By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — It may not be fair to hark back to Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which dates from 1948, in judging modern-day Israel. Nevertheless, the inclination remains. When Israel’s founding principles were delineated, in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Holocaust, the national entity (Yishuv) had already existed for almost one hundred years, based on the ingathering of the exiles, the establishment of a fair and free society, Jewish agriculture and labor as well as egalitarian, liberal principles. All these concepts were outlined in the Declaration of Independence which assumed the status of a founding constitution, resting on “foundations of liberty, justice and peace… and complete equality of social and political rights for all citizens irrespective of creed, race or sex…”
When I came to live in Israel some 60 years ago Israel was an open, liberal and egalitarian society where minorities were given equal rights, and no one was discriminated against on the grounds of gender, race, religion or ethnic group. Today, when I open the newspaper or watch the news on television, I am confronted by items describing the injustices perpetrated against ethnic groups in Israel proper as well as the West Bank. Because we are currently at war, I’m not referring to the damage inflicted on the unfortunate residents of Gaza, though I’m not convinced that all their suffering is an inevitable consequence of the war situation.
The thing that bothers me most is that we seem to have lost a sense of unity of purpose. What was once a liberal, democratic and egalitarian society is now one that is riven by discord and disunity, with political figures seeking to impose values which negate the principles outlined by our founding fathers. Entire segments of the population claim to be immune from such basic tenets as the obligation to work and perform military service while expecting other segments of the population to support them. The situation of the more than one hundred hostages taken by Hamas is as dire as ever, with no prospect of their ever being released, while their relatives and those who back them are left to suffer and protest in vain, if they’re lucky, and subjected to insults and attacks if they’re not.
Throughout the year since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7th October 2023 the IDF has fought valiantly to overcome the threat to the country on several fronts, and this has led to the death of almost eight hundred soldiers and the injury of many thousands, a price that the country cannot continue to pay indefinitely. And yet there is no sign of an end to the war, despite the crushing defeats inflicted on Israel’s enemies. On the contrary, some of those in power seem to seek to continue the conflict forever, while making use of the situation to introduce legislation which undermines the rule of law and the underlying principles of equality and justice for all, consigning to oblivion the values on which Israel was founded.
It seems to me that the only conclusion to be drawn from all this is that the people who are running the country are ruining the country.
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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson is an author and freelance writer based in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion.
Democracies are imperfect. They have never been perfect to those who have been voted out of power.
Israel’s system, like our own, is imperfect.
When Israel was established in 1948, Israel was basically a one-party dominated State. It was ruled by Labor for many, many years until Menachem Begin and Likud took power in a democratic election in 1977.
Before Likud took power, they bemoaned the terrible dictatorship of Labor that was ruining the Zionist idea and ruining the country by forcing Israelis to live with one size shoes to fit all.
Much as you have bemoaned in your opinion piece.
Labor is but a shadow of its former powerful self today. Israel’s democracy has chosen Likud.
Israel is not ruined by the current leadership. It is governed by leaders who do not share the opinion writer’s values.
The recourse is not to denigrate, to castigate, to point fingers at Netanyahu and Likud, incredibly calling them Neo-Nazi Fascists ruining Israel but advance your ideas and principles in a fair election and win control of the Knesset.
Since Labor’s defeat and almost steady defeat during the past 20+ years, Labor has tried to rule through the courts, especially the Israeli Supreme Court. Supreme Court judges are virtually self-appointed by former justices in a Byzantine system. It is a system that has created “Lawfare” thate, animosity and worse. Trying to reform the Israeli Supreme Court and their concept of the Basic Laws has created near hysteria among the left.
It is amazing that the country functions at all. Virtually every law the Knesset passes that the left hates becomes a lawsuit that runs headlong into the minority-controlled and un-elected Supreme Court.
The solution for Israel has been what so many in the U.S. decry nowadays as out of date and corrupt: a written constitution defining checks and balances. Reform the Supreme Court, don’t pack it.
Join with the many others on both sides of the fence and create a written document of governance, an Israeli constitution. Simply complaining goes nowhere good.