One in a series of publications by the "Thomas Jefferson" of
Israel.
First posted 25 June, 2006. Also read
The Myth of Israeli Democracy.
More articles are available via
http://www.foundation1.org.
 The Failure of
the Right
Prof.
Paul Eidelberg
For more than three decades,
Europe has been dominated by the Left, by
its post-Christian politicians, professors, and journalists.
Today
Europe is dying—Arabized.
But as Oriana Fallaci has boldly pointed out, the Right is no less
to blame for
Europe’s cultural demise.
By the “Right” she means “nationalists” who,
whether in
France or in
Holland, could have galvanized
the people of their respective countries against the Left’s
multiculturalism and permissive Arab immigration laws which have stripped
each nation of its cultural heritage.
The Right failed to counter the Left’s rhetoric that the
nation-state is obsolete, that nationalism conduces to war, and that
democratic universalism must be the basis of the New World Order.
Thus speaks the post-Jewish Left in
Israel, which, like its
European counterpart, is collaborating with Arabs to strip
Israel of its
national character in the name of democratic universalism.
But here, too, the Right, or so-called nationalist camp, has failed
to galvanize the people against the Left.
The Right has allowed the Left to undermine the cultural heritage
of the Jewish people in the name of democracy, a
form of government
having no ethnic or religious character.
Ironically, however, and despite its
periodic multiparty elections,
Israel is not a
democracy.
Analysis of its legislative, executive, and judicial institutions reveals
that
Israel has never had
a democratic
system of governance! Political
theorist Henry Mayo correctly states that “A political system is
democratic to the extent that decisions-makers are under effective popular
control.”
But decisions-makers in Israel are not and
cannot
be under effective popular control so long as members of the Knesset—and
more than 20 become cabinet ministers—are not
individually
elected by the voters in regional elections.
The Right—politicians, professors, and
journalists—will not tell the people the truth about
Israel’s
undemocratic
system
of governance.
Why not?
Don’t they know that in 1949 Israel’s
provisional government, instead of drafting a constitution as prescribed
by its Declaration of Independence, proclaimed itself the Knesset
(parliament) and thus established a form of government without the consent
of the people?
Don’t they know that Israel’s Government can
conclude agreements foreign states—and has done so even with terrorist
organizations proscribed by law—without Knesset ratification, hence
without public debate?
Don’t they know that
Israel’s
system
of governance
enables the prime minister to ignore the will of the people with impunity,
as former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did when he adopted Labor’s
“unilateral disengagement” policy, which had been rejected by a vast
majority of the voters in the January 2003 election?
Don’t they know that this
system
of governance
enabled 67 Knesset members to legalize that criminal policy by voting for
the Evacuation Law, even though 84 of the Knesset’s 120 members opposed
“unilateral disengagement” in the January 2003 election?
Don’t they know that this betrayal of the
electorate is a direct consequence of the fact that of the world’s 76
reputed democracies, Israel is the only one in which members of parliament
are not
individually accountable to the voters in constituency
elections—and that of these democracies 28 have smaller populations
while 18 are smaller in size than Israel?
Hence, don’t
they know that former Likud cabinet minister Moshe Arens’ recent
statement, “that the parliamentary system of government that we have is
the one of most common amongst democracies in the world,” is utterly
false, and that his saying “It has functioned very well” is disingenuous?
Don’t they know—doesn’t Mr.
Arens know—that
Israel’s parliament
is not only subservient to the Government, but that, like no other
parliament, it has allowed the Supreme Court to become a
super-legislature?
Don’t they know—doesn’t Mr. Arens, a member
of the nationalist camp, know—that Israel’s
system
of governance
has enabled
this unelected Supreme Court to deny Israel’s lawful and historical right
to Judea, Samaria, and Gaza—which is only one of the court’s many judicial
rulings that violate the abiding convictions and permanent interests of
the Jewish people? (Several of these rulings are
set forth in my booklet, “The Myth of Israeli Democracy,”
http://www.cafepress.com/eidelberg.)
These facts are obvious to politicians,
professors, and journalists of the Right.
They know that
Israel is not a
democracy, but they cannot or dare not say so.
Why not? Three reasons.
First: Israel’s
ruling elites—Right and Left—know that the democratic façade of periodic
multiparty elections placates the masses, while the absence of
constituency elections enables these elites to ignore the masses.
As part of the Establishment, these elites are not about to commit
political suicide.
The second reason is more profound:
Israel’s ruling
elites—Right and Left—cannot transcend the democratic mentality of the
present age.
Democracy is their supreme standard of what is politically good and
bad, right and wrong.
Having no higher standard, politicians, professors, and journalists
of the Right could not expose the myth of Israeli democracy even while the
Government was expelling 10,000 Jews from their homes in
Gaza and northern
Samaria
in the name of
democracy!
Even while this crime was being orchestrated
by Mr. Sharon and legalized by Chief Justice Aharon Barak—who mendaciously
ruled that Gaza as well as Judea and Samaria constitute “belligerent
occupied territory”—politicians, professors, and journalists of the Right
persisted in referring to Israel as “democracy,” but of course one whose
principles were being violated by the government.
Israel’s
“politically correct” Right—politicians, professors, and journalists—may
go so far as to say that
Israel is an
“imperfect” democracy.
Some will admit the obvious, that the Supreme Court has usurped
legislative as well as executive powers.
But who among these decision-makers and opinion-makers has the
wherewithal to say that
Israel, quite apart
from the judicial imperialism of Judge Barak, is not and never has been a
democracy?
But there is a third and deadlier reason why
the Right—again, the so-called nationalist camp—perpetuates the myth of
Israeli democracy:
Israel’s
ruling elites—Right and Left—know that the government’s legitimacy as well
as their own respectability is derived from
Israel’s reputation as
a democracy, especially in the
United States.
The Right will not expose the myth of
Israeli democracy even though this myth or pseudo-democracy is
facilitating the treacherous agenda of the Left, is undermining
Israel’s Jewish
character and territorial integrity (hence national security).
Of course, the Right, like the Left, will
counter that
Israel’s democratic
reputation is a precondition of
U.S.
military and economic aid.
Not so! Joseph Sisco, a former U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State, once told the Israeli author Shmuel Katz:
“I want to assure you, Mr.
Katz, that if we were not getting full value for our money, you would not
get a cent from us.”
Decisive in U.S.-Israel
relations are not ostensible common
values
but actual common
interests.
In fact,
Israel’s democratic
reputation is counterproductive! It is precisely
because of its democratic reputation that Israel is expected to (1) engage
in territorial compromises with its genocidal enemies; (2) make
“confidence building” gestures to its enemies by releasing Arab
terrorists; (3) exercise self-restraint against terrorist attacks that
have reduced Jewish women, men, and children to body parts; and (4)
recognize the factitious right of the fictional Palestinian people to
independent statehood on Jewish land.
That
Israel’s leftwing
political and judicial elites have betrayed the Jewish heritage in the
name of democracy, and that they have promoted the cause of
Israel’s enemies by
their lip service to democracy, is unsurprising.
But that the Right—politicians, professors, and journalists—should
engage in this democratic rhetoric to secure their democratic credentials
is no less contemptible.
Indeed, this democratic flim-flam is not only emasculating
Israel—as is evident
from the Government’s failure to put a stop to the bombing of Israeli
towns such as Sderot. No, the myth of Israeli
democracy is actually leading to the Arabization of this country.
Nothing less than Regime Change can save
Israel from
extinction. |
