Op-ed: Top institutions use power arbitrarily, without due process to prevent settlement expansion
In 2011, the State Prosecutor’s Office asked the High Court to remove a few buildings in Beit El which it said had been built illegally on “private Palestinian land.” The Court accepted this request and ordered the buildings removed by July 1, 2012.
No court, however, heard evidence or adjudicated the question of landownership in Beit El.
Despite ample evidence of serious flaws in the judicial process, High Court judges, having made its decision, rejected further appeals for reconsideration – and there is no way to appeal their decision.
Such cases in which Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria have been destroyed and are threatened with destruction have exposed a widespread systematic corruption within Israel’s judicial system – the State Prosecutor, the Attorney General, the Civil Administration, the Military Advocate General (the IDF’s legal arm) and the High Court of Justice. In order to prevent settlement expansion, these state institutions use their power arbitrarily and without due process.
This corruption represents the greatest threat to Israeli society and its so-called democratic system because it undermines the fundamental rule of law. Here’s how it works.
It begins with the approval of fictitious Arab claims of land ownership by the Civil Administration, which is under the Ministry of Defense. Lawfare-oriented foreign-funded NGOs such as Yesh Din and Peace Now apply to the High Court – which does not examine evidence – rather than lower courts (which do) in order to avoid normal judicial procedures. The State Prosecutor and Attorney General accept these unverified claims on behalf of the State without proper examination and the High Court goes along with this charade. Israelis call this a “combina” – trickery.
Moreover, there is no way to investigate or change the system. It is a totally enclosed and protected self-perpetuating legal structure that is virtually unaccountable and impervious to critique.
The government (that is, the prime minister and cabinet) cannot oppose a High Court decision, even though it is wrong. Rather than allowing the Knesset to propose a legislative solution, however, PM Netanyahu opposed this intervention and threatened to fire any minister who voted to support the Knesset bill. That killed the democratic initiative.
Offering to build more homes to replace those that would be destroyed without confronting the injustice and corruption of the system that allowed this to happen and those who are responsible avoids the real problem – a legal and judicial travesty.
@ BlandOatmeal:
No way I can compete with that; I know when I’m outclassed.
Enjoy.
@ yamit82:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pHXZyNNes0
@ SHmuel HaLevi:
@ Aryeh Zelasko:
It’s difficult to keep revolutionary momentum alive and vibrant for more than a generation if that long. Old revolutionaries especially when successful become corrupt cosmopolitans and in many cases they mirror those to whom their revolution was directed at.
There have been a myriad of articles and comments about annexation and the efficacy of one state solution or a two state solution.
Any solution that does not encompass the transfer of Arabs out of Israel and the territories will not bring positive results.
My solution is simple. Retake the Temple Mount. Allow all Jews freedom of worship. Ban Muslim and Christian worship on our holy site. Make Al-Aksa into a Synagogue for now. All the rest of the puzzle re: annexation and one or to states will be derived from our position on the Mount. The more we assert control and sovereignty the more the Arabs will accept our sincerity, and if they don’t they will give us the practical stimulus and reasons for retaking control of all of Y&S and the forced removal ( in body bags or any other means) of all dissidents.
I would use newly formed Haredi units along with National Religious soldiers mainly in enforcement and defense of Jewish rights and Israeli sovereignty over all of Y&S.
Lastly begin rebuilding the Temple ASAP!
@ yamit82:
Yamit,
The compounded tragedy is so much more painful because it includes the fact that people cannot any longer trust the so called “rabbanim” or conveniently bearded and clean shaven clowns pretending to be patriots. Horrible as it sounds the mentality of those “leading” the Jews out of their properties and accepting idiotic “promises” and the Jews themselves recall the Judenrat Jews walking other Jews into the train cars.
I am not young anymore but I am ready to pick up the proverbial flag and walk to Jerusalem to remove the stains in there at all costs.
I am not sure if it is not too late already but we must get rid of the perverted combina if we expect to survive.
The arrogant, insolent, abusive, violent unJews must be removed once and for all.
There is one serious factual error in this article. The Israeli unJustice System is not guilty of “…widespread systematic corruption…” but of treason, sedition and rebellion. Aaron Barak’s usurpation of the sovereignty of the Knesset was nothing less than a coup d’etat. One that is unique in history inasmuch as there were no troops marching in the streets or tanks shooting at building or any of the usual events we associate with such things. But it was as much of a coup as those using open violence.
This was done by Israel’s enlightened and intellectually superior ruling elite to save DeMockracy from the fascistic majority of the people whom no longer wanted to live in a People’s Republic Goyish Slime. Since the election of Begin, the unJews have been doing all they can to guarantee that they can never be ousted from power. Since elections are such an unfair and fickle process that often allow the wrong types of people into Government, an alternative was devised; control of the Judicial System. As long as the unJews control the Police/Prosecutor/Court system by keeping it a closed and exclusive club, they control the country.
Of course the burning question is how to wrest the Judicial System from the hands of the unJews? I can only answer that with my email signature:
In the history of the world, no tyranny has ever voluntarily relinquished power or been replaced by peaceful means.
@ Jerry:
Hi, Jerry.
The story was a C. S. Lewis story about a magician, and about a wicked witch/ queen. They had a common trait, in that they thought that rules were to be obeyed only by common people; but they, as important, “special” people, could not be expected to obey them. The magician’s young nephew saw through this almost immediately: What they really thought, was that they could do anything they wanted to get anything they wanted. Perhaps I was reading about the Israeli High Court after all, no?
Quite correct, Bland. Reading to your granddaughter is much more important than these political discussions. Indeed, that is what the Jews are fighting for when they express their Zionism and attachment to the land. If left to their own devices, Jews can produce a better quality of internal peace than other groups – if they source their values within Judaism. These long lasting concepts include Moshiach, an ineffable God, personal restraint, interest in the lessons of history, family values that are child-centered and thus future oriented, etc. These values are hard to come by in a Marxist-Leninist world, in a post-modern Europe, within Russian depressive presumptions, in subsistence and agrarian life, and in polygamist societies of Arabia and Africa. With the availability of contraceptives, it is a choice to raise children as a reason and a justification for one’s own existence. It is probably the only rational choice humans can make, though most people seem to feel that all choices other than that one have equal merit.
@ dweller:
No time. I had to quit, to read my granddaughter a story — much more interesting 🙂
@ BlandOatmeal:
Forget ‘glancing over’ them. Take the time to read them carefully.
Did you read the comments about the High Court’s assumption of original jurisdiction, allowing litigants to bypass the lower court system? — and thus ignore their function of (among other things) establishing the facts?
Did you read the comments about HOW new High Court justices are chosen, and WHO gets to choose them?
Seven years ago, Bob Bork had a fascinating Letter-to-the-Editor in response to an article in Azure:
Hunh??! — Judging from his comment [above] that there’s “only one way to stop this system and bring about the needed change and that is non-compliance with their edicts and decisions,” I’d have to say he’s for IGNORING the ‘leaders.’
That makes them exactly like everybody else.
(And what else is new?)
As opposed to every other nation’s problems?
— No political-level approach for Israel? — only for the goyim?
Personal piety is a fine thing, I believe in it wholeheartedly — but Israel, for better or for worse, is a polity.
And a polity must — of necessity — deal, on a political level, with political realities.
The notion that you could somehow ignore that, Bland, is astonishing.
So are you hitting the cognac early today? — or is it just that there’s a full moon out tonite?
@ dweller:
I glanced over the talkbacks, Dweller. There seemed to be a concensus that the current High Court dictatorship is “undemocratic”. I’m under-impressed: The YNET talkbacks are calling for more “democracy”, and our ever-faithful Yamit is calling for knesset chutzpah. “More democracy” will not solve Israel’s problems, because it’s the Israeli PEOPLE who are confused and ever at odds with one another. As for Yamit, he’s waiting for leaders. They won’t come.
One YNET respondent even mentioned M o s h i a c h. Many Jews are looking forward to him/her/it. What do you suppose they expect? A dictator? That would hardly be acceptable to those who want “more democracy”. A leader? Israel has devoured its leaders, throughout history: If M__ were to show up today, heshit would instantly be opposed by half the country, who would enlist the help of the Americans to depose him. If he stood in the Temple and proclaimed himself High Priest, the Jews would pelt him with citrons. The Jews want a leader LIKE THEMSELVES, and they pretty much have him — he’s Binyamin Netanyahu: double-dealing, double-minded, double-everything.
Israel’s problems can only be solved on the personal level: Everyone by himself, reconciling himself to God. This is how it is described in Z ec h ri ah, and this is how it will happen.
The TALKBACKS to the original YNET article are especially interesting.
There is only one way to stop this system and bring about the needed change and that is non compliance with their edicts and decisions. This will take many brave and courageous people willing to apply self sacrifice for the common good. So far they have not shown up but they are out there.