Israeli Democracy? Justice? Are You Confused?

Let's start with the easy stuff.

What's Democracy?

I decided to "printscreen" what professor google says about democracy,
so you can trust that I didn't edit/distort the meaning

There's nothing about Right/Left or Conservative/Liberal. It's in the numbers.

Democracy is broadly understood to mean ‘rule by the people’. In practice, it is often defined as people choosing their leaders in free and fair elections. 

Our World in Data

Democracy means that the country's leadership isn't decided in the street.

There are elections.

A democratic government is not chosen by who makes the loudest, most annoying and dangerous demonstrations. Nor does it give priority to people shouting in the street over legal elections.

Now, back to what has been going on in Israel. In the past half a decade plus, we've had multiple elections that ended without a new ruling coalition, and we haven't had a coalition/government that lasted its full term. 

Political parties which had dominated and ruled during the first few decades of the country no longer receive enough votes to be in the Knesset or if they are in, they are anorexic shadows of what they once were. This has been difficult for their supporters to accept. They and their parents, and in some cases grandparents, never liked the Netanyahu family, and they like the Revisionist founders of Herut/Likud even less. This is what is behind the irrational hatred of Binyamin Netanyahu. Remember that the demonstrations had actually begun during Netanyahu's previous terms as Prime Minister. 

We can't ignore the trials against Netanyahu. Even though years and much too much money have been invested in trying to convict him, the chances are nil. That's because they're trumped up charges, to put it mildly. Please ignore the unintended pun. If Bibi was really guilty of corruption, then it wouldn't have been hard to convict him, since the judges don't like him. 

To sum it up, the "anyone but Bibi" movement, along with the anti-Judicial Reform has nothing to do with his competence or honesty. It's the fading Left's attempt to override democratic elections and rule by street mobs with the help of the Leftist Supreme Court Judges.

Yes, the truth is that the opposition are those who are antidemocracy!

The Street vs Democracy-- FOLLOW THE MONEY

 

screenshot from Channel 14 News
Last night's antigovernment demonstration

It seems like the whole world has heard that the legally, democratically elected Israeli Government has passed a very necessary law to reform the judiciary, which has set itself up as the alternative government vetoing laws. The judiciary is very political. One law for the Left and another for the Right.

To be perfectly honest and accurate the demonstrations predate the present government's bill for judicial reform. 

For those trying to understand the basic issue here in Israel. Very simple. Judges have put themselves above the parliament and rule according to their opinions and ideologies, rather than laws. They have declared themselves above the law with rights to veto according to their personal feelings aka reasonableness. They can perpetuate their politics by choosing their successors. Basically this has disenfranchised the voters and made a farce out of elections. Yes, the judges and their supporters are the antidemocracy group.

Israel is a parliamentary democracy. We vote for political parties. After most elections, the leader of the party that has received the most votes manages to negotiate a coalition with other parties which has more than half of the 120 Members of Knesset. The Likud has gotten the most votes/seats in most recent elections including the November, 2022 elections, in which he and a few other political parties campaigned as a block promising to form a stable coalition. That's what happened, so therefore according to Israeli law and democracy Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu is the legal Prime Minister of the State of Israel. 

For the past few years, definitely predating those recent elections, there has been a well-funded movement to push Bibi out of his number one position in Likud and out the office of Prime Minister. It's called "ANYONE BUT BIBI." For years when he had previously been PM, including the COVID lockdown, there had been weekly demonstrations near the official prime minister's residence calling for Bibi's ouster. This was hell for the neighbors, since the courts/judges insisted that in their superior wisdom, the demonstrators' rights trumped theirs. And when during the COVID lockdown schools, synagogues and many places of work had been forced to be closed, the judges decided that demonstrations must continue...

There was quiet during the year that Naftali Bennett's government stood, which continued when it fell and Yair Lapid was interim Prime Minister. Since Netanyahu returned to office not only have the demonstrations returned bigger and better equipped than before, but their spokespeople/leaders have become louder and more outrageous. Led by two former disgraced Prime Ministers, Ehud Olmert* and Ehud Barak** we now hear unabashed calls for rebellion and refusal to serve in the IDF. This is treason, no less. They are basically calling on the Israeli public to destroy the country. But the courts are in their favor and find nothing wrong.

These antigovernment demonstrations are very expensive to run. Who's funding them? It's no secret that money is coming from abroad, and some of that money has been traced to the American Government. Administrations led by Democrat Party Presidents do not like working with Netanyahu. Obama couldn't find his famous smile when posing with Bibi.

It's clear that there's something very dirty going on. These demonstrations, riots etc. have nothing to do with wanting democracy for the State of Israel. The leaders are bamboozling their followers with slogans. The street isn't democracy. Let's find out who's really behind this.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

*Olmert had spent time in jail convicted on corruption charges. 

**Barak is known to have been a good friend of disgraced Jeffrey Epstein, besides other problematic relationships

Challenge to All Who Think Judicial Reform for Israel is Dangerous

Just a simple challenge to help clarify what's happening in Israel. 

All I want to know from you...

Please list five 5 democracies, five democratic countries, that have a judicial system like Israel's is now. 

The points that have to coincide (be the same) are:

1- Sitting justices choose who will be new justices.
2- Justices can decide according to their concept of "reasonableness." This includes overriding all parliament decisions, total veto power.
3- Cases for the Supreme Court can go there directly, without first going through lower courts
4- Attorney General can veto all sorts of government decisions unilaterally. Again with the rationale of "reasonableness."

Israeli Flags waving at the entrance of Mamilla Mall, not far from 
what had been the border between Israel and Jordanian Occupied Jerusalem from 1949-1967

Politics vs Democracy: Why The Left Doesn't Want Judicial Reform

 

Israel just had elections a few months ago, the 1st of November, if I remember correctly. The present coalition has only been in office a very short time, and the streets are full of Leftist political rabble-rousers.  Gevalt, why am I using such a weak, harmless term for them?

The truth is that foreign anti-Israel money/backers are trying to destroy the country. They've crafted slogans that totally mask/distort their true aim. The vast majority of the demonstrators haven't a clue as to the truth, nor the meaning of democracy.

Yes, they claim they're for DEMOCRACY, but their very being on the streets demanding that the legally DEMORATICALLY  ELECTED government surrender to their demands is totally absurdly UNDEMOCRATIC.

Bibi Netanyahu's not handling this with the skill and competence he once had. He's of retirement age, and it shows. 

Contrary to the demonstrators' main slogan, Israel's present way of choosing judges is undemocratic and unknown in any of the world's democracies. Israel's "founding fathers" were controlled by a cadre of Leftists, socialists who wanted to make sure that if any of the Revisionists the forerunners of the Likud would ever form a ruling coalition, the Judicial System would remain Leftist. That's why they came up with the idea that the High Court Justices and members of the "Bar" have a majority of the votes in choosing replacements. 

I may not agree with their policies and priorities, but I wouldn't call them stupid. That's why even though for most of the past forty-five 45 years the Likud has been able to make more Right wing coalitions, they have been stymied policy-wise by the Leftist High Court.

When former President of Israel's High Court demands that it is of the utmost importance that the court remain "independent," he means that the court must be the true ruler of the State of Israel. Barak invented a principle of "reasonableness" to decide if a law should stand or not. That's his euphemism for being consistent with his political ideology, not any law or legal precedent. He set himself up as an unelected dictator, and then passed the powers to his replacements, whom he put into power. Is that democracy?

Judicial Reform is an attempt to correct this political anomaly and make Israel more like other democracies. But to be honest, it doesn't go far enough. It's still based on the old system but will give a bit more votes to the Knesset members. And considering that the justices don't resign/retire all that quickly, it will take a long time for us to see any real differences. Of course the sitting justices will claim the law "illegal." 

But in the meantime thousands of Israelis are having fun at "street carnivals" trying to take down the legally elected government and sowing chaos in the country. Obviously, they are wealthy enough to take off from work, or someone is....

. 

Antidemocracy Rioters Disrupt Life in Jerusalem -- The Truth About Judicial Reform

Black day for Israeli democracy and liberty. 

Please get this right. I'm talking about the attempt by the elitist Israeli Left to overthrow the legally elected government. 

Democracy is a numbers game. It means that if you get the most votes, you've won. In Israel, to be more precise, if you can create a coalition of a majority of the 120 Members of Knesset, 61 or more that's a legal government. THAT'S DEMOCRACY! 

If you didn't get enough votes to create a coalition, if you don't have the MKs, you've lost. That's it. Very simple. Try harder next time. Marching and screaming in the streets won't give you the right to rule. If you insist on demonstrating, then you're acting like fascists or worse. I don't know why those demonstrators on Monday took black flags, but it really showed their true color. 

They can scream all they want, but grow up! That won't give them more votes, more MKs. Rule by taking over the streets? That's dystopia, not utopia.

The antidemocracy anti-judicial reform protests on Monday stopped public transportation and inconvenienced, to put it mildly, tens of thousands or more ordinary Israelis like myself. I had been at the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens with the Ayelet Chapter of Amit Women and discovered that bus service to the center of Jerusalem or Ammunition Hill, where I needed to get a bus home to Shiloh, had been stopped. Yes, the buses were stopped because of those demonstrators.

Thank Gd, I found the physical strength to walk, and please remember that in a few months Gd willing I'll be 74, towards the lightrail on King George and Yaffo. I finally caught a bus on King George and took it less than two stops. Why less? That very junction where I needed to transfer from the bus to the lightrail had been taken over by the mobs, and the bus had been forced to stop, and the lightrail stopped, too.

Since the rioters had stopped public transportation, I was forced to keep walking and finally caught a bus at the Buchari Shuk.

It was clear that the demonstrators were having fun, but lots of ordinary Jerusalemites and visitors like myself were inconvenienced and angry. I saw people trying to explain to the rioters that they were interfering with our human rights, but... you can finish the sentence...

These antigovernment demonstrations/riots have been going on since Netanyahu's previous administration, then stopped when he was out of office and now resumed. Now they're harping on the Judicial Reform issue. They claim that the judges need "independence." That's absurd! 

Do you know what they mean by it? They mean that judges should use their "judgement," their personal ideology/philosophy to decide what's right and just. They don't decide according to law. They decide if a law suits their moral, political opinions. That's means that the courts are political, not legally based. Not only that! They get to choose their replacements. It's not the elected Knesset Members who choose judges, it's the judges themselves. That way, although the judges don't hold the opinions of the majority of the citizens, they can perpetuate their ideological power over the citizens and the elected government. 

Does that sound kosher to you?

Who made them god? 

Most of us ordinary Israelis are too busy getting through our busy days to take to the streets, like the elitist Leftists. Also, we did our patriotic duty, voted. There's a coalition that holds the ideology of the majority of Israelis. We definitely need Judicial Reform, so our courts will be based on law, not politics.

Why should the minority have the right utter chutzpah to overrule the majority?

Davka, very much like last week's Torah Portion, Yitro, someone who isn't Israeli explains our situation very well, Mark Levin. Please listen to what he has to say.

Israel's Political System and Judicial Reform-- What's Going On?

I almost titled this post "Israeli Judicial Reform for Dummies," but didn't want to antagonize people. Also the topic is no joke. This is serious stuff, and it's complicated.

Oy. Where should I start?

Let's start with the Israeli political system, which may be unique; though others may be similar in some ways. Let the adjectives used here be different or unique. I don't want any judgmental ones like better and worse. It doesn't pay to go there, since there is no country like the State of Israel in size, history, sociology, security needs etc. Being a democracy, Israel has developed into the country we know today, and in most ways it actually works well. 

Israel is a Parliamentary Democracy. Our parliament, called the Knesset, has one hundred and twenty 120 members. There are many political parties represented in the Knesset, and certainly even more that didn't get enough votes to be included. Now a party needs 4.5% of the votes, called the Electoral Threshold, to get any of their list in.

Each political party submits a list to election board by a certain date, and it's according to the order on the list that people become Members of Knesset. After the votes are counted, the failed parties subtracted and the numbers of MKs per party calculated, the President of the State of Israel then calls the leader #1 of the largest party and offers him/her to chance to form a coalition.

OK, I know that some of you are jumping in your seats trying to get my attention and ask why we have so many political parties. I'll start with a joke:

"two Jews five opinions"

OK, some say only three opinions, but Israeli society is too complex --remember that Israeli Arabs also vote and have a few political parties-- for two political parties to suffice. The political/social spectrum isn't a simple right/left. It also includes religious observance and many other factors. 

The Knesset reflects Israeli diversity, and that diversity isn't reflected at all in the High Court. The democratically elected MKs do not have a say in who sits as a justice on that court. The justices vote in their replacements, and they choose very carefully to find people who follow their ideology, which is far to the Left of the Israeli population. In recent years they have been making legal decisions that go against laws voted in by the elected MKs. That's not democracy. 

The justices don't base their decision on laws. They base their decisions on their political ideology, which is what they treasure and want to preserve. They call it "judicial independence." It's davka that "independence" which endangers Israeli democracy. 

Justice Minister Yariv Levin's plan will reduce the power of the High Court in a number of ways. I'm not getting into the details of the laws he proposes. You can click Judicial Reform for the details. I just wanted to show that reform is needed. 

Nobody has the right to play god, not even High Court justices. 

Fascists Take To The Streets Reject Laws

I'm glad I don't live in a large city right now. Fascist mobs are demanding government changes trying to use their power to overrule the elected government.

Now, don't get me wrong. It's not like I support all government policies, and I certainly don't support any blindly. But the way to change the government is through elections, not massive demonstrations in the streets.

Thank Gd, Israel is a democracy.

• We've had better governments, and we've had worse governments. 
• We've experienced better policies, and we've experienced worse policies. 

In all honesty I think that Prime Minister Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu's decision to make a broad disparate coalition with Benny Gantz's Blue and White ended up backfiring on him. One crucial aspect was successful in that Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi have lost a major part of their voter support.

But Bibi's attempt to hold the extremely heterogeneous coalition together was an unmitigated disaster. Blue and White got an unprecedented percentage of powerful positions, which angered pretty much everyone on all sides of the political spectrum with exception of the recipients themselves.  

Not only can't Bibi control the Blue and White MKs' voting power, he has lost control of his own Likud Party. Apparently he gambled that giving less veteran MKs cabinet posts would make them more loyal, and he took for granted that his more veteran MK ministers would play ball with him. The result wasn't as he planned.

We're now suffering another round of what I call Korach demonstrations meaning that those demonstrating/rioting don't have the same aims other than to destabilize the government. 

If the rioters get their wish and force Netanyahu out, then they'll just fight among themselves, since they have no real leader other than the secret money source coming from abroad. 

The financial backers have unsuccessfully promoted Ehud Barak and more recently replaced him with Benny Gantz. Who will be their next figurehead?

The only real advantage of the present instability here in Israel and in the states is that the horrid "Trump Deal" has been put on the back-burner.

True "Democracy" is Neither Right, Left or Center

"Democracy" or "democratic" is actually more a mathematical concept than political ideology. Any political party that describes, or labels itself as "democratic" is and oxymoron, just throwing around popular terms.

Definition of democracy

1a: government by the people especially : rule of the majority
b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections

Simply put. There is a vote, and the majority rules. Some countries have a "winner takes all" system like the United States. A candidate can lose by just a handful of votes or get a fraction of the winner's number, and he/she is totally out of the picture.

In Israel there is "proportional representation." This is actually the most democratic system of all. We have a parliament, The Knesset, of one hundred and twenty 120 members. The candidates run on party lists, which are generally ideological. It is no longer possible for a "one person party" to get in by receiving .833% of the vote. Now the minimum percentage has been raised so there won't be any tiny parties. But still there is a recognized Opposition, In the Israeli system, the losers also have a right to be heard and not only during election campaigns.

Tomorrow here in Israel there will be elections yet again. The past two elections didn't result in enough Knesset Members willing to work together in a coalition. It can be considered an electoral "still birth."

Gd willing, we'll nave a good healthy live coalition to govern the State of Israel after round three.

"Gevalt" For Sure- Lieberman Holds Israel by The Neck

Recent history here in Israel is showing Avigdor Yvette Lieberman to be a dangerous anarchist. His political machinations has brought down the government, and since then no working coalition has been formed.

For some inexplicable reason, many Israelis vote for him which has been perpetuating the political chaos. The results of yesterday's elections aren't any better than that of the previous ones. It's very dangerous for the large Arab party to be in the coalition, and Gantz's Blue and White have painted themselves in a corner by refusing to work with Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu.

All those who voted ל for Lieberman are as guilty or even more so for strengthening and legitimizing him. Lieberman has a chokehold on Israeli democracy, on every citizen, Jew or Arab, Torah observant or totally secular. I have an easier time accepting people's vote for Leftist parties than for those who voted Lieberman.

We are in the midst of the Jewish Month of Ellul, the time for more intense Teshuva, Repentance. I pray that those who have been elected to serve us, citizens of the State of Israel, in the Knesset will find it in themselves to work together, reject hatred and dangerous vows. May they form a strong coalition for the betterment, security and sovereignty of the State of Israel.

Sick and Tired of Politics, A Short Break

The Israeli political situation seems worse than it has been for years. As I wrote  not long ago, I'm pretty disgusted with the lack of idealism in MKs of today. Instead of being willing and wanting to serve the citizens of the State of Israel, idealism is far behind the opportunism and "gimme, gimme," "I want" you hear from those elected.

Just the thought of another election campaign after the worst one in my memory makes me sick.

So far, I just can't get excited and optimistic. I also haven't a clue as to which party I'll support or vote for.

For as long as I can remember, I've always loved politics and found it very fascinating. But politics have changed. Not only have campaigns become really nasty, off topic and very negatively personal, losers try to delegitimize winners. In my youth we'd call them "sore losers." Today instead of losing with dignity and recognizing that democracy doesn't guarantee the results you may have dreamt of, losers try to galvanize the judicial to jail or impeach the winner. This is happening in the United States and Israel.

Sorry for this depressing post. What do you think?

I feel sorry for the youth. They expect to get paid for things we did as volunteers. They are for sale, rather than like us idealists of olde.

Israeli Elections 2019, Shiloh

We voted. That is my husband and I voted mid-morning. Elections are in the Boys Elementary School. Outside the school was a very hectic, carnival like atmosphere. Mostly young kids were manning the tables trying to give out last minute flyers urging us to vote for the party that had sent them. I don't think there are too many people who can be convinced by last minute flyers, but...

In the hallway outside the three (Shiloh Bloc has grown from two to three) classrooms where the actual polling stations were located, a local artist/jewelry designer was selling.

Lady Feyga. Charismatic jewelry & gifts boutique / ליידי פייגא

Proper identification of a voter is the most important step. In Israel we all have Identity Cards with photographs. You are assigned to a polling station near the address you have registered with as part of your ID. This prevents, or makes much more difficult, voter fraud. And of course, only citizens vote in National Knesset Elections.

We first voted in the 1973 Israeli Elections, after the Yom Kippur War. The system hasn't changed. It works as well as any can, and it suits the multiple parties who compete in Israeli elections. The Likud party had tried a few computerized methods in their primaries, but this year they went back to the simple pieces of paper.

This time the ballots were arranged in three rows on a long table. I remember the shape being more of a square in the past.

Instructions

Pick out ONLY ONE ballot/paper and place it in the envelope.

Yes, I voted! The pictures of me were taken by my husband.

23 Years After Rabin, and The Left Still Uses Him to Incite vs Right

It's a full generation, twenty-three 23 years since Yitzchak Rabin was assassinated, and the Left continues spewing hatred, blame and distrust against what they call "the Right."

Their definition of  "the Right" is anyone and everyone who didn't agree with Rabin's policies. We, yes, me too, are considered as guilty of, complicit in the murder. Honestly, I am innocent; I had nothing to do with the murder. You can go through all of my articles of the time. You won't find a hint of violence against people I disagree with.

I knew of nobody promoting violence. We were too busy trying protect ourselves against Arab terrorism and threats from the Israeli Left to banish us from our homes. We saw the Oslo Accords, which had been forced on Rabin by the Left, as a danger to Israeli security. We couldn't understand the logic in giving Arabs weapons. And our assessment was correct.

The Israeli Left continues to use the murder of Yitzchak Rabin as a weapon against their political opponents. The dangerous hate comes from their end of the political spectrum, not ours.

We're too busy building and developing our communities and Our country, the State of Israel. That's all we ever wanted to do.

Their refusal to respect our right to disagree is antidemocratic, as is their refusal to allow us to speak. Promoting hatred can only backfire. It is bad for any society, especially a country like Israel, which has deal with so much antisemitism from the world. The Israeli Left is only playing into the hand of our international enemies.

Gd willing, may they soon rid the hatred from their souls.

American Left Causing Its Own Problems

This isn't the United States I knew.

This isn't the United States where I was educated.

This isn't the United States where I was taught the basic principles of democracy. 

Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose.

In recent years something very frightening has happened in the United States. The Left has recovered from McCarthyism, the heat of the Cold War, when they had been under attack, losing jobs, jailed. Now they are fighting basic American values, and many ordinary Americans are scared. They insist that they own morality. They don't accept that there are other opinions.

That's why Donald Trump was elected. Ordinary Americans couldn't trust the politicians, not just the Leftist Democrats. They couldn't relate to the Republican politicians either. So, in the primaries they chose the outsider, the one who said what they were thinking. They chose the man whom the establishment hated. They elected Donald Trump, the most unlikely POTUS ever.

The Left's reaction to Trump's election went against all precedent. The American Left rioted and screamed and schemed and threatened. They haven't been behaving as law-abiding, liberal democratic citizens.

I'm glad that I don't live in the United States of America. Considering what's going on in American universities, things will only get worse.


"Greatest. Video. Ever" isn't my comment. I can't clean it from the video.

Local Shiloh Elections

Photo by Miriam Feyga Bunimovich

Last night we held our annual local Shiloh Elections for the new members of the "town council."  The Town Council aka Mazkirut has five members who each serve two year terms. There are annual elections so that two or three are elected annually, and there are the remaining two or three continuing. This way "half" of the members are new and half continue. Considering how many projects and issues they have to deal with, it is important that not all members of the Town Council are new to the "job." Also, you should know that that are all volunteers. My committee and I are volunteers, too.

Photo by Miriam Feyga Bunimovich

We need four people on the Election Committee, at least three during the voting and four during the counting. This year all of the members were experienced from previous elections, which made it so much easier.

One of my favorite things about being on the election committee is that I get to see lots of neighbors and good friends. I also have the opportunity to meet neighbors for the first time or to celebrate their first time voting. Shiloh is now a large community with hundreds of families of all ages and backgrounds. I'm now one of the old fogies, oldtimers. There are very few activities in which I can meet the youngsters, especially since most neighbors are not only younger than I am, but they don't live in my neighborhood.

Obviously I no longer have children in school, so I don't get to meet the teachers and other parents at meetings. There are also quite a few synagogues in different neighborhoods, and we no longer have periodic Shabbat classes for all the women. Anyway, even when we did, only a small percentage of the women attended.

Serving on the Election Committee is the only community activity I contribute to. I used to be involved with all sorts of committees when they were totally volunteer. Now there are paid coordinators to handle events and bringing new families and helping them. I don't volunteer to help those getting paid. But the Election Committee is a completely voluntary position. The office staff helps us, and the committee has a very short shelf life of just a few weeks each year. I am usually asked to serve on it, because I know the procedures and really enjoy it.

Gd willing, I'll be asked to be on the Election Committee next year, too.

PS I really don't care about the results, and sometimes none of the candidates I've voted for even won. That is what democracy is all about, accepting results. To me, following the laws and fair voting are most important.

Demonstrations aren't the Way to Change Government Leaders

This post is in essence a continuation of yesterday's If Bogie's the Alternative, I'll Stick With Bibi. In replying to comments I realized that I hadn't fully expressed my thoughts about those demonstrations. This also connects to my horror and unease at the trends in the United States concerning the riots after last year's Presidential Elections.

In principle I totally oppose using demonstrations to change or protest governmental leaders. That's the job of elections in a democratic society.

The main principle of democracy is that we have to accept the sometimes unpleasant fact, that our prefered candidate may lose.

If our prefered candidate loses, we must accept it. Our reaction may be sadness and disappointment, but we aren't to hold demonstrations or riots about it in protest.

In a democracy there are procedures and governmental bodies to police officeholders. Demonstrating to force someone out of office is not only undemocratic/antidemocratic, it's fascist. Yes, that's what happens in countries that don't follow the law.

I am extremely unhappy with the so-called "anti-corruption" demonstrations going on here in Israel. They are to force the hand of the already Left wing judiciary and the police. That is against democratic principles. The backers and initiators of this "movement" have a definite agenda. They want their people in power, whether legally elected or not.

Therefore I will not attend or support those demonstrations in any way or form!

local elections in Shiloh

What is Democracy? Define It.

I'm writing this in "theory," not crossing t's and dotting i's and saying how it is or isn't applied today. I hope that you readers will be able to get the meaning by yourselves and respond intelligently in the comments.

In the Senior Citizen Adult Education program I attend in the Ofra Girls High School, we have a class on social issues in cinema. One week they showed us a classic Israeli movie, Sallah Shabati, which has a scene in which the new immigrants in the brand new State of Israel is being introduced to democratic elections. They don't understand the meaning of democracy.

The immigrants depicted are from countries that either never had democratic elections or hadn't for awhile, this being just after World War Two. Somehow they come to the mistaken conclusion that democracy means that everyone can do what they want. Of course I was seething. That's anarchy, not democracy. Obviously they thought that by voting each one can demand what they want.

Democracy means that the majority, after a vote, wins. And the minority loses. There is only one winner.

In some cases, that may really be a plurality, not a majority. To simplify the difference between the two terms think in percentages. For a majority, you need over fifty percent, 50%. 50.1% versus 49.9% means that the candidate or referendum, or whatever that got that 50.1% is the only winner.  The one who got 49.9% is "history." There are government systems that have a position called "Leader of the Opposition" for the loser who got the most votes, but most countries send the loser off to pasture and history postscripts. A plurality means "the most" in comparison to others. So, if there had been four choices and the results were 26%, 38%, 11% and 25%, the one with 38% would be the winner. Some government systems have a runoff election if nobody gets a majority or more than a certain percentage, like 40%. Then just the two candidates who got the highest amount face each other in elections. 

In a law-abiding democracy, the citizens, whether happy or not, accept the result of elections. That is the basic democratic principle I was raised with and educated in. Only in unstable, antidemocratic fascist societies do citizens protest the results of elections.

Here I am voting in Israeli Elections. (photo by Linda Fairman)

Anti-Democratic Hypocrisy of The Israeli Judicial

A country's High Court or Supreme Court is supposed to make decisions based on the laws voted in by the democratically elected members of parliament. They are not supposed to be playing god. The judges are not supposed to be political, nor rule according to their personal ideologies. 

Tell that to the judges on Israel's High Court. They unabashedly say that they judge according to their moral compass, which davka isn't very moral.

Israel's Supreme/High Court Judges claim to be strengthening democracy in Israel.  But democracy is the rule of the people, not the rule of the self-appointed, self-perpetuating elite.

Members of Knesset are voted in on lists, so that the political opinions/ideologies/priorities of Israelis are preserved. That is very much the epitome of democracy as the rule of the people. When these judges overrule the democratically voted laws, because they don't like them, that is the the exact opposite of democracy.

Something must be done to "delete" the court from the Israeli governmental system. Yes, I know. Then the court will declare the new law "immoral." Let them move to Zimbabwe or some similar country.

Dictatorship of The Judicial Left

View from Israeli Supreme Court Building

Here in Israel, we suffer from the whims of a Leftist dictatorship. The Supreme Court takes its title much too seriously. Its "justices" really think they're supreme, higher authority than all others including the laws voted by the Knesset, Israel's Parliament.

The "justices" decide whether laws can stand or not.

When deciding cases, they don't take into account the laws of the State of Israel, they judge according to their ideology and agendas.

Most Israeli citizens completely disagree with the decisions and ideologies of the "justices." Ordinary Israelis don't vote for them. Actually, neither do the Knesset Member who are elected, as part of party lists, by Israeli citizens. The "justices" vote in their successors to perpetuate their agendas and ideologies.

Even though the "justices" claim that they are the epitome of "democracy" and democratic thought, the very system and their dominance in Israeli life and law is totally anti-democratic. It's no less that a complete dictatorship. It mocks democracy. Those faux "justices" endanger the State of Israel.

Israeli Supreme Court Building

Israeli Supreme Court Building

I'm Worried About The State of The USA

• Not everyone can win.
• The major Principle of democracy is accepting results including losses.

The "not my president" campaign/movement is undemocratic and I'd even say fascist.

The results of legally held elections must be accepted, even when you're upset by them. Not only is that life, but that's what democracy is all about.

If anything, the "not my president" campaign is probably just alienating more voters from the Democratic Party than it's attracting. And no doubt that there are some very embarrassed Democrats who are terrified to voice their opinions. 

Hillary Clinton and other Democrats who lost turned off voters by preaching that their ideology is the right and most moral one, and they didn't tune in to the worries, fears and priorities of the American voters in most of the states. Think of it as playing a violin like a banjo. It's going to sound really bad. And sticking a guitar on your shoulder to play like a violin won't be any better.

Sorry, but the truth, like election results, isn't guaranteed to the pleasant.

Anti-Trump Movement and "Best Picture" Snafu

I must make something very clear. I am not a fan of Donald Trump, but I am both amused by the recent American Presidential Elections and was totally opposed to seeing Hillary Clinton as President of the United States. I consider Trump's nomination to be the direct result of the rather recent political party primaries system for choosing nominees by the two major political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. In 2016 both major parties nominated horrendously flawed candidates. And I consider the antidemocratic and unprecedented "not my president" movement to endanger the democratic process of the United States of America.

And about Hillary Clinton, she's as authentically Feminist as as the "designer" sic pocketbooks sold on Manhattan sidewalks. Would you want a daughter of yours to be married to a serial lech?

Hillary Clinton was scheduled to be nominated regardless of the system for choosing nominees. It had been promised to her in 2008 when Barack Hussein Obama came out of Leftfield and grabbed it once the Kennedy Clan gave him their support. She very professionally sewed up the major donors along with the traditional "party machine." That's why she wasn't challenged, except by Bernie Sanders who galvanized the Far Left and those desperately looking for anybody but Hillary and the Democrat "establishment."

One thing considered as the basic principle of democracy is that sometimes you lose and sometimes you win, and you must accept it. This boycott everything Trump movement, whether his or his daughter's and throwing wrenches into the what is generally easy approval for appointees can only paralyze government process, especially insidious when the resulting paralysis is blamed on Trump.

And what does this all have to do with the recent Academy Awards "Best Picture" Snafu?  The fact that Warren Beatty claimed afterwards that he thought something was wrong, but being a good actor, he didn't question his lines. Yes, that's what good actors do. Davka, think about it. Beatty had been paired with his "Bonnie and Clyde" co-star Faye Dunaway. As actors in that movie, they had brilliantly portrayed the sociopathic couple of thieves and killers into likable iconic characters.

Image: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images, aol.com

As anyone would, Beatty tried to roll with it.
He looked over the card two times, then a third. He clearly wasn't sure — it didn't make sense that his envelope said "Emma Stone." And so he showed it to his fellow presenter, Dunaway, who saw the words La La Land.
And, because the clock was ticking, she spoke them. (aol.com)

If he had really noticed the mistake, why didn't he just say:

"Oops, this seems to be the wrong envelope!" 

That would have saved Dunaway from revealing to the world that she, like many of us, needs reading glasses.

Too many people are following the anti-Trump Pied Piper, endangering the American democratic system instead of accepting their recent defeat and trying to prepare for the next elections. Remember that the Republicans hold Congress and have increased their governorships. So there is plenty to do if the Democrats really want to improve their situation. Destabilizing the country is the worse thing possible. Yes, I believe that too many people are acting like Warren Beatty, who was afraid to be critical of his "lines," and the result of this "not my president" movement will be severe damage to the USA. That will not be Trump's fault. Sorry, it's like blaming the envelope for the "Best Picture" Snafu.