The voices this week were again those of some of the Likuds blackguards and the hands were, once again, the hands of Yaakov Neeman. For me and for my colleagues Uzi Dayan and Michal Shabat, there is no mistake: The person repeatedly presented on these pages as the minister of darkness and the demolisher of the rule of law is the villain of this new story too. We could have pointed to the previous publications regarding his affairs and wrote we told you so, or we warned you, but there is no need to. Education Minister Gideon Saar fulfilled the task this week better than we could have. In the Likud faction meeting dealing with the proposal to cancel the results of the election designating the Bar Associations representatives to the judicial selection committee, he said the following sentence: I dont remember such a thing. In other words, lunatics - knock it off. Dont destroy the country. Hes right: The Knesset hasnt seen such an anti-democratic bill in a decade. No one, before Neeman dared go so far. Saar wasnt exaggerating. Neither was Dan Meridor, when he called the law undemocratic, unconstitutional and unfair; neither were Benny Begin, Michael Eitan, Limor Livnat and others in the Likud faction; neither was Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein, who made it clear to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he wouldnt defend the government before the High Court of Justice. All those who opposed the law, tried to rouse Netanyahu and get him to put a stop to the plummeting before its too late. They encouraged him to evade the pit, or rather the abyss, but Netanyahu hesitated. He hesitated and hesitated and hesitated until finally the call came out of his office to freeze the bill. Just to freeze it, not to terminate it for now, because Yaakov Neeman is still breathing down his neck. This minister, who is supposed to protect democracy, is behaving like some one out to torch it; because Neeman is adamant about leaving behind nothing but scorched earth. What so scary about this story? The justice ministers connection to the authors and promoters of the string of dark laws, those who in ordinary days would earn, here and elsewhere, the title of Knesset jesters. Why jesters? Because the public and the media would treat them like oddities, like frivolous people who dont realize what theyre doing, like politicians desperate for attention, like people trying to create headlines and have their picture appear in the papers or be invited to a radio interview or to a seat on a television talk show. Legislators who remind us of the wacky Rabbi Bagad, the educator from Nehalim Yeshiva who one day landed in the Moledet Party. In Israel of 2012, people of this family are not a joke. They pose a danger to democracy. They take advantage of the democratic process in order to topple it. Their bizarre bills are not immediately dismissed by Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman, David Rotem, who owes his allegiance to Avigdor Lieberman, nor, of course, by Yaakov Neeman. These two and their revolutionary soldiers are holding the matches and it is time, Mr. Prime Minister, that instead of supporting them, you take the matches away from them. You are, after all, the fireman and chief of the country and should not have waited with the extinguisher for three days before freeing the bill. Berliner, Mazuz, Binyamini Behind this ruckus, which reached its height in the attempt to forestall an additional debate in the Justice Committee, hides a blatant effort by right-wingers to take over the Judicial Selection Committee by creating for themselves a majority to select people who share their political views. If I am not mistaken, had Neeman come out forcefully and said: Under my watch there will be no deals leading to the appointment of politically tarnished judges from Left or Right. Under my watch controversial people will be left out. All, except those of the dark right-wing lobby, who supposedly have taken him hostage, would have applauded him. If he chooses this path he will have to bid farewell to some of his candidates in exchange for the appointment of Dvora Berliner, Menachem Mazuz, Uri Shoham, George Kara, Avraham Avraham or Dr. Amiram Binyamini, who arrived at the bench from the public sector and is considered a careful and meticulous litigator. They are all capable, thoughtful, experienced and honest and there are others on their level. One of them can be selected without causing a political war. Will Neeman overcome his nature and see through the transformation- A source close to him burst out laughing: You can forget about merit-based appointments, he told me, Neeman is not Yossi Beilin. You think he will appoint Meni Mazuz, Shoham or Binyamini to the Supreme Court? I doubt if he even truly supports Dvora Berliner, an excellent judge who is considered an associate of his. If the deal he is trying to form with Beinisch goes ahead, Berliner will reach the position she deserves. If not, and it probably wont, he will be willing to give up on her too. Between Hirchson and Deri Let's suppose for a moment that in five or six years' time, after inmate Avraham Hirchson sits at home for a few years, expresses regret and denounces his deeds, he decides to create a new Knesset Party. Alternatively, lets suppose he runs with Kadima or heads the Pensioners Party. What would be the publics response? Its easy to guess: shock, ridicule, open season on the former Finance Minister accompanied by cries of Thief, thief, thief. He would rightly be reminded that the Knesset is no sanctuary for criminals. What would be the Israeli medias response? Similar. A vast majority would charge him and rip him to shreds. They would offer him no reprieve even though Hirchson acted in accordance of the accepted code between cops and robbers. Now let us return to the previous year and the one that just got off; the former interior minister, Aryeh Deri, who was convicted of accepting a bribe and severe acts of fraud, announced he planned to form a new political party or lead an existing party in the upcoming election. Its as if he doesnt understand that a man such as that cannot return to the Knesset and to state leadership. How did the media receive the announcement of one who for years bamboozled the investigative authorities and to this day has not expressed regret? With cheers of encouragement. No ridicule, no tough questions, no protests and no turning their back on the person who killed the shame in Israel. Aside from Natan Zehavi, Gabi Gazit and a few other exceptions, the media has warmly embraced Deri for the past year; inviting him to television shows, interviewing him on the radio, turning him into a commentator on social justice, women segregation, spitting affairs as if he was a cultural hero, a role model. How do some of the journalistic word launderers justify such obtuseness? To be truthful, they dont really. It is hard for them. Others predictably state that he has paid his debt to society; as if they do not understand that a person who lied to the police and in court, who was convicted of serious offenses, who sat in prison for three years, who obstructed justice and who starred in some of the most severe comptroller reports in this countrys history cannot return to the Knesset and the cabinet. It would be unfathomable in any sane country. They hide behind this pitiful sentence as if somebody was preventing him from being a businessman, a driver, a furniture shop owner, a public relations executive or do anything else that he chooses to do in his private life. According to their twisted logic there would be no problem that a bank robber become a MK, a burglar become a bank manager, a pedophile work as a guard in a kindergarten or a thief become, say, a finance minister. There would be no problem for Deri to be once more put in charge of billions of shekels of the states money in the Ministry of Interior, as if we have forgotten the scene of the crime. The lunacy cries to the heavens. The second excuse they use is that it is up to the people to decide whether to vote for him or not, that it is a public matter. But wait a moment -- isnt it the same public to whom the media repeatedly explains that all is well with the man? That he is a genius, a whiz kid, a bridge between seculars and Haredim? That he has paid his debt to society and that he cannot constantly be reminded of his transgressions- There are of course other excuses, no less shameful, but the ones I presented are enough to disgrace those journalistic launderers. They have simply forgotten their role. When some of them rise up against the silencing laws and the darkness in the Knesset, often times with great anger, they ought to remember their own contribution to the general corruption of the state. They are no better that Yaakov Neeman. Who is escaping the Turpitude Law- The huge legal loophole that enables elected officials who ran afoul and were sent to prison to return to their public positions is derived from the fact that the state founders couldnt have imagined that one day these convicted felons would seek to return to the Knesset and the cabinet table. It didnt even come up as a fictional scenario. Now Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely decided to plug up the loophole with new legislation. She studied the matter carefully and consulted with Benny Begin and others and drafted a bill she calls the Turpitude Law. In essence, it says: Elected officials who abused their public office to commit felonies that carry moral turpitude, who were justly convicted and who were sentenced to at least one year in prison, cannot be elected to the Knesset or become members of the government. This is in no way personal legislation against Deri, says Hotovely. This is legislation aimed against anyone who ran afoul and who may one day ask to return to the Knesset and the government. The list, as you know, is very long. In a proper state no one would entertain the possibility that such felons would seek to return to office, and therefore there was no problem. Now, when anything is possible, the Turpitude Law is absolutely necessary. Shame on the state whose leaders are people who were convicted of severe criminal charges and who served time in prison. Who is halting Hotovelys bill for the time being? You guessed right: Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman, friend and confidant of the former inmate. Under every stone you overturn you always find the minister of darkness. His justifications for blocking the bill as expressed in conversations with Hotovely: I disapprove of retroactive legislation
(this is the same Neeman who this week took a leading role in passing the retroactive bill in the bar association representatives affair.) His gist in these conversations: It is a great law, but I will only support it if it doesnt apply to Deri. MK Hotovely, is it true the Minister Neeman is blocking the bill because of his desire to protect Deri- I wont say a word. Did you speak to him about it- I cant tell you what I was told in the conversation with the justice minister. Whats important to me is to advance the law, not to harm the minister. Minister Neeman in response to questions by Uzi Dayan: No comment. Between Deri and Yair Lapid The Turpitude Law is not a retroactive law, since in this case there is no law in existence and there was no democratic vote to be overturned by the legislation. Moreover, it is not a personalized law either, as MK Hotoveli points out, because her bill seeks to block the return to the legislature of different felons. In my eyes, even if it was a personalized law, in this special and principled case, it is unavoidable. It is a unique case that arises from the audacity of one man who still hasnt realized what he really did and what seven judges ruled in his matter. It is a case of the first convicted minister who incited against his judges and against the courts and tried to topple the rule of law. Whats happening today began back then. The case of Ulpan Shishi host Yair Lapid is different. There is no reason to pass the law that orders a year long freeze period before he can enter politics. There is no reason to harm the democratic process. There is no reason to block the path of a journalist or a senior officer for such a long time. There is no reason to advance the legislation on condition that Lapid whose shows touch on topics that could aid a political party led by him act honestly and not wait for the last minute. As long as he doesnt abuse it. A Rabbi Metzger-style selection Here we see an interesting battle of principles and morals. On one side we have former foreign ministry director general Dr. Alon Liel, and on the other side we have the villain of the story, at least according to the petition submitted by Liel and others to the HCJ, Israel Chief Rabbi, Yona Metzger. In the petition, Liel and seven other members of the Mevaseret Tzion regional council describe how two weeks ago a rabbi named Shlomo Ben Ezra was appointed to be the town rabbi, in a swift and corrupt process. According to the petition, which was also filed against the mayor, Aryeh Shamam, the post had been unmanned for 15 years, since the passing of the former town rabbi. The petitioners claim Ben Ezra was appointed for the following reasons: He served as the personal assistant of the Religious Affairs minister; he is close to the heads of Shas; his brother has a lofty position in the Beit Yosef rabbinical court, run by Rabbi Ovadia Yosefs son Rabbi Moshe Yosef. This Kashrut industry rolls millions of shekels, reads the petition, and the rabbinical court aims to take over additional slices of the local Kashrut pie. The petitioners claim, The mayor made a deal with Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger to appoint Ben Ezra to the post at any cost, in a rushed procedure, by an urgent phone referendum as if it was some dire security need ... It was kept secret from Rabbinate council members that Ben Ezra had failed to pass the proper marriage registrar examinations ... Vital information was kept hidden from council members, trampling the basic principles according to which public bodies are supposed to operate. The petitioners add: This rapid appointment screams to the heavens in light of the fact that just a few years ago Ben Ezra tried to win the local rabbi position in an underhanded way and was disqualified by HCJ judges. The rabbi presented himself, the judges wrote in their ruling, as one who was working under the auspices of the state and went about forming a selection assembly the very assembly that was supposed to select him for the position of the town rabbi ... This deed alone constitutes cause to disqualify the election. What is Rabbi Metzgers response to questions posed to him by Uzi Dayan? Firstly, that the new appointment is contingent on the rabbi passing the necessary exams. Secondly, the town now urgently needs the position filled. And moreover, there is no legal requirement for the city councils approval of the appointment. Rabbi Ben Ezras response: The petition is the result of peoples envy
Some of the petitioners dont even know me
this position isnt one of an overseeing rabbi, rather of a signatory of Kashrut certificates ... So what if my brother works at the Beit Yosef rabbinical court, whats that got to do with me? In any case I won't sign on to the job before the court matter is adjourned. The city councils response: It too rejects the petitioners claims. It is all political, it says, and the true facts dont resemble those that appear in the petition. Overseeing the prosecution Its been another fortnight since last we explained why the state prosecutor's office needs to be woken up from its coma and why oversight must be established and still nothing has moved forward in two of its major cases: one against Ramat Gan Mayor Tzvi Bar, who is suspected of severe bribery offenses; and another against Petach Tikva Deputy Mayor Sinai Cohen, who is suspected of receiving a 15-million shekel bribe. Everything is prepared, by the way, for harsh indictments to be filed and still someone took a sleeping pill and fell asleep. Nothing is urgent and thats a shame.
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