Gutless cowards hiding behind black robes like thieves in the night
Courts cannot do that. They do not have standing to do that. Every reasonable legal system precludes judges from judging themselves.Op-ed.
1. Until Israel adopts a formal Constitution — and good luck with that! — its “Basic Laws” are its Constitution. The “Basic Laws” and all Israeli laws are enacted by the legislature. The legislators comprising the legislature are elected by the public. The voting by the public — the demos (a Greek term, the only Greek thing left among the Jews after the Maccabees dispensed with them on Chanukah, except for Greek yogurt) — is called “democracy.”
Thus, the people select the other people who represent them and enact their laws. If the people like the laws, they reelect the legislators who enacted them. If the people do not like the laws, they throw out the legislators next time around. And if the people do not like the laws but irrationally still elect the same legislators who just enacted the laws the people hate, then the people are idiots and get what they deserve. One such example: the present residents of Gaza. Another example: the citizens of California. A third example: the Israeli electorate from 1948-1977.
2. Sometimes laws are drafted unclearly. There are many reasons this can happen. Often, the scrivener may be incompetent. Other times, it sounds right at first, but others interpret it otherwise. If you ever have sent a friendly email that was misinterpreted, that is the same as happens with a poorly drafted law. Third scenario: often the drafters overlook an angle of how the words technically can be interpreted or twisted in a way never intended. Ultimately, when one side says: “It means this” and the other says “No it means that,” they then need an honest impartial arbiter to decide what it means and who is right.
Yes, the arbiter may decide wrongly, but as long as he or she is honest and fair, that is the best a human system can offer. That arbiter — called a “judge” — should be smart and insightful, but even more importantly: fair. As long as the judge is fair — even if fairly stupid — both sides may grumble, but justice was done. Only when the judge takes sides prejudicially is the result evil.
3. Should judges be elected or appointed? A tricky one. If judges are elected by the demos, that allows the public to participate, rather than leave appointment power to invested or corrupt politicians. But when the public gets to vote on judges, impartiality is jeopardized because such judges want to get reelected. Judges playing to the mob are not ideal. However, if judges are appointed by elites instead of elected by the mob, we find some judges playing to corrupt elites like politicians, the media, and woke celebrities. A puzzlement.
The simple solution: seek out only men of valor who fear G-d — men of truth who spurn and hate dishonest gain. That is such a good idea that G-d commanded it to Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our Teacher). Sh’mot (Exodus) 18:21. Simple: appoint impartial judges who are incorruptible. But not all judges meet that standard..
4. And for how long should judges serve? If until they drop (e.g., Ruth Ginsburg), then they more probably will not tilt their judgments to gain popular favor because they are job-secure like incompetent professors with lifetime tenure. Like diamonds, they are forever. Nevertheless, judges whose terms are permanent may lose touch with the tenor of the times. They may become arrogant and elitist, forget they must remain beyond reproach.
A compromise: avoid letting the public vote on judges, but impose term limits to keep them a bit hungry. That can work, as long as the outgoings and the incomings all are men of valor who fear G-d — men of truth who spurn and hate dishonest gain. (For secular judiciaries, the word “men” will include “women.”) But for that, the people appointing them also must be people of valor who fear G-d — people of truth who spurn and hate dishonest gain.
5. Thus Israel’s problem. The underlying system is corrupt.
Black robes on ethical torsi connote integrity, honesty, and fairness. But black robes also can be purchased or rented at a Purim costume store. In both Israel and America, the very people who appoint judges include some who are corrupt or who, intending to be honest, nevertheless allow their own hates and prejudices to guide but blind them. An example: Gideon Sa’ar. Sa’ar sincerely sees himself as one of the most honest, honorable men in Israel. In a way he is because, as politicians go, he is not deliberately dishonest. But he has hated Benjamin Netanyahu so deeply for so long that he is blinded by hate, much as bribery blinds. Sh’mot (Exodus) 23:8. Gali Baharav-Miara is the blight that grew out of that gram, that seed of toxic poisonous hate. So every judicial system hovers between honor and corruption.
6. Many Israeli Supreme Court justices hate Orthodox Judaism. Their views on the sanctity of Shabbat, Shabbat observance, institutionally certified kashrut, institutionally organized religious conversion to Judaism, who sits for a rabbinic exam, Jewish values on homosexuality, abortion, and adoption; the sanctity of the Western Wall, and the eternal right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel (From the River to the Sea all of Israel Must Be Free) — all their jurisprudential views are tainted by their obsessive vitriolic hatred for Orthodox Judaism. They see it as their solemn task to uproot Torah observance from the Land and to secularize Israel into a Hebraiphonic and Hebephrenic Berkeley/ San Francisco.
7. Their problem is that the people of Israel — the demos — do not want San Francisco, just as most Americans do not. They want Israel and Judaism. The majority observe kashrut to one degree or another. They do not frequent restaurants on Tisha B’Av night. Do not march in “Pride Parades” and, instead, are disgusted by what they see of them. They want conversions done right, so they can know whom they and their kids may marry, and kosher converts want people to trust that they now are 100 percent Jewish without the stigma of a dubious heterodox conversion. The majority do not want women rabbis or “Women of the Wall.” They do not want bread in government hospitals on Pesach, nor a “Two-State Solution” other than (i) Israel and (ii) Jordan. They don’t want Utah deciding that homosexual weddings between two Tel Avivans on Zoom can be registered. They don’t want non-Jews from Russia and America registered as “Jews” simply because some heterodox rabbi who cannot read three lines of Gemara, even on Sefaria, says so.
So Israel’s judges are challenged that their insulated world views are diametrically opposed to those of the people, the demos who constitute the democracy. Israel’s “Supreme” Court judges are lucky that they do not face popular election, as state court judges do in American states. Rather, they are appointed by elites. In fact — even better for them — they are self-appointed: they appoint each other, hire each other’s kids to be their Supreme Court clerks, and even let a lawyer who practices before them, and therefore needs to ingratiate with them, be among those who pick them.
8. So which suits appointed the current crew of robes? Men of valor who fear G-d — men of truth who spurn and hate dishonest gain? Nope. They appointed themselves. A puzzlement. Yet, as scholars, we shall go back as archaeologists do to find the initial seed that flowered into that poppy field of contemporary judicial corruption. We shall do “a dig,” search for a coin Bar Kochba used to buy a Krembo, find a pottery shard used by King David, to uncover where the first corrupt leftist Israel judge came from: what Darwin might have called HaCholeriyah HaRishon (the First Lowlife).
and we find it began under left-wing Labor governments 75 years ago that led progressively to Aharon Barak, an Israeli “chief justice” unacquainted with the Sh’ma prayer, who corrupted further. They institutionalized perpetuity: once appointed, always to be replicated. Likud predecessors — Herut, Gahal — had no real say. Sephardim were shut out by elitist Marxist socialist Ashkenazic Y’fei Nefesh (“Beautiful People”) as Tchatch’kachim (“Greaseballs”). And thus Israel’s judges have self-replicated like amoebae/s.
9. But as the public matured and learned how to read beyond the early years of Sallah Shabbati who was busy voting for all the parties just to get out of the caravan and into that apartment for which he yearned, the public got educated. “And Jeshurun waxed fat” . . . and nevertheless threw out Labor. The blessed Sephardic community, the majority of Israel, led the way. It began in 1977 with Menachem Begin, and it never stopped: Israel moved to the right. Even as there now is a real threat — time will tell — that the present center-right Government will self-destruct and fall after the War, with a more Left-Center Bennett-like government entering briefly, that change would mark a punishment for pursuing 18 years of the “Conceptzia” (the “Concept” that Arab murderers can be bought off with cash and indoor toilets), but not a seismic shift in thinking. (And that mess yet can be salvaged, for another article).
Thus, the Israeli “Supreme” Court is out of touch with the public, just as Shikma and her “Brothers in Arms” and Leftist Media will be claiming at their 100,000-per-Saturday demonstrations that the 64-seat Likud government is out of touch with the public. (And if the Court refuses to step down, despite being out of touch, so should the 64 MKs who are entitled to their majority until October 2025 elections and the new seating in January 2026.)
10. Which brings us to the first-ever decision by the Court to overturn an Amendment to a Basic Law. The proof — before we explore deeper — of their decision’s corruptness is that they acted like Thieves in the Night. They waited until the country was mired in the third month of a brutal war that will run for a year, with almost 200 IDF soldiers killed, with some 120-150 hostages alive or dead in Hamas and Gazan civilian hands, with all the world except America turning on Israel for trying only to eradicate a terror group identical to ISIS and to retrieve her hostages, with the U.N. Security Council aiming at Israel while Biden abstains like mythical Nero, and with some International Court opening an investigation into Israel (presumably for allowing so many civilians to get murdered, raped, beheaded, and put into ovens). Like Thieves in the Night, hiding behind appropriate nighttime camouflage of black robes, the Court voted 8-7 to reverse a Constitutional Amendment.
11. Courts simply cannot do that. They do not have standing to do that. Yes, they can overrule a law that conflicts with a Constitution, and Amendments become absorbed into the Constitution. But the Constitution defines the courts. The legislature — thus, the people — creates courts and defines their authority. Courts cannot then take the document by which a duly constituted legislature enacted them and delimited their authority, and then redefine their own authority.
They can’t do that.That’s Frankenstein stuff: turning on Dr. Frankenstein after he creates you. Only Monsters do that. And only in the movies. And for obvious reason: courts are noge’a ba-davar (self-interested). They cannot judge themselves judicially. Why not? Because. Because every reasonable legal system in the world precludes judges from judging themselves. If an individual judge is brought up on corruption charges, or accused of murder or defamation or whatever, he cannot come back and say: “Good news! I’ll just judge the case myself.”
And if a new Constitutional rule says that judges may not escape the hard work of finding legal precedent by simply declaring something “unreasonable,” then those judges cannot come back and say “Well, sez you! We won’t let you tell us what to do.” Because then the public can come back and say: “Oh, yeah? Well . . . SEZ YOU!!!” And then you have that Civil War Ehud Barak prays for.
12. There also is a matter of national cohesion. In the United States, when the country was riven by the aftermath of the 2000 George W. Bush vs. Al Gore election, the case came to the U.S. Supreme Court. No one knows what the justices voted privately, but the official decision was announced as unanimous. The justices cared more about the country’s unity than their personal egos. Such a controversial ruling begged for unanimity to calm tensions. The last thing America needed at that moment was a 5-4 Supreme Court vote.
Yet, Israel’s black robes handed down an 8-7 vote. That alone guarantees brutal further division. But there is more: Two of the Israeli “majority” were retired before the corrupt decision was handed down but allowed to vote for a certain period. Not only did they vote as Thieves in the Night, but they even followed by acting as Thieves in the Night, absconding from the scene They knew that if the vote was put off, the two judges replacing them would vote differently than they.
13. And finally: Yes, yes, Arabs have equal rights in Israel. But don’t tell Jews around the world that they have a duty — an obligation — to support a country where an Arab Muslim’s vote decides the nation’s jurisprudence, where Arab parliamentarians cast the deciding votes to create a “Palestine Authority,” where the Muslim Brotherhood’s Israel Wing makes the majority to constitute a corrupt Bennett-Lapid government.
If the Arab Muslim justice was going to comprise the critical 8th vote to overturn Constitutional justice, one of the seven in the minority should have changed sides to make it 9-6 for reasons of comity, shall we say. The fact that not one of the 7 in the minority budged — not even any who also stated they should have the power to reverse Constitutional amendments — tells you how fiercely they opposed the majority behind the scenes.
14. There must be a reckoning. There will be a reckoning. Right now, with Hamas of Gaza, the “innocent civilians” of Gaza, Jordan, the “Palestine Authority,” Lebanon, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, Turkey, the United Nations, the International Court, and Bernie Sanders to deal with, unity is the priority. The Government probably has kept silent for that reason but will spend its entire second year fighting on all these fronts. The black robes will be uncovered in due time.
For now, while everyone on the Left is gearing up for a judicial fight and for attacking Netanyahu, I would aim where their resources are focused less: keep building and populating Judea and Samaria, and keep tearing down illegal Arab homes wherever they exist from Area C to the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem to the Negev. Build and tear, populate and evacuate.
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And:
Joe Biden and Bob Casey Fail the Israel Test - WSJ
The footage should be a wake-up call for those in power and mandatory viewing for every member of Congress, Biden administration official, and delegate to the United Nations. It’s a window into the evil underlying Hamas, and jihadism more broadly, that will shake any leader with a conscience.
Some of America’s leaders need to be shaken. Thus far, Israel has counted on bipartisan U.S. support, but the chorus of Democratic dissenters is growing louder, influenced by pro-Hamas activists in our streets. Sen. Bernie Sanders has called to cut off all military aid to Israel, while other Democrats are insisting on a cease-fire that would leave Hamas in charge in Gaza.
It’s time for politicians in both parties to take an unequivocal stand for Israel. More than 1,200 people, including 35 Americans, were slaughtered on Oct. 7 and the brutality against innocents continues. As many as 129, including six Americans, remain hostages in the dungeons of Gaza, where they are at the mercy of jihadists who showed no scruples about raping and torturing. And despite Israel’s efforts to minimize harm to civilians, thousands of women and children in Gaza have tragically died as Hamas has denied them humanitarian support, blocked their escape, and used them as human shields.
In Israel, my wife and I found a determined and courageous people willing to fight to stop this evil. Israel’s entire society rallied to care for Oct. 7 survivors and their families while burying those lost with dignity and care. They’ve sent 360,000 of their sons and daughters to serve in this war.
As a U.S. Army officer who served in combat during the 1991 Gulf War, I have always admired the resilience of the Israeli people. They maintain a free society with all the rights we take for granted in America just a short jeep ride away from thugs who would slit their throats. They raise the flag of freedom where it is hard to do so—and ask only that we not sell them out in return.
Doing so would also be to sell out the American people. Oct. 7 was a reminder of the threat posed to the civilized world by radical jihadists and Iranian proxies. If Israel falters, we are next. Just last month a Hamas spokesman said, “We need violent acts against American and British interests everywhere.” And we have seen antisemitic violence in America in places like Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, blocks from my home.
Yet U.S. policy enables the true perpetrator of the atrocities in Gaza: Iran. The mullahs preach an ideology that hates tolerance and equality. In the past year, Tehran pumped an estimated $350 million into Gaza and continues to prop up Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Iranians are behind the Houthis in Yemen that attack global shipping and U.S. Navy vessels in the Red Sea. Iran-backed militias have attacked U.S. bases in Syria and Iraq since the October assault on Israel.
Iran gets away with it because American politicians cave. The senator I am challenging in this year’s election, Bob Casey, cast a decisive vote on the Iran nuclear deal in 2015. In November President Biden reissued a sanctions waiver that freed up more than $10 billion for Tehran even as its proxies were holding American citizens hostage in Gaza. Messrs. Biden and Casey’s Iran policy is appeasement, and that’s why the Iranians feel confident enough to go on offense against Israel and against American sailors.
We need a comprehensive strategy to strangle the regime economically, weaken its proxies, and confront at home and abroad an ideology based on hate.
My wife and I had a chance to visit privately with both Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana. They come from opposing political parties, but their message to us was the same: They are eternally grateful to the American people, and they believe America’s moral clarity is vital in today’s dangerous world. If I am honored to represent the people of Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate this time next year, I will stand with Israel and for a strong America.
Mr. McCormick, a combat veteran and former CEO of Bridgewater Associates, is a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.
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Finally:
Op-ed: Can America Be Fixed?
Faith in G-d must be restored. It is sorely lacking.
By DR.JOSEPH FRAGER
Sometimes a country has to hit rock bottom before it wakes up. I believe that is the case in America. There is hope America can be fixed. The recent resignations of President Liz Magill of the University of Pennsylvania on December 9th and President Claudine Gay of Harvard on January 2nd is a strong indication that America is in a state of transformation. Ever since the ghastly atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7th has forced a reckoning in America. You either fight evil or you are done. There is no room to hide.
President Sally Kornbluth of MIT is hanging on by the skin of her teeth. This expression is derived from Job (19:20) who took the middle position in regards to Israel’s Bondage and slavery in Egypt. Jethro pushed for the Israelites freedom from Egypt. Job remained silent. He was stricken with Job’s disease as a result which is represented by his quote, “My skin and flesh cling to my bones, and I am left with only my gums.” (Job 19:20).
President Sally Kornbluth’s days are numbered. Ever since President Kornbluth faced House GOP Conference Chairwoman Congresswoman Elise Stefanik on December 5th, her position has been tenuous.
Congresswoman Stefanik will continue a “long overdue” cleansing of the elite universities “institutional rot”. As Congresswoman Stefanik says, “ Billions of taxpayer dollars go to these institutions.” “And not only do you have Jewish students who are being physically assaulted and harassed on campus, but you have a lot in these offices of DEI that are anti-Semitic by definition.”
Now over 700 alumni of MIT penned a letter to MIT. They accused President Kornbluth of causing a “public uproar” fostering a “national reputation for anti-Semitism.” The letter says,”During the congressional testimony of December 5, 2023 President Kornbluth implied calls for the genocide of Jews may not constitute bullying and harassment under MIT’s code of conduct depending on context.” The alumni go on to say, “Exactly what kind of message was the MIT corporation trying to send to the MIT community and especially its Jewish members with such a statement and at odds with the overwhelming majority of the public?”
One student was quoted ,”I personally and we as a community have been reporting incidents of anti-Semitism for years, and nothing has been done.”
The problem of rampant anti-Semitism on campus is one of the problems America must fix. At least the process has begun.
The culture of “wokism” is another. This also has been perpetrated by higher educational institutions.
This has led to many of the ills of the age. Family values must make a serious comeback. Without strong family bonds and loyalty society goes into free fall. Faith in G-d must be restored. It is sorely lacking. Can America be fixed? It will take time and strong leadership. I am cautiously optimistic.
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