The Foundation for Constitutional Democracy

At least three years before George W. Bush entered the White House in January 2001, Ariel Sharon said a Palestinian state is inevitable. Israel’s greatest warrior had succumbed to a self-fulfilling prophecy, to defeatism, in fact, to Arafat’s cunning campaign of psychological warfare.

Given Mr. Sharon’s reputation as a hawk, is it any wonder that Mr. Bush became the first American president to publicly advocate a Palestinian state?

Sharon’s self-fulfilling prophesy, repeated over and over again by the media, has demoralized the people of Israel. (more…)

If there is any illegal outpost in the Land of Israel—Arabs aside—it’s the outpost occupied by the Knesset.

The mere fact that the government designates as “illegal” an outpost occupied by Jews means that the government itself is illegal, since the Land of Israel is the God-given and eternal possession of the Jewish People.

Thus, when Chief Justice Aharon Barak had the audacity to rule that Judea, Samaria, and Gaza constitute “belligerent occupied territory,” this only means that the Supreme Court building over which he presides is “belligerent occupied territory.” (more…)

In his book The Future of Israel, historian Devin Sper writes eloquently about the Land of Israel. He cites ancient writers who confirmed that the Land of Israel had the most excellent and fertile soil, productive of every variety of fruit. Josephus is quoted:

The whole area is excellent for crops or cattle and rich in forests of every kind, so that by its adaptability it invites even those least inclined to work on the land…All their streams are remarkably sweet, and lush grass is so plentiful that the milk-yield of their cows is exceptionally heavy. The final proof of their outstanding productivity is the swarming population of [Judea and Samaria].

In response to Nadia Matar’s article”, Psychiatrist Needed Urgently!” which contains much wisdom, allow me to say the following:

As that gallant lady well knows, far more than a psychiatrist is needed to overcome Israel’s malaise. Needed is nothing less than a revolution. But inasmuch as the government controls all the levers of power, what can be done to facilitate a revolution? (more…)

Will the readers of this letter kindly inform all Jewish and Zionist organizations in the United States that the so-called democratically elected prime minister of Israel, who received repeated ovations from a joint session of the American Congress—yes, I am referring to Ehud Olmert who is anxious to dispossess and displace or transfer—under the euphemism of “realignment”—countless Jews living in Judea and Samaria—will you kindly inform as many Americans as possible that he or his Kadima party received less than 22 percent of the votes cast in the March 28, 2006 election?

Prof. Paul Eidelberg, President
Foundation for Constitutional Democracy

Watching the many standing ovations Ehud Olmert received when he addressed a joint session of the American Congress and spoke of his so-called Realignment Plan—which would dispossess and displace 50 to 100 thousand Jews in Judea and Samaria—it occurred to me that those standing ovations were living proof that American Zionist organizations have no significant impact on U.S. foreign policy regarding the Israel-Arab conflict.

The leaders of these Zionist organizations must surely realize that all their noble efforts have not diminished the American government’s commitment to a Palestinian state, hence, to a tortured future for the Jewish people. (more…)

The grand reception Prime Minister Ehud Olmert received in the United States, the standing ovations accorded him as he addressed a joint session of the American Congress, the support he is receiving from various American Jewish organizations for his plan to “realign,” i.e., dispossess and displace countless Jews in Judea and Samaria—despite the disaster of the so-called Disengagement Plan, which has made Gaza the Mecca of international terrorism—all this, I say, is the result of a deadly myth, that Israel is a democracy.

It is this myth of Israeli democracy that gave Mr. Olmert and his “Realignment Plan” legitimacy when he spoke to President George W. Bush, to the Congress of the United States, and to the American people. (more…)

As I listened to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert address a joint session of the American Congress, and as I saw how his distinguished audience repeatedly gave him standing and thunderous ovations each time he expressed his ardent desire to facilitate the establishment of a “Palestinian” state, I thought I was witnessing lunatic asylum more bizarre than anything imagined by Kafka.

Of course, I was aware that Olmert’s fantasies and his audience’s hypocrisy, or his madness and their stupidity, together herald another unspeakable crime against the Jewish people. (more…)

[Edited transcript of the Eidelberg Report, Israel National Radio, May 22, 2006].

Before discussing Judge Barak, let us review Israel’s undemocratic method of appointing Supreme Court judges—there’s nothing like it in the democratic world.

The fifteen judges of the court are appointed by a nine-member committee consisting of three sitting justices, including the court president. Two are representatives of the Israel Bar Association. Two are cabinet ministers, including, the justice minister. Two are Knesset members, one representing the government coalition, the other representing the opposition. The committee’s majority, therefore, is unelected. Moreover, the two Bar Association members are subject to pressure by the court president before whom they may argue cases. This also applies to the justice minister, who can also be manipulated by the court’s president. And since the court’s president handpicks the judges for every case, he can very much determine the selection of his own successor as well as the court’s character as a whole.

So it’s obvious that Israel’s High Court of Justice is a self-perpetuating oligarchy. (more…)

The term “orthodox” is of Greek origin and is derived from two Greek words: orthos, meaning “true,” “correct,” “straight” (think of “orthopedics”), and doxa, meaning “opinion.”

1. To describe any Jew as “orthodox” is to say, in effect, that he has true or correct opinions.

2. Hence, to call any Jew “ultra-orthodox” is absurd.

3. Now, since the opinions of orthodox Jews are, by definition, true, the opinions of non-orthodox Jews are, by definition, untrue.

(more…)

Emil Fackenheim writes (in What is Judaism?): “The whole purpose of the [Nazi] program was to reduce Israel to excrement. That program included the God of Israel.”

The same may be said of the genocidal program of the Arabs, who use their children as homicide bombers to reduce Jews to refuse. Must we not say the same of the Islamic world that applauds these successors of the Nazis? (more…)

According to a study of the Israel Democracy Institute, 62% of Israeli Jews would like to see the government actively encourage Arabs to leave Israel. Professor Arian Asher of the IDI said that this statistic indicates a “general lack of tolerance of Israeli Jews toward Israeli Arabs.” He concludes that “Israeli democracy has not developed a strong sense of egalitarianism and community” (The Jerusalem Post, May 10).

The IDI findings were deplored even by Avigdor Lieberman’s reputedly right-wing Israel Beiteinu party—a party that advocated revoking the citizenship of Israelis who do not pledge allegiance to the state. (more…)

Once upon a time, if Israel happened to be ruled by a wicked king, it was not deemed strange to call such a king “evil.” Today, however, the term “evil” has gone out of fashion. None of Israel’s rulers, however vicious his deeds, need fear being denounced as evil.

The reason is this: the mentality of the democratic world is permeated by moral relativism, a doctrine propagated in the social sciences and humanities. One generation of students after another has been taught that there are no objective standards by which to determine whether the behavior of any individual or group is good or evil. (more…)

A. Introduction

This is the first of a series of short essays intended to comprise a booklet on democracy. These essays are urgently needed in Israel for various reasons. First, with the decline of the Likud and the National Religious Party, hence, with the collapse of secular and religious Zionism, Israel now lacks even the illusion of an ideology. Second, the people of Israel have no confidence in their government. Third, Israel has only the veneer of democracy, periodic multi-party elections, which can result in a democratically elected despotism.

Israeli political scientists are either ignorant of the latter, or have personal or political motives for obscuring it. This is all the more deplorable because Israel’s system of governance is undermining the country. (more…)

Edited transcript of “The Eidelberg Report”, Israel National Radio, May 1, 2006.

The March 2006 election witnessed the collapse of the Likud and the National Religious Party. This collapse is symptomatic of the demise of twentieth-century Zionism—secular as well as religious. Israel no longer has even the illusion of an ideology. It has become a Kadima society, a chance aggregation of individuals and groups without any ideological bonds.

Jews in Israel are in despair. More than a third did not vote in the March election, and those that did have little confidence in the ruling elites. The government is headed by defeatists, devoid of constructive, Jewish ideas. What can possibly fill this ideological void? To answer this question, we must first understand what has brought us to this miserable condition. (more…)