The full title of this post is: "Why are Israelis so afraid of real democracy and letting the people choose for themselves?"

While for some strange reason, Israelis continue to adore Dan Meridor. For years, they’ve continued to ignore what he says, while repeating that he is such a nice person and it is a shame he is no longer a Prince of the Likud.

Personally, I see no loss. What did he really represent?

Let’s look at his latest comments. He is attacking the attempts by different interests to finally put a leash (or checks and balances) on the Judiciary.

Are Checks and Balances in a democracy such a bad thing?

As Lurker once mentioned to me, the next war will be between the Supreme Court and the Legislative branch over an issue neither can back down from, and each will try to see who ultimately has control over the army. It’s a good thing that when that coup happens, more than 50% of the officers in the army are religious Jews.

Yet Meridor wants more power for this branch that has already extended its reach beyond that of any Judicial branch in any other democratic country.

Next on our list of anti-democratic behaviors is the attempts to invalidate Moshe Feiglin’s running for Likud chairman (and thus Prime Minister). Likud insiders are playing dirty and using every means possible to attempt to annul Feiglin’s candidacy before the vote.

One Likud MK said that Bibi is assured to be the winner, and any elections are pointless and a waste of money – so they shouldn’t have them.

I’m sorry, but that is a very scary comment coming from someone who got his job by being voted in. Should we now crown this individual for life too, to save on voting costs?

It’s about time that someone slapped these Israelis upside the head and shipped them all to the USA for a few years. Let them learn what democracy is first hand, and how it actually should work. Only then should they be allowed to come back and have a government position or vote.

That might really be the only way to get some change for the positive here.



Now for some good news.

The Left had been trying to block the transformation of the Academic College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel from a College into a University. After all, it’s bad enough there is Bar-Ilan, but another University that isn’t stridently Left would be unbearable. (I believe that Bar-Ilan University was assisting the Ariel College with obtaining their University status over the years).

But the Left failed in their attempt to block academic freedom.

(By the way, if this College-University thing makes no sense to you, don’t worry. In Israel they make a big deal if you went to a University as opposed to a College. Go figure.)

You see, the Left left an inadvertent loophole in the law.

As it was decided that the “Council of Higher Education” (the group that decides on University status) was not allowed to operate in post-67 Israel the “Council of Higher Education – Judea/Samaria” was created. So while the “CHE” constantly blocked the Ariel College from gaining university status, they never thought that their own political invention (the CHE-JS) could be used despite them.

Left wing ministers getting involved in this academic issue have called it a “trick” even though it is 100% legal.

Of course you need to ask, why does the government need to be involved in every aspect of one’s life in Israel – even institutions that should be free of government intervention.

Haaretz made a point to note that the committee appointed to review the decision was made up of Rightwing professors (as opposed to the Leftwing professors in the CHE who kept blocking it).