Sometimes politics unfold like a play. The politicians are cast for specific roles and told to recite scripted lines. This week the play centered on the disqualification of MK Hanin Zoabi and far-right activist Baruch Marzel. Both were barred from running only to be allowed back in the race. A wide ideological gulf separates them and, should they enter the 20th Knesset, their seats would be just as distant from one another as their views. Those who supported the disqualification cast their vote knowing full well that the Supreme Court would right their wrong; those who did not want the two candidates taken off the ballot knew the Supreme Court's decision would trigger anti-judiciary backlash, another desired outcome. Both candidates represent two distinct, yet equally abhorred parts of Israeli society, but maligning them could make them dangerous. A misguided Haaretz editorial tried to draw a distinction between Zoabi and Marzel, her polar opposite. They both elicit the same reaction from most Israelis, not just because of their ideology but because of the verbal and physical conduct they engage in as they try to drive home their views. This sentiment is neatly captured by the Bible: "Let my soul not come into their council; unto their assembly let my glory not be united" (Genesis 49:6). It is not Zoabi or Marzel who were put to the test, it was Israel's democracy that had to rise to the challenge: how can they be contained? Can Israel check their brinkmanship before it was too late, before they start marching down the streets of the Arab city Umm-el-Fahm (as Marzel did) or join a Gaza-bound flotilla (as Zoabi did)? The tendency to disqualify candidates in an extra-judicial manner -- without an indictment and without a trial -- attests to a weakness and lack of resolve on the part of the Jewish-democratic majority in Israel. Should Zoabi or Marzel incite or go astray, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein would have every right to take them to court. We would all be well-served if he applied his prosecutor's discretion with more efficiency. Having said that, Weinstein was right to reject their disqualification. The final act of the well-scripted play took place on Wednesday. As expected, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beytenu), Likud MK Miri Regev and head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Likud MK Yariv Levin all cried foul over the grave injustice handed down by the 9 justices. How could you not feel for those crocodile-teared politicians as they lamented the dire state of the judicial nomination process? What's worrying is that their views were not challenged by others on the right. Former Likud heavyweights such as Dan Meridor, Gideon Sa'ar and Michael Eitan kept mum. It was left to former minister Benny Begin to champion the supremacy of the law almost all by himself. Habayit Hayehudi and Yisrael Beytenu have already indicated that they would seek the justice portfolio in the next government. The hard Right in the Likud also covets it. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would do us all a favor (and help the rule of law) by saying that the next justice minister will be an MK or private citizen who upholds the Begin-Meridor doctrine and acts like the classic Likud.
