The battle is on
Someday soon Israel's enemies will take all the current undemocratic legislation being promoted by Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman, MK Yariv Levin, MK Zeev Elkin and MK Danny Danon and use it as a weapon to attack Israel's last remaining asset in the eyes of the West its status as the only democracy in the Middle East. In this case the Right is serving the extreme Left.
A large part of the this legislative weapon will be the bill, drafted by Levin and Danon, that aims to limit the legal recourse of bodies like the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, the human rights group B'Tselem or Ometz (an acronym for citizens for proper administration and social and legal justice). The bill proposes that only the directly injured party be permitted to petition the High Court of Justice, and not any group representing an injured population.
If such a terrifying law were to have existed in the 1990s, the High Court would not have been able to hear the appeal by Eliad Shraga (founder and head of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel) to prevent Aryeh Deri from continuing to serve as a minister in Yitzhak Rabin's government after being charged with bribery (for which he was later convicted). Consequently, then Chief Justice Aharon Barak would not have set the legal precedent preventing politicians facing criminal charges from continuing to serve in the government.
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The Ministerial Committee for Legislation was set to discuss the bill on Sunday, but at the last minute it was effectively snuffed out: Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor announced on the prime-time television show "Meet the Press" that he would resign from any government that places a noose around the court's neck. Then, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he too would not support the bill.
In response, the bill's author Danon said that Meridor can go ahead and quit. Obviously he would not be sorry if that were to happen. But it appears that it will not be necessary after all, at least for now. This democracy-threatening legislation has been deferred.
The Levin-Danon initiative is nothing new. Leaving the office of Professor Daniel Friedmann I was stopped by the former justice minister who touted the merits of this idea to me, saying that "not every redhead" (a reference to Eliad Shraga) should be able to take up the High Court's time with matters that do not directly pertain to him. "If you participate in a tender and lose, and you feel that you have been wronged in some way, you should be able to petition the court," he explained. "But not a redhead who did not participate, and will not lose either way."
I tried to explain to him that Shraga protects public interests. Friedmann then asked me if, as a taxpayer, I was prepared to fund this protection of public interests. "It's very expensive," he said. I replied that I was prepared to fund better education and better care for seniors and bullet-proof vests for soldiers and, yes, justice as well. Friedmann has not spoken to me since.
The bill, foiled yet again, represents the epitome of the battle between the sons of light and sons of darkness. It began with Friedmann, and the defeat of Levin-Danon has not ended it. The sons of light must remain vigilant to ensure that such anti-democratic moves are not renewed. They must adopt this rule: He that keepeth the rule of law shall neither slumber nor sleep. It is going to be interesting. The battle is on.
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