is allowed to immigrate, or what to do about sovereignty in Yesha or how to deal with the PA, terrorists, when to go to war and who is to be granted citizenship, for example. It is not the state of all its citizens in every matter. There are matters in which Jews, in the Knesset or by referendum, should have special rights.
Ted Belman is a retired attorney and the editor of Israpundit. He made aliya in 2009 and is now living in Jerusalem.
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@Peloni She said she “broke hearts.” I bet when her Mom, like all Moms, probably boasted she’d be a real little heartbreaker when she grew up, had no idea. ?
This is how Shaked should have approached the election from the outset. Whatever her motivations, whatever her rationalization, she betrayed her voters trust, and the Right in general, when she allied herself with the likes of Lapid, Gantz, Horowitz and Abas. The very least she owed her supporters, and the Right, was the recognition that what she did was a mistake, and appeal for her supporters forgiveness while asking for their votes.
The arrogant blather spouted by Shaked and Bennett, who still states that forming his govt was the best decision of his life, was a bothersome manner in which to address their roles in the last govt while Shaked seemed to still expect people to support her.
I have always believed it was always a necessary step for Shaked to drop such pretenses and I am glad that she has finally found the inner strength to address this elephant which has been by her side since long before she shook hands with Handel. Hopefully she and her allies in Jewish Home will muster enough support to make it into the Knessett. Their success in doing so will prove to be quite useful, if not quite vital, in the task of forming a Right wing govt and finally evicting these Leftists from their control over the state – and nothing else is more important.
@Ted
This is a powerful opportunity which you suggest. Indeed, it stands as an interesting proposal which might actually demonstrate to both the voting public and the political leadership, alike, how important unity has become, as the Left has the potential of maintaining a control over the nation, if not with the formation of an actual govt, at least with the persistence of this fully active ‘caretaker’ rump, should a new election be required.
There can be no substitute for victory and no excuse for defeat. The Right must bring the Right wing votes, all of them, back to support Right wing agendas, and to do this the divisions maintained among the Right must end. Their would be no more magnanimous gesture to be made by Bibi than that which you propose, but I have to admit that I would be shocked if he did so, and yet, he should find the means to do so none the less.
It is incumbent upon the Right to actually accept their own leadership as both legitimate and worthy to rule the nation. It was not the Left nor the Arabs who held the Right in check over the past year. No, it was actually the divisions among the Right, the unhinged pursuits of petty ambitions and personal vendettas which have held the Right in pieces, while fueling the rise of the Left, and creating this incompetent Dovish TSS govt which has come to achieve a great deal of damage in just a number of months. The burgeoning personal wars of attrition aimed at themselves, using the banners and slogans of the Left, are what have blocked the Right from pursuing the peoples work, and it is this same influence which currently threatens to abandon the nation within the grip of these modern day quislings for even longer. Is there anything more frivolous and trivial than milking wounded egos and personal grudges. Certainly the welfare of the state should challenge true leaders to ignore these matters and once more restore order and leadership for the people.
The Right needs to seize the momentum which was initiated with the happy collapse of support for Zionist Spirit and which is now further building with this latest capitulation by Shaked, as she accepts her return to the Right. The National Camp needs every vote, and to gain them, the Right needs to smother out every ongoing internecine feud, once and for all.
The omnipotence of petty jealousies and personal animosities are the very source which has notably held the National Camp in a splintered fashion, too polarized to enact the mandate handed to them in the past elections, and it needs to not be present to do the same in this coming election. They must unite, highlight the actions taking place in Samaria, and return once again to providing the careful leadership to both the Israeli people as well as the region. Iran is rising with the continuing assistance of America. Leadership in the Middle East has never been more paramount, even as it has never been more arrested.
Probably Shaked, even with Jewish home, wont reach the threshold.
Bibi should offer her a woman’s position on the Likud List, and a ministerial post. He should also offer to put the leader of Jewish Home on Likud’s list in the 33rd position.
Whatever votes they bring with them will get Likud back to 34 or 35.
Two more days to decide.
Shaked: I will probably recommend Netanyahu for PM
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/359697
The latest leak to Arutz from Shaked’s camp reads like a Shaked press release, which isn’t new for her, and says she
Did this really just occur to her, literally days before the lists were finalized? If so, why is she only now coming out and announcing her position as willing to support a Right wing govt. I am happy Shaked has changed her position on this point, but she has changed her position on this point, and this cameleon tactic to try to hide the truth from the voters is pretty transparent. I also find it interesting that she has split from the party she formed, Zionist Spirit, even though the first report claimed that
If Hendel was deviating from the agreement, why is Shaked the one leaving the party?
In any event, she is, at least for now, returning to the old Yamina party going into the next election. Hopefully she will find some new party label which she can use once she and Jewish Home unite. Yamina has had a bad history for such a short one and no one need to be reminded of it.
@Ted
Yes, I agree.
Like anyone with the slightest sense of judgement, Shaked likely took the time to recognize the fact that as she was maintaining her position on only forming a Unity govt, she saw her support was dwindling, while her source of allies was not expanding, so something had to change. Consequently, gone was Hendel/Hauser as well as her rigid commitment against forming a Right wing govt. Gone also, at least from the “source close to Shaked” which likely means Shaked herself, is the polemic rhetoric describing the unacceptable nature and vilification of Shmotrich and Ben Gvir. Shaked is using a curious if novel political strategy here, but I think she might have gone crazy like a fox one or two times too many changing her political skin at this late date. Of course, she literally had little to risk with this latest gambit of losing the two toxic anti-Bibi twins, given her recent polling at 1.1%, just half of where she had been on the previous poll which was itself a little over half of what she needs to cross the minimum threshold.
Jewish Home will obviously help change these devastating numbers for her, but I am curious if Pollard reconsidering his reconsidered statement on Shaked is a wish too far for her. It will be interesting to see if she will garner enough support for her fledgling party with the support of these and who knows what other more popular elements which she might have in mind to super-glue over her recent blunders. I actually once thought of her as a crafty political strategist, but I am far less impressed with her too clever by half tactics of late. Perhaps she will still pull off a win here, but she has shot herself in the foot again with this latest campaign, and she really didn’t have a good foot spare. Remaking her self-image with new allies to gain public support in the midst of a campaign, which was already all about remaking her self-image with the now deleted allies to gain public support, will prove to be an interesting trick, so we will have to see if her new won allies will actually pull this off for her over the next 7 weeks. If this last minute change in strategy works for her, and she fails to bridge the rest of the anti-Bibi brigade with Bibi, which she obviously won’t, the Right will be in a stronger position to form a govt because of this change of allies and her newly adopted position.
So, yes, better late to the Right path than never.
@Peloni
That’s good news. Even though she still prefers a Unity Government, she is prepared for a Balanced Right wing government…
She obviously wants to capture the semi right wing voters who fear the alleged excesses of the rightwing but still want a responsible government. Gone is the adjective “narrow” or 61 from her rhetoric. That’s progress.
She has paved the way for Jewish Home to join her. Hopefully they will reach the threshold.
Jewish Home will nix a unity government.
Her pivot also paves the way for Pollard to return.
Political drama: Shaked dissolves partnership with Hendel and Hauser
Minister Ayelet Shaked breaks up Zionist Spirit Party and will not run together with Yoaz Hendel and Zvi Hauser in the 2022 elections.
So Shaked is still placing the formation of Unity govt in front of the formation of a Right wing govt, and after failing to succeed in such an endeavor will pursue a “balanced Right wing govt”, whatever that means.
So does this mean that a Right wing govt with Shmotrich and Ben Gvir is now back in the realm of possibiities, but only as a secondary consideration?
Is Jewish Home coming aboard in Hendel’s place?
Regardless, if her preference is to not form a Right wing govt, which she clearly states it is, what member of the Right would support her, with Hendel or without him?
Ted, Peloni, Ketzel, Edgar, etc:
Whatever “solution” Shaked is proposing for Israel’s dilemma, I think she has described the nature of that dilemma precisely:
Israel appears to be hopelessly divided. In the US, we are suffering under a junta ushered in by ONE stolen presidential election, which can be easily tossed out if we only are allowed a fair and free election this November. In Israel, however, Shaked is correct — you have had FOUR elections in how many years? three? and you still cannot come up with a convincing majority for anyone.
Instead of bemoaning the fact that too many Israeli Jews do not have orthodox or traditional values, or that Ben Gurion did the wrong thing 70 years ago, or that Israel “should” have this system or that system, etc. The reality of the situation is that Israel is effectively and dangerously divided against itself, and there is no clear remedy for this on the horizon.
MY opinion on all this, howbeit based on observations from a different culture, some 7,000 miles away, is that Israel’s only “practical” way out of this mess (and INTO a much bigger mess) is probably a much bigger-than-expected “Great Northern War”.
You have my prayers and my sympathy.
From Arutz7:
Jewish Home issues ultimatum to Shaked: Split from Hendel and Hauser
This does resemble the dressing down by Pollard. Shaked is burning (burnt) bridges left and right, well really only on the Right 🙂
Can Shaked et al be any more clear of what their intent of the ZS party? Certainly, they are not fooling the Jewish Home.
Excellent article. More important than Mrs. Shaked’s curious assertions is the fact that some Jewish citizens are prepared to “govern” Israel via Islamic core support.
I would like to know how a Jewish military can operate against out Moslem enemies while the government depends on the said enemy.
This is an excellent article hitting the hot spots unerringly each time. The unique problem of Jews, that they are Jews, and therefore not “one of us”, still pervades world politics, very much so. So we MUST go our own way as to who we are and what we want to do with OUR country.
The HUGE mistake by that Socialist Communist Jew murderer, Ben Gurion and his cronies, was to give the Arabs the vote. O.K for an atheist/socialist, but not OK for the Jewish People to whom the country belonged..
They were not required to do so, (more so to those who hated Jews and sought to murder them,) and that is the way it should have stayed
I live in Canada, still solely an Irish Citizen, but a Canadian Landed Immigrant, which gives me the right to live here normally.. But I do NOT have the VOTE. I can not vote in Federal Elections.
peloni https://kdvr.com/news/politics/judge-throws-out-colorado-clerks-recount-challenge/
Excellent analysis.
For this ever to become a true reality, it would require Judicial Reform to be approved and passed, and Judicial Reform will be among the topics which will never be raised and will never be passed under Shaked’s next version of a unity govt, any more than it was raised or passed under her last version of a unity govt.
Stability comes from a consensus of opinion, not from diversity of opinion, as Ted explains, and this becomes particularly true when the subject of discussion is viewed with some import by the parties, thus raising the discussion first to be a debate and later to rise to be an argument, as the relative advocates realize that there really is no central agreement to be found on certain key topics – one side will win and the other will lose, or as Shaked chose with her last govt, the subject will simply be left ignored under the control of the status quo, a true sacrifice to the multi-polar concept of govt for which Shaked holds such import.
Judicial Reform is to be found to be among the topics which would fall into this category, as it clearly divides the Right from the Left. It challenges the control which the Left wield within the govt against the will of the people and their chosen representatives, which the Left view as being too irresponsible a body in which to entrust the choice of the arbiters of justice for the nation. As with the issue of the Arabs in Yesha, despite the fact that Judicial Reform is among the topics which are most important to the Right, it will be sacrificed to advance a unity govt.
When there is no other choice, as good stewards of the nation’s interest, such sacrifices will be made as there is no consensus within the public to form a govt to enact change and reform established orthodoxies. However, when there is a majority support available to form a govt, which was chosen by the people to enact such reforms, no matter how narrow in scope or limited in numbers, the majority represents the will of the people, and sacrificing the will of the people is not the role for which representative democracies were established, quite the contrary.
This notion that only a super-majority can form a stable govt and speak for the people, places an undue burden upon the people wishing to see reforms enacted. Furthermore such a standard breaks with established norms within the Western democracies around the world as Ted exposes. The new elightened standard proposed by Shaked when forming a govt does, however, provide a template from which established orthodoxies might be maintained against the will of the people, now requiring a super majority to reform such established orthodoxies, despite the fact that they were initially formed with only the requirement of simple majorities.
When Shaked advocates for a requirement of more than a simple majority to form a govt, she advocates for something which is not just illogical, it is undemocratic. Such an arbitrary requirement against the people’s will should be opposed. Thankfully, to accomplish such a task, it will only require a simple majority within the Right. It is unfortunate that the parties of the Right, which will pursue the formation of a govt which will enact policies supported by the people of the Right, will not be able to count on the support the formerly dubbed “iron woman” of the Right, at least not while she continues to advocate for such revolutionary and illogical views on what requirements should be pursued while forming a stable govt.
I agree, look at the situation in Hawaii, where the US government overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy, and over the course of many years, more and more white people moved into Hawaii, and by the time everyone voted on whether to become an American state, the native Hawaiians were outnumbered, even though the US government has admitted the overthrow was illegal. Now there are facts on the ground, it won’t be reversed. Israel is on a similar path. One could say Hawaii is a state of all its citizens, and this is unjust.