Israel's Other Domestic Enemy

Submitted by Prof. Paul Eidelberg (Israel), Dec 20, 2006 at 05:16

We are very grateful to Dr. Pipes for his penetrating analysis of "Israel's Domestic Enemy," and I can understand why he refrains from discussing, in this context, what there is about Israel's system of governance that facilitates the objectives of that enemy.

For example, how can Israel pursue a coherent and resolute as well as long-term national strategy vis-a-vis the enemy under its existing system of multi-party cabinet government, when the average duration of an Israeli government is less than two years!

Every statesman worthy of the name knows that national unity is a prerequisite of national strength. But Israel's parliamentary system of proportional representation with a low electoral threshold (2%) multiplies, to an excessive degree, the number of political parties in the Knesset, such that no party has ever come close to winning a majority of seats needed to form a government. Israel's fractious, dysfunctional, and notoriously corrupt system multi-party coalition government is the consequence.

And then there's Israel's Supreme Court (a self-perpetuating oligarchy) which, contrary to its own judicial precedents, has adopted the biased ruling of the International Court of Justice that Judea, Samaria, and Gaza constitute "belligerent occupied territory"—despite the fact that no foreign state had ever established de jure sovereignty over that territory!!! Ultimately, it was this ruling that "legitimated" the expulsion of 8,000, Jews from Gaza and thereby made Gaza a Mecca of international terrorism.

Moreover, the court has refrained from upholding Basic Law: Knesset, which prohibits any party that negates the Jewish character of the State—the position of the Knesset's three Arab parties. Indeed, the court has quashed the indictments of Arabs MKs that have called upon Israeli Arabs to emulate Hezbollah!

So, Israel's most dangerous "domestic enemy" is its own system of governance—a so-called "democracy" in which members of the Knesset are NOT individually elected by and accountable to the voters in constituency elections, contrary to practice of virtually all democratic countries, many of which are smaller in size and population than Israel. Not until this system is drastically overhauled will Israel be able to deal effectively with the enemy referred to in Dr. Pipes' excellent article.

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