U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent remarks, that controversial legislation proposed by Israel's extreme Right endangers Israel's democracy and that the status of its women rivals that of women in Iran, were totally out of line. She was exaggerating, and regardless, friends are not supposed to talk this way about each other in public. America will clarify and qualify and smooth things over, but things that were said cannot be taken back. These remarks reflect the opinion of the most important foreign minister in the world, especially for Israel, on the way the Jewish state is run. We owe this damage, on the one hand, to Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, who ordered soldiers to refuse military orders so as to avoid hearing women sing, and on the other hand to lawmaker Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman and MKs Zeev Elkin, Danny Danon, Yariv Levin and David Rotem (who drafted a recent string of bills seen by opponents as undemocratic). For additional legislation we also owe MKs Ofir Akunis, Tzipi Hotovely and Faina Kirshenbaum. An intelligent man who is not ignorant will avoid extending his hand to a religious woman, forbidden from touching a man other than her husband. But an intelligent religious woman will take the hand offered by a secular man, so as not to embarrass him. The same is true of women's singing. A smart commander does not embarrass his religious soldiers, but a smart rabbi teaches his pupils that in such a situation they must remain in their seats and listen. As the saying goes: "Who is strong? He who conquers his desires." Get the Israel Hayom newsletter sent to your mailbox! The same is true of sons of darkness in the legislative branch. Not every one of their legislative initiatives is a disaster. Their bills are not leading to Nuremberg, but, taken together, they are an infringement on the right to free speech, freedom of the investigative media and the independence of the Supreme Court. When former Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann and Likud MK Yariv Levin describe the High Court of Justice as a branch of the left-wing Meretz party and a gang of radical leftists it is as though they are planting a landmine under the concept of civil rights. The debate rages on. These bills do not reflect the responsible Right; they mirror the worldview of the radical Right. This week, Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz quoted the philosopher Immanuel Kant, who said that states need good institutions for periods when they are ruled by not-so-good people. This is the ultimate reason to protect the High Court and Chief Justice Dorit Beinish, who has been standing in this breach for the past five years. On top of that, we have the cost-benefit analysis. In recent weeks I have been hearing from senior diplomats in Tel Aviv that their countries are embarrassed about Israel's democratic character. On Sunday, journalists Orly Azoulay of Yedioth Ahronoth and Ben Caspit of Maariv reported on this from the Saban Forum in Washington. Then came Clinton's statement - and that is only the tip of the wedge that these bills are driving between Israel and the West. Imagine the following scenario: a White House discussion on a critical matter in Israel. Clinton takes part. She takes a position on a state, which suddenly appears in her eyes (mistakenly) as something similar to Iran, as a state entity whose democratic values are in decline. Is Neeman really incapable of understanding how great the damage of his exploits are, in comparison to the benefit he nets from the ephemeral legislation that he so desires? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must decide what his priorities are in light of the Islamic wave sweeping over the region. The damage in the West has already been done, and the only way to fix it is to declare unambiguously that these proposed laws will be put off until the next elections to the Knesset. If the coalition parties adopt them as election slogans and still gain the public's mandate - they will re-emerge in the next Knesset. Please turn back history, as the prophet said: "And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning; afterward thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city" (Isaiah 1:26).
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