ACCOUNTABILITY

 

By

 

Prof. Paul Eidelberg

 

аааааааааааа Accountability is a basic Jewish concept, awesome during Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur.а Whereas the Torah Jew knows he is accountable to G-d, the Government of Israel is accountable to no one.а

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The leaders of this Government boast that Israel is a democracy.а One should then expect them to be accountable to the people.а But Israeli politicians are accountable to the people only during elections.а Once elected they ignore the conviction and interests of those who elected them.а Almost 64% of the people voted for Ariel Sharon and against Oslo in the February 6, 2001 prime ministerial election, yet Mr. Sharon appointed Shimon Peres, the father of Oslo, as Minister of Foreign Affairs.а Nor should it be forgotten that Sharon offered the Defense Ministry to Ehud Barak, whom the people had clearly rejected.аа

 

ааааааааааа Consider the Knesset.а Its members are not individually accountable to the voters, for Israel has no constituency or regional elections.а Generally speaking, an MK is accountable to his party leader; but if he fails to receive a safe place on his partyТs list, he may hop over to a rival party, as 29 MKs did in the 1999 elections!

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ааааааааааа If this were not enough to disgust us with IsraelТs political system, notice how Arab MKs engage in permissive sedition, or how they and violate with impunity Basic Law: The Knesset, which prohibits any party that negates the Jewish character of the State.а These Arabs are accountable to no one.

 

ааааааааааа To whom is a Prime Minister accountable?а To no one.а The PM is above the law.а He can make agreements with the PLO, a criminal organization still listed as such in the Penal Code.а Indeed, Barak, in defiance of the three-fourths of the Knesset, offered Yasser Arafat eastern Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, and the Jordan Valley!

 

To whom are judges of the Supreme Court accountable?а To no one.а The Court is also above the law.а It makes its own laws in utter disregard of the ethics and jurisprudence of the Jewish heritage.

 

ааааааааааа So there is no accountability in Israel. One reason why I have urged the establishment of a constitution based on Jewish principles.а Lacking such a constitution, Israel today is governed not by the rule of law but by the arbitrary rule of men.а And these men, mark my words, are waging a war against Judaism.

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ааааааааааа Judaism may or nor be democratic, but no one holding office under the Torah is above the Law.а Indeed, G-d Himself must observe the Torah!

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ааааааааааа The Torah is a covenant to which G-d, as a party, subordinates Himself.а In other words, G-d subordinates Himself to the law of which He is the creator.а How different from the Latin maxim Princes legibus solutus est -- The Ruler is not bound by the law -- a relic of which will be found in modern Israel:а "No act of legislation shall diminish the rights of the State, or impose upon it any obligation, unless explicitly stated" (Interpretation of Ordinance, section 42).а Contrast the Jerusalem Talmud:

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"A human king issues a decree.а He may choose to obey it; he may choose to have only others obey it.а Not so the Holy One, praised be He.а When He issues a decree, He is the first to obey it, as it is stated:а 'And they shall observe my observances, I am the L-rd,' I am He Who was the first to observe the commandments of the Torah" (Rosh Hashana 1:3a).

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That G-d observes His own laws is the origin of the "rule of law" commonly but misleadingly associated with democracy.а I say "misleadingly" because there are two basic types of democracy, namely Classical or Normative Democracy, and Contemporary or Normless Democracy.а Only Normative Democracy is compatible with the Torah and the rule of law.ааа

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Normatrive Democracy posits a "Higher Law" to which parliaments and kings are subordinate.а All men can be held accountable for their behavior because in this kind of democracy freedom and equality have ethical constraints.а Normative Democracy recognizes distinctions between good and evil, right and wrong, just and unjust.а This kind of democracy does not prevail in Israel, where freedom leads to permissiveness and equality levels all moral distinctions.а

 

What dominates the mentality of IsraelТs political elites is Normless Democracy. Here an indiscriminate freedom and egalitariansm reign supreme.а Here both Labor and Likud governments have released and armed Arab terrorists and murderers, and with hardly a protest by the religious parties.а Here homosexuals, lesbians, and prostitutes are brought to and honored in the Knesset.аа Here all lifestyles are morally equal.а This is why loyal and disloyal citizens enjoy equal rights in Israel.а This is why Israeli politicians treat Arafat as equal peace partner.а These politicnas have murdered the sense of honor and justice.

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The moral equivalence they have generated erodes conviction in the justice of IsraelТs cause.а Men like Shimon Peres, in the name of a vacuous humanism, have been dehumanizing the people of Israel.аа Notice their unmanly preoccupation with Уpeace and security,Ф hence their lack of a distinctively Jewish national purpose.а Notice the egotistical pluralism in Israeli democracy, where some forty members of the Knesset, representing nine parties, have become ministers or deputy ministers!аа Everything is for sale in this democracy, including Judaism.а Do not expect accountability in this self-destructive, bargain-basement democracy.

 

Surely this democracy must perish if Israel is to survive.

 

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