The Foundation for Constitutional Democracy

I call upon Christians, indeed, Gentiles, everywhere, to speak up. Speak up for your own sake as well as for the sale of Israel, by organized and vehement opposition to the Olmert Government’s plan to withdraw from eastern Jerusalem and abandon the Holy of Holies, the Temple Mount.

Bear in mind that this treacherous plan has the support of Israel’s very Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and its impotent Defense Minister Ehud Barak. One of these ministers may succeed Ehud Olmert as Israel’s Prime Minister, and neither of them is your friend. Let me explain.

In one respect the Temple Mount is of greater significance to Christians and the Gentile world than it is to Israel. Listen to the voice of Israel speaking through its leaders, the disparaged Pharisees regarding the sacrifices of seventy calves during the eight days of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, and note their humanitarianism.

In Leviticus Rabbah we read: “If the nations of the world had known how useful the Temple was to them, they would have surrounded it with fortified camps to protect it, for it was more useful to them than to Israel.” (more…)

What justifies the Jewish claim to the Land of Israel?

The Balfour Declaration?

The Mandate of the League of Nations (or San Remo Conference) that affirmed Balfour?

The Holocaust?

The United Nations Resolution of November 1947?

Historical rights? Natural rights? Human rights?

The Arabs say “No” to all of the above, and any good international lawyer or political scientist could make a case for them—which is not to say the Arabs have a better claim than the Jews. (more…)

A reader, who agrees with my assessment of Israel’s dysfunctional system of government, as well as with my proposed institutional reforms, nonetheless feels that I lose potential supporters by referring to God—which I do on certain occasions. Frankly, I have never made a study as to whether I lose more or win more supporters by taking a position on any issue, regardless of the subject matter.

Alexis de Tocqueville, a wise man, said that virtually all issues—if we think deeply enough—involve the “God” issue. I have cited Seyyed Hussein Nasr, a Persian scholar, who pretty much agrees.

For three decades I have taken positions on a variety of issues to promote Israel’s well being—to make it strong and secure. But I profoundly believe that Israel will be strong and secure only to the extent that it becomes a Godly or Torah-oriented nation. Ponder the words of Zechariah: “Not by armed might, nor by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord of Hosts” (4:5). Let us try to understand this verse by means of Israel’s most sacred symbol, the Menorah. (more…)

Edited transcript of the Eidelberg Report, Israel National Radio, June 2, 2008.

Part I: Corruption

I have pointed out many times that corruption in Israel’s government is not simply the consequence of dishonest politicians. Political corruption in Israel has been institutionalized; and as I will show in a moment, so has treason!

The Jerusalem Post’s brilliant columnist Caroline Glick touches the surface—but only the surface—of institutionalized corruption in her column of May 30. With less than her usual clarity, she attributes political corruption to the “relative weakness” of the Knesset:

The Knesset’s relative weakness [she writes] is a function of Israel’s proportional election system. This system—whereby voters select a party rather than individual candidates at the ballot box—promotes the political fortunes of the corrupt and the weak at the expense of the honest and strong. Similarly, it prolongs the life span of coalition governments with a tendency toward corruption and failed policy-making, at the expense of coalition governments [sic] informed by principle and the national interest.

The “weakness:” Glick attributes to the Knesset is not solely the result of, and does not begin with, proportional representation. (more…)

Two-and-a-half cheers for Caroline Glick. In reaction the Ehud Olmert corruption case, Caroline Glick has begun to advance the position which the Foundation for Constitutional Democracy has so frequently and extensively articulated during the past thirteen years: the need to scrap Israel’s dysfunctional and corruption-laden system of proportional representation.

In partial explanation of governmental corruption and incompetence in Israel, Glick writes (The Jerusalem Post, May 30, 2008):

“The Knesset’s relative weakness [really its shady character and lack of accountability—PE] is a function of Israel’s proportional election system. This system—whereby voters select a party rather than individual candidates at the ballot box—promotes the political fortunes of the corrupt and the weak at the expense of the honest and strong. Similarly, it prolongs the life span of coalition governments with a tendency toward corruption and failed policy-making, at the expense of coalition governments [sic] informed by principle and the national interest.” (more…)

The terms “Right” and “Left” have been bandied about ever since the French Revolution. Use of these shibboleths to damn individuals or groups or to avoid dealing with the merits of an issue is deeply engrained in the mentality of the modern world. Their use in Israel is especially pernicious, Because Israel is the only country in the world whose very survival is at stake, such labels as “Right” and Left” obscure life and death issues.

For generations “Right” and “Left” have taken the place of the traditional distinction between good and bad. To probe beneath this moral obscurantism in Israel, we must see how the terms “Right” and “Left” relate to Israel’s raison d’être­­ or paramount principle as a Jewish state. Thus, while labeling a party’s position on a basic issue “Right” or “Left,” one must determine whether its position is consistent with Israel’s raison d’être. (more…)

First published in December, 1994; Postscript added 2008.

When reservist Shmuel Meiri was attacked by Arabs in Ramallah on December 14, 1994, the photographs taken of the faces of his assailants convey a hatred of visceral and demonic proportions. To appreciate how much Moslems hate Jews, consider first what Moslem Chechens think and feel about Russians.

Writing on the subject in The New York Times (December 18, 1994), Steven Erlanger quotes two celebrated Russian authors, Tolstoi and Lermontov. Tolstoi writes of the Russian destruction of a Chechen village: “The emotion felt by every Chechen, old and young, was stronger than hatred. It was not hatred, it was a refusal to recognize these Russian dogs as men at all, and a feeling of such disgust [and] revulsion … that the urge to destroy them, like the urge to destroy rats, venomous spiders, or wolves, ִwas an instinct as natural as self-preservation.”

Lermontov summarized the Chechen in the Russian imagination this way: “Their god is freedom, their law is war … Their hatred is as boundless as their love.” That this boundless hatred describes the feelings of Muslims toward Jews is evident in the faces of those Arabs who attacked Shmuel Meiri. (more…)

Even if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not pocket a shekel of the hundreds of thousands of dollars handed over to him in cash by the American tycoon Morris Talansky, the cloud of suspicion hanging over Olmert makes it impossible for him to fulfill the vital duties of his office. He should step down now—or be compelled to do so.

I will not mention the names of other public officials who, because of public suspicion of official misdeeds, resigned their offices and did so even though subsequently shown to be entirely innocent.

Official corruption in Israel is the highest or close to the highest among developed countries, at least as reported by more than one international organization dealing with such matters. What is commonly unknown, however, is that corruption in Israel’s government is not simply the consequence of dishonest politicians. (more…)