The debilitating deadlock, in which Israel’s political system is mired, is in considerable measure the result of judicial disregard—or at least distortion—of the law. Over the past decade, the public image of the Supreme Court as an independent and impartial arbiter has been increasingly eroded... The court and its judges are increasingly viewed by a considerable portion of the Israeli public as pushing forward their own political agenda… As the Israeli political system flounders in corrosive crisis, caught in an almost inconceivable impasse—in which the formation of a Zionist coalition hinges on embracing blatantly anti-Zionist factions, some profound soul-searching is clearly called for. Without a doubt, one of the most vexing questions for any concerned citizen is—or at least, should be—how this situation was ever allowed to come about in the first place. This is a clear and indisputable contravention of not only the spirit but of the express letter of the Basic Law: Knesset, which, ipso facto, should be sufficient grounds for the disqualification of these lists from the Knesset elections. It is important to note that the disqualification called for has nothing to do with the ethnicity of the Arab voters, but the enmity of the Arab parties, and does not involve the right of individual Arab citizens to vote in elections, but the right of (anti-Zionist) Arab political organizations to participate in them. However, time and again, whenever disqualification of one of these lists—and/or specific candidates thereof—have been brought before the Supreme Court, it has ruled against disqualification and permitted their participation--while ruling to bar the involvement of numerous Jewish candidates and/or lists, usually on far more nebulous charges. Since then, the Supreme Court has ruled ten times to permit the participation of overtly anti-Zionist Arab lists or candidates—and never once to preclude their involvement! These judicial decisions fly in the face of common sense, the letter of the law, and the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, the country’s founding document, that affirms (and reaffirms) Israel as the nation-state of the Jews. (Interestingly—and significantly—the Declaration of Independence cites the word “Jew”/“Jewish” twenty four times—virtually all in reference (whether direct or oblique) to the right to national sovereignty—and only twice to “equal”/“equality”—and then only in the context of civic, not national, rights.) This kind of perverse judicial behavior and blatant judicial disregard/distortion of the law has gravely eroded trust in the Israeli justice system. It raises troubling questions—questions to which the Israeli public deserves answers. Source: Martin Sherman 🇮🇱 IF YOU LOVE ISRAEL - SHARE NEWSRAEL! 🇮🇱 Source: Martin Sherman 🇮🇱 IF YOU LOVE ISRAEL - SHARE NEWSRAEL! 🇮🇱