4. The conclusion is obvious: Israel has a dysfunctional system of government, in dire need of systemic reform. Vested interests, in particular the existing political parties, will oppose basic institutional reform. Hence the need of an external organization, namely, a “shadow government.” The people of Israel are ready for such an organization.
a. A survey commissioned by former Knesset Speaker Abraham Burg indicates that almost 90% of the people in Israel are disgusted with their system of government. An increasing majority feel powerless despite periodic, multi-party elections.
b. Although Ariel Sharon was elected in February 2001 by a landslide victory to put an end to Arab terror, more than 1,000 Jews have been murdered under his premiership, and tens of thousands of children are suffering from post-traumatic shock syndrome. Instead of destroying the barbaric Palestinian Authority five years ago in one swift blow—and he had the green light from the Bush administration to do so in June 2002—his policy of “targeted killings” and brief incursions has given the forces of anti-Semitism years to spread Jew-hatred throughout the U.S. and Europe. Sharon’s premiership has been an unmitigated disaster. And what is also shocking, critical analysis of Israel’s system of government reveals that it is not representative of the people, so that even its legitimacy is questionable as the following facts demonstrate:
(1). Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has not only failed to protect the lives of his fellow-citizens. Acting as a virtual dictator, he has emasculated his cabinet and, in defiance of the heads of Israel’s military and intelligence services, is determined to uproot Jews from their homes in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza—thus violating Israel’s Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom. The Supreme Court’s ruling that Judea, Samaria, and Gaza are “belligerent occupied territory” contradicts its own earlier decisions as well as objective international law.
(2) Members of the Knesset, hence those who become cabinet ministers, are not personally elected by, or individually accountable to, the voters in multi-district elections—the practice of 74 out of 75 democracies. The government, consisting of party leaders with safe seats, controls the Knesset and can ignore public opinion with impunity. (No Likud- or Labor-led government has ever been toppled by a Knesset vote of no confidence.)
(3) The Supreme Court, as admitted by eminent Israelis across the political spectrum, is a self-perpetuating oligarchy that scorns the abiding beliefs and values of the Jewish People.
(4) Current Knesset Speaker Reuben Rivlin has admitted that Israel is governed not by the rule of law but by a “gang of law.” (No wonder! Israel lacks a Constitution, which was prescribed in its 1948 Declaration of Independence.)
5. Despite Israel’s democratic veneer, the people cannot reform the system by ordinary political means; and to expect reform to originate from within the government is like asking chickens to vote for Colonel Sanders.
B. A Congress of National Salvation and Shadow Government
1. Moshe Feiglin should convene a Congress of National Salvation which in turn will establish a “shadow government.” The following steps should be taken:
a. The Congress should be assembled in a major Jerusalem hotel. Publiscity should ensure an attendance of at least 2,000 persons, including Israeli and international journalists. On each chair will be an appropriate flyer and membership form.
b. Mr. Feiglin and seven other well-known speakers, representing a cross-section of Israeli society, will address the audience. Simultaneous translations in Hebrew, English, and Russian will be available. The speeches—between 10 to 12 minutes in duration—will be coordinated beforehand so as to present a well-integrated and comprehensive review of Israel’s current malaise and its remedy. Each speech will have been printed beforehand for public dissemination in various languages. Following are the major topics:
(1) The illegitimacy of the Sharon government:
(a) How Sharon betrayed the nation by adopting Labor’s expulsion/retreat plan, a plan rejected by a vast majority of the public in the January 2003 election;
(b) how he manipulated 27 Likud MKs to approve of that plan in October 2004;
(c) how this manipulation would not have occurred if MKs were individually elected by and accountable to the voters in constituency elections.
(2) The strategic dangers of the Sharon plan, according to Israel’s highest military and intelligence officials.
(3) How the Sharon plan violates Israeli as well as international law.
(4) How the Sharon plan violates Jewish law.
(5) The economic consequences of the Sharon plan,
(6) The dysfunctional character of Israel’s system of governance.
(7) The need of a Jewish National Movement to garner maximum support for an alternative system of government whose paramount principle is the Jewish essence of the State, to which all other principles are subordinate.
(8) Where and how the “shadow government” will function.
C. Resolutions of the Shadow Government
1. Demands that any new government (a) abrogate Oslo; (b) destroy, in one swift blow, the Palestinian Authority and its terrorist network; (c) close down all Arab institutions and media that advocate incitement.
2. Demands that the Government assert Israel’s sovereignty over the Temple Mount, Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.
3. Calls on the Government to (a) pass a Homestead Act to facilitate Jewish settlement of Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and the Golan Heights; (b) invite foreign capital to build model cities in these areas; (c) move certain ministries to eastern Jerusalem.
4. In pursuance of the 1952 Citizenship Law, urges the Minister of Interior to revoke the citizenship of all Arabs who have committed acts of violence against the Jewish state.
5. Demands enforcement of Basic Law: The Knesset, which bars any party that negates the Jewish character of the State.
6. Demands that those Arab Knesset members who have committed acts of sedition or incitement be indicted, expelled from the Knesset, and deported.
7. Advocates a market economy based on Jewish ethics to avoid the greed of capitalism and the egalitarian envy of socialism. Employee Stock Ownership Plans should be used wherever expedient.
8. Advocates a bi-cameral parliament. The upper branch, the Senate, will be limited to Jews and will have exclusive law-making powers. The lower branch, the House of Representatives, will exercise the power of administrative oversight (a power lacking in the present Knesset). Members of both branches will be individually accountable to the voters in regional elections. (For details, see the website of the Foundation for Constitutional Democracy: http.//www.foundation1.org/)
9. Advocates a Presidential system to replace multi-party cabinet government which is inept, divisive, and incapable of pursuing coherent and resolute national policies. The Presidency and the heads of all executive offices will be limited to Jews.
10. Advocates nomination of Supreme Court judges by the President (with the advice of a council learned in Jewish and secular law), subject to confirmation by the Senate.
11. Insists that the Supreme Court adhere to the Foundations of Law Act 1980, such that Jewish law will be “first among equals” vis-à-vis other legal systems used by the judiciary.
12. Advocates a law that would enable a private citizen who suffers injury from the act of any public official to sue the official for compensatory and punitive damages.
13. Advocates legislation that (a) no citizen may be arrested without charge nor be imprisoned without trial longer than two weeks; (b) no person convicted of a felony may be released from jail prior to the termination of his sentence without the approval of a parole board consisting of qualified private citizens. This will preclude the release of terrorists.
14. Insists that the IDF be depoliticized by legislation prohibiting high-ranking officers from holding any elective national office for five years after their discharge.
15. Recognizes that, given the existence of weapons of mass destruction, a small state like Israel must pursue a policy of pre-emption.
16. Demands that the terms “Judaism,” “Zionism,” and “Eretz Israel” be restored to the Soldiers Code of Ethics—terms deleted by the 1992-1995 Rabin-Peres government.
17. Urges amendment of the “grandfather clause” of the Law of Return, which has enabled hundreds of thousands of gentiles to enter Israel.
18. Advocates enfranchisement of Israelis abroad.
19. Demands that the government recall the Israeli ambasador from, and refrain from seeking diplomatic relations with, any state whose governmenmt fosters hatred of Jews.
20. Demands that the government cease appeasing the United States. This not only demeans Israel and Jews in the Diaspora, but it also perpetuates Washington’s hypocritical friendship with the Jewish state. Acccordingly, Israel’s government must (a) demand the immediate release of its agent, Jonathan Pollard; (b) stop relying on the U.S. to play the role of the anything but “honest broker” in Israel-Arab affairs; (c) reveal the extent to which the U.S. is dependent on Israeli science, high-tech industries, medical discoveries, and intelligence services; (d) notify the U.S. that Israel will terminate in stages American transfer payments, i.e., military and economic assistance; (e) resume development and production of an Israeli fighter aircraft by reducing taxes on the one hand, and eliminating outrageous tax-evasion on the other; (f) notify the U.S. to move its embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem or have none at all.
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said:
Toward a Congress of National Salvation and A Shadow Government
{this is only a working paper - P. Eidelberg}
[webmasters: - please feel free to divide this as you will. I can't decide 'where'. I see it as critical reading for all - Tiburon]
A. Introduction
1. Having urged Moshe Feiglin to quit the Likud, a party that has betrayed Israel, I had to present a rational alternative. I proposed that he establish a “shadow government.” Before elaborating, some preliminary remarks are necessary.
2. By adopting Labor’s expulsion-and-retreat plan, PM Sharon is hastening the demise of the Third Commonwealth. Its demise is inevitable given the government’s failure to address the demographic problem, a attributable to the ineptitude of its political institutions.
3. Here are some salient facts: (a) Almost 50% of the births in Israel is non-Jewish. (b) The government’s lax immigration law has diminished the Jewish majority of the State by almost 10% in the last two decades. (c) The government does not enforce the Citizenship Law against Israel’s Arab citizens who aid or commit terrorist acts against the State. (d) Israel’s ultra-liberal Supreme Court does not uphold the indictment of Arab Knesset Members who have incited Israeli Arabs to emulate Hizbullah. (e) The same Court has refused to uphold a law which prohibits any party that rejects the Jewish character of the State. (f) The Knesset consists of so many parties that it is virtually impotent. (g) Several of these parties—each with its own agenda—must coalesce to form a government, in consequence of which the government is incapable of pursuing a coherent and resolute national strategy—which prompts the Prime Minister to violate the law by ignoring his cabinet on controversial issues.
4. The conclusion is obvious: Israel has a dysfunctional system of government, in dire need of systemic reform. Vested interests, in particular the existing political parties, will oppose basic institutional reform. Hence the need of an external organization, namely, a “shadow government.” The people of Israel are ready for such an organization.
a. A survey commissioned by former Knesset Speaker Abraham Burg indicates that almost 90% of the people in Israel are disgusted with their system of government. An increasing majority feel powerless despite periodic, multi-party elections.
b. Although Ariel Sharon was elected in February 2001 by a landslide victory to put an end to Arab terror, more than 1,000 Jews have been murdered under his premiership, and tens of thousands of children are suffering from post-traumatic shock syndrome. Instead of destroying the barbaric Palestinian Authority five years ago in one swift blow—and he had the green light from the Bush administration to do so in June 2002—his policy of “targeted killings” and brief incursions has given the forces of anti-Semitism years to spread Jew-hatred throughout the U.S. and Europe. Sharon’s premiership has been an unmitigated disaster. And what is also shocking, critical analysis of Israel’s system of government reveals that it is not representative of the people, so that even its legitimacy is questionable as the following facts demonstrate:
(1). Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has not only failed to protect the lives of his fellow-citizens. Acting as a virtual dictator, he has emasculated his cabinet and, in defiance of the heads of Israel’s military and intelligence services, is determined to uproot Jews from their homes in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza—thus violating Israel’s Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom. The Supreme Court’s ruling that Judea, Samaria, and Gaza are “belligerent occupied territory” contradicts its own earlier decisions as well as objective international law.
(2) Members of the Knesset, hence those who become cabinet ministers, are not personally elected by, or individually accountable to, the voters in multi-district elections—the practice of 74 out of 75 democracies. The government, consisting of party leaders with safe seats, controls the Knesset and can ignore public opinion with impunity. (No Likud- or Labor-led government has ever been toppled by a Knesset vote of no confidence.)
(3) The Supreme Court, as admitted by eminent Israelis across the political spectrum, is a self-perpetuating oligarchy that scorns the abiding beliefs and values of the Jewish People.
(4) Current Knesset Speaker Reuben Rivlin has admitted that Israel is governed not by the rule of law but by a “gang of law.” (No wonder! Israel lacks a Constitution, which was prescribed in its 1948 Declaration of Independence.)
5. Despite Israel’s democratic veneer, the people cannot reform the system by ordinary political means; and to expect reform to originate from within the government is like asking chickens to vote for Colonel Sanders.
B. A Congress of National Salvation and Shadow Government
1. Moshe Feiglin should convene a Congress of National Salvation which in turn will establish a “shadow government.” The following steps should be taken:
a. The Congress should be assembled in a major Jerusalem hotel. Publiscity should ensure an attendance of at least 2,000 persons, including Israeli and international journalists. On each chair will be an appropriate flyer and membership form.
b. Mr. Feiglin and seven other well-known speakers, representing a cross-section of Israeli society, will address the audience. Simultaneous translations in Hebrew, English, and Russian will be available. The speeches—between 10 to 12 minutes in duration—will be coordinated beforehand so as to present a well-integrated and comprehensive review of Israel’s current malaise and its remedy. Each speech will have been printed beforehand for public dissemination in various languages. Following are the major topics:
(1) The illegitimacy of the Sharon government:
(a) How Sharon betrayed the nation by adopting Labor’s expulsion/retreat plan, a plan rejected by a vast majority of the public in the January 2003 election;
(b) how he manipulated 27 Likud MKs to approve of that plan in October 2004;
(c) how this manipulation would not have occurred if MKs were individually elected by and accountable to the voters in constituency elections.
(2) The strategic dangers of the Sharon plan, according to Israel’s highest military and intelligence officials.
(3) How the Sharon plan violates Israeli as well as international law.
(4) How the Sharon plan violates Jewish law.
(5) The economic consequences of the Sharon plan,
(6) The dysfunctional character of Israel’s system of governance.
(7) The need of a Jewish National Movement to garner maximum support for an alternative system of government whose paramount principle is the Jewish essence of the State, to which all other principles are subordinate.
(8) Where and how the “shadow government” will function.
C. Resolutions of the Shadow Government
1. Demands that any new government (a) abrogate Oslo; (b) destroy, in one swift blow, the Palestinian Authority and its terrorist network; (c) close down all Arab institutions and media that advocate incitement.
2. Demands that the Government assert Israel’s sovereignty over the Temple Mount, Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.
3. Calls on the Government to (a) pass a Homestead Act to facilitate Jewish settlement of Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and the Golan Heights; (b) invite foreign capital to build model cities in these areas; (c) move certain ministries to eastern Jerusalem.
4. In pursuance of the 1952 Citizenship Law, urges the Minister of Interior to revoke the citizenship of all Arabs who have committed acts of violence against the Jewish state.
5. Demands enforcement of Basic Law: The Knesset, which bars any party that negates the Jewish character of the State.
6. Demands that those Arab Knesset members who have committed acts of sedition or incitement be indicted, expelled from the Knesset, and deported.
7. Advocates a market economy based on Jewish ethics to avoid the greed of capitalism and the egalitarian envy of socialism. Employee Stock Ownership Plans should be used wherever expedient.
8. Advocates a bi-cameral parliament. The upper branch, the Senate, will be limited to Jews and will have exclusive law-making powers. The lower branch, the House of Representatives, will exercise the power of administrative oversight (a power lacking in the present Knesset). Members of both branches will be individually accountable to the voters in regional elections. (For details, see the website of the Foundation for Constitutional Democracy: http.//www.foundation1.org/)
9. Advocates a Presidential system to replace multi-party cabinet government which is inept, divisive, and incapable of pursuing coherent and resolute national policies. The Presidency and the heads of all executive offices will be limited to Jews.
10. Advocates nomination of Supreme Court judges by the President (with the advice of a council learned in Jewish and secular law), subject to confirmation by the Senate.
11. Insists that the Supreme Court adhere to the Foundations of Law Act 1980, such that Jewish law will be “first among equals” vis-à-vis other legal systems used by the judiciary.
12. Advocates a law that would enable a private citizen who suffers injury from the act of any public official to sue the official for compensatory and punitive damages.
13. Advocates legislation that (a) no citizen may be arrested without charge nor be imprisoned without trial longer than two weeks; (b) no person convicted of a felony may be released from jail prior to the termination of his sentence without the approval of a parole board consisting of qualified private citizens. This will preclude the release of terrorists.
14. Insists that the IDF be depoliticized by legislation prohibiting high-ranking officers from holding any elective national office for five years after their discharge.
15. Recognizes that, given the existence of weapons of mass destruction, a small state like Israel must pursue a policy of pre-emption.
16. Demands that the terms “Judaism,” “Zionism,” and “Eretz Israel” be restored to the Soldiers Code of Ethics—terms deleted by the 1992-1995 Rabin-Peres government.
17. Urges amendment of the “grandfather clause” of the Law of Return, which has enabled hundreds of thousands of gentiles to enter Israel.
18. Advocates enfranchisement of Israelis abroad.
19. Demands that the government recall the Israeli ambasador from, and refrain from seeking diplomatic relations with, any state whose governmenmt fosters hatred of Jews.
20. Demands that the government cease appeasing the United States. This not only demeans Israel and Jews in the Diaspora, but it also perpetuates Washington’s hypocritical friendship with the Jewish state. Acccordingly, Israel’s government must (a) demand the immediate release of its agent, Jonathan Pollard; (b) stop relying on the U.S. to play the role of the anything but “honest broker” in Israel-Arab affairs; (c) reveal the extent to which the U.S. is dependent on Israeli science, high-tech industries, medical discoveries, and intelligence services; (d) notify the U.S. that Israel will terminate in stages American transfer payments, i.e., military and economic assistance; (e) resume development and production of an Israeli fighter aircraft by reducing taxes on the one hand, and eliminating outrageous tax-evasion on the other; (f) notify the U.S. to move its embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem or have none at all.
Posted by Tiburon at July 20, 2005 08:24 PM