Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that he will oppose the proposed law to establish parliamentary committees to investigate the funding sources of Left-wing organizations. He also announced that he will allow his coalition members to vote as they choose, rather than imposing what is called coalition discipline and forcing them to fall into line. Allowing coalition members to vote as they choose is an important step, as it tears away the mask of excuses that many Knesset members hid behind in the past, pretending that they were forced to vote against their conscience due to coalition discipline. Not this time: now each MK will vote as he or she wishes and the public will know exactly what he or she thinks. The investigative committees bill reeks of McCarthyism. There have indeed been times when the actions of human rights organizations were inappropriate. For instance, human rights groups' activity in the village of Awarta almost thwarted the capture of the murderers of the Fogel family in Itamar. However, if the European Union or one of its governments wants to transfer funds to these organizations, they will easily find a way to bypass the investigatory committees. Israel will be slandered as anti-democratic in any case, and such laws just add fuel to the fire. The boycott law is a burden for Israel. The initiative to allow the High Court of Justice to pass judgment on Knesset members is disastrous. It's a good thing Netanyahu has removed this option from the agenda for now. The current legislative excess and competition between Yisrael Beitenu and the Rightist flank of the Likud is intended to win populist public support for the bills' initiators. At the same time, they damage Israels international reputation ahead of the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September. Netanyahu has practical diplomatic reasons to reject these laws. But one hopes that his motivation is deeper. Netanyahu and his Knesset colleagues Michael Eitan, Benny Begin, Dan Meridor, Gideon Saar and Speaker Reuven Rivlin all trace their roots to the liberal-nationalist ideology espoused by Likud founding fathers Zeev Jabotinsky and Menachem Begin. Thus, their opposition to this brutal legislation may derive from the ideological principles that shaped their thinking. This is encouraging, but one fears they are a dying breed of politician.
Imposing coalition discipline, whether for or against the proposed law, is not a good idea. It is likely that the prime minister's announcement will even induce Yisrael Beitenus Fania Kirshenbaum to suspend the vote on her proposed law, although her party is threatening revenge in the form of disruptions to the government's workflow.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is possessed by a compulsion for problematic legislation. Most of his laws are disastrous for Israels image even if they contain reasonable elements. The law proposed by MK Hamad Amar of Yisrael Beitenu, for example, is commendable. The law aims to correct a minor aspect of discrimination against soldiers versus those who shirked their army duty. What is wrong with that? Professor Uriel Reichman, president of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, does not stop army objectors from studying at his institution but he does give preferential treatment to combat veterans.
