By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — For the last few months, Israel’s long-suffering population has been subjected to a double barrage of government legislation on the one hand and demonstrations protesting said legislation on the other.
Anyone living in Israel who is not completely cut off from the news media is unable to avoid involvement at some level in the ongoing dispute between the warring parties, and I use the term “warring” advisedly because that is essentially what is happening between the two main segments involved. As is the case in many countries, the result of the recent general election left Israel with no party having a clear-cut majority. In the past this situation has generally been overcome by forming a coalition government, and in recent years Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proved himself most adept at this. When a rival party used the same tactic to form a government a year ago he refused to acknowledge its legitimacy and expended considerable energy and resources on undermining it, which took him just a year and a half to achieve.
The government which he has subsequently formed combines his right-leaning Likud party with a motley crew of ultra-orthodox, rabid right-wing and self-serving adherents. It is this collection of individuals which now seeks to radically alter Israel’s legislative basis, overthrow its system of checks and balances and impose laws which refer to Talmudic principles as the basis on which society is to function.
When I immigrated to Israel in the 1960s, before the Six-Day War, it was essentially an open, liberal society where Orthodox, ultra-Orthodox and secular Jews lived more or less in harmony. Today the fear among secular Jews like myself is that the narrow view of orthodox Judaism has prevailed in the government and is being imposed on society in general through the new legislation. After all, by revoking the criterion of “reasonableness” in assessing laws, what is there to stop the government from restricting the rights of women and LGBT individuals in accordance with orthodox Jewish practice? And the concepts of equality and human rights, as enshrined in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, are irrelevant for those in the government who seek to repress the Palestinian population, whether in Israel proper or in the West Bank territories.
Today most Israelis are secular, but there’s no guarantee that this will continue to be the case. Reproduction rates among Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Israelis are far higher than those for the secular population. As a former member of Bnei Akiva in England, I know that the ultimate aim of even the most moderate of orthodox Jews is for Israel to become a state based on religious law.
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson is an author and freelance writer who resides in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion, Israel. She may be contacted via dorothea.shefer@sdjewishworld.com
Israel’s Supreme Court has more power than America’s but without the democratic checks. Unbound by any constitution, and loosed from requirements of standing and justiciability, Israel’s court strikes down laws that it finds merely ‘unreasonable,’ which can cover most anything.
Israel’s court even has a veto on the appointment of new justices, in contrast to the U.S. where the President and Senate share the appointment power. Rectifying this situation was a key campaign promise of the right; and why the right was elected to power.