Dear Friends:
We’d like you to know that various “copy-cat” organizations have sprung up since the Foundation received tax-exempt status from the IRS in 1996. These other organizations, however, have back-tracked on the decisive issue of making members of the Knesset individually elected by and accountable to the voters in constituency or regional elections.
One of these organizations, which has met with Israel’s president as well as with MKs, seems to have succumbed to the Establishment. It now proposes to divide the Knesset into 90 constituency seats and thirty party seats. This would not be a bad compromise, except that the organization in question now proposes that any MK who votes against the Government would be “deemed to have resigned,” unless the Government authorized MKs to vote their conscience. Constituency MKs would be replaced by the winner of a snap by-election, while occupants of the 30 party seats would be replaced by the next MK on their party’s list. Thus, far from being accountable to their constituents, MKs would be subservient to their party leaders—and more now than previously. Any MK who violated party discipline would instantly lose his job. A nice way to get “reform” and entrench the Establishment.
So, if you examine the reform proposals of various organizations, all perpetuate the existing system of governance, which is democratic in name only, and which is incapable of preserving Israel as a Jewish commonwealth. All the more reason, therefore, to support the Foundation for Constitutional Democracy, which calls for democratic reform of all three branches of government. We alone propose:
- A US-styled presidential Executive to replace Israel’s inept and divisive system of multiparty cabinet government—the system that produced Oslo and the most shameless corruption;
- An independent Legislature to prevent abuses of Executive power, for example, by making agreements or treaties with foreign entities subject to serious public hearings and ratification by the Legislature;
- A Supreme Court that not only refrains from usurping legislative and executive powers, but also ceases to apply rulings of the International Court of Justice which undermine Israel’s sovereignty and Jewish character. (Suffice to mention the ICJ’s outrageous ruling that Judea, Samaria, and Gaza constitute “belligerent occupied territory,” a ruling refuted by eminent professors of international law.)
Some accomplishments of the Foundation:
- Drafted a Constitution for the State of Israel which has been adopted by the Yamin Israel party.
- Drafted law projects and policy papers for various Knesset Members.
- Publishes books and pamphlets in English, Hebrew, and Russian.
- Publishes the one and only Journal of Jewish Statesmanship.
- Publishes monthly articles distributed to the Russian community in Israel.
- Foundation policy papers appear in Israel’s premier Hebrew-language journal Nativ.
- Conducts seminars in the Foundation’s spacious conference room in Jerusalem.
- Gives lectures throughout Israel to Russian immigrants.
- Gives weekly reports on Israel National Radio.
- Contributed to the Attorney-General’s indictment of Knesset Member Azmi Bishara who, among other things, urged Israeli Arabs to emulate Hezbollah. (The indictment was quashed by the Supreme Court.)
Sincerely,
