Political Science 101 and 201
A. Political Science 101
I wonder how many political scientists in Israel (or in America, for that matter) teach their students that Israel’s Prime Minister is, in principle, and in many decisive respects, more powerful than a President of the United States?
1. Although the President can sign executive agreements without Senate approval, treaties must be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate. In contrast, the Prime Minister of Israel can conclude a treaty (even with a terror organization) without Knesset approval.
2. Yes, the PM is supposed to get cabinet approval for a treaty. However, the PM can present his cabinet with a fait accompli, as PM Ehud Barak did with respect to the Sharm e-Sheikh agreement of 1999.
3. True, the Knesset can topple the PM and his government by a vote no-confidence. But this has never happened in any Labor- or Likud-led government. Why not? Because the PM and the party leaders that compose his cabinet control the Knesset, more precisely, the position and perks of a majority of the Knesset’s membership. There is no real separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, hence no effective institutional checks and balances in Israel.
4. Further, Israel’s government, headed by the PM, can declare war and even change the exchange rate without Knesset approval!
5. Finally, Israel’s PM can expel ten thousand Jews from their homes and farms and give their land to terrorists, as PM Sharon did this year—and is primed to do to countless more Jews in Judea and Samaria. No American President could or would do this (not withstanding Franklin Roosevelt’s relocation of 112,000 Japanese shortly after Pearl Harbor—and let’s not forget that not a few Japanese were engaged in espionage). Not only would a President be impeached for Sharon’s actions, but the American Supreme Court would have put a stop to it before it ever commenced. That Israel’s Supreme Court legitimized Sharon’s criminal deed is to be attributed to its left-wing bias and to other factors which one might learn about in Political Science 201.
Political Science 201
1. Almost any Israeli politician will have a police file on him, and not necessarily consisting of indictable or even culpable offenses. This means that the power of a prime minister—his latitude of action—is or can be limited by the top-cops of the police force.
2. I dare say that if the police wanted to topple Sharon, it would be a snap, even without the cooperation of his Attorney-General, Menahem Mazuz, who was appointed to keep him in power. It just so happens, however, that the A-G and the police are part of the mafia in control of Israel.
3. On July 26, 2005, a senior police officer speaking with Arutz-7 on condition of anonymity said there is enough evidence to indict and convict Sharon. However, the source said that police investigators were made to understand that the policy is not to delve into cases that might incriminate the Prime Minister, in order not to destabilize the regime (read: so as not to prevent the Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria). The source said that incontrovertible evidence exists against the Prime Minister in more than one case, but that the decision was made, together with Attorney-General Mazuz, not to pursue the cases.*
4. The Supreme Court, when it reviewed Mazuz’s decision not to indict PM Sharon regarding the Greek Island affair, admitted that political considerations were central. Acknowledging that Sharon received different treatment than that which a regular citizen in a similar situation would have received, the court justified this by stating that “the indictment of a Prime Minister would lead, probably immediately, to changes in the government order in the country, which would be liable to have a dramatic influence on the policy” [again, withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria). The court made this ruling despite admitting that Sharon’s “explanations during the police investigation did not correspond with facts about which there is direct evidence.”
Note: Now we can better understand what Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin means when he said Israel is governed not by the rule of law, but by a “gang of law,” which of course includes the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Aharon Barak.
5. But let’s not forget the linkage between the police and the media, because not only do journalists provide tidbits for the police files, but they can expose or cover up the naughty as well as criminal behavior of politicians.
Finally there are the banks. But that’s a subject for Political Science 301.
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*For a thorough review of Sharon’s misdeeds, see Rachel Neuwirth, “Does Corruption Drive Israeli ‘Disengagement’?” (July 30, 2005). See also this expose (in hebrew).
