Good Afternoon:
I had the chance to visit Jaffa Street in Jerusalem today. After a quick appointment, my daughter and I passed through the Shuk. If you happen to live there, it's a great place to shop for just about anything fresh that you might need. You can even buy Chocolate Halva. If you don't live there, there is a new parking garage right near by -- just a two minute walk to the Shuk (near Rechov HaRav Shmuel Baruchk St).
We visited the a Ministry of Health center. There was a sign that said: "take care on our cleanliness" as you entered the bathroom, but someone forgot to fill the soap dispenser. Irony, to say the least.
One couldn't help but notice, though, the absolutely beautiful weather (we even slept the night with the window breeze). There are some clouds in the sky as well, as a weak trough of low pressure makes it way through our area. However, thunderstorms associated with the trough are located over Cyprus and Turkey -- not exactly in our backyard.
While the weather in the lower atmosphere meanders between hotter and not so hot summer weather, the middle and upper atmosphere are forecast to warm. This means that we'll be heading into Israeli summer, where temperatures are pleasantly warm, but skies remain mostly blue.
This could be the calm before the storm. I don't know if you noticed, but the government decided to stop all fishing in the waters of Gaza (punish!) because of the continued launch of incendiary balloons and even one balloon that exploded mid-air with a bomb attached to it. I wonder when we'll take away their balloons as well.
One our political parties, "Israeli Beitenu," actually decided to take a stand -- in favor or sharing the burden of protecting our country (with the Haredim). However, it is not clear if they decided on principle or just to stick it to the Prime Minister (in the hopes of deposing him in the next election).
Ironically, if it wasn't for the court ruling that the current law goes against the spirit of the Basic Laws (a pseudo constitution) then Mr. Lieberman wouldn't have had a leg to stand on. Yet, he doesn't seem to care very much for preserving the power of the court to overrule certain laws and regulations.
There seems to be an idea going around the learned folks that Democracy means the right of the majority to decide what's right and wrong, what's the law and what's unlawful.
Yet, a moment's thought will disprove this notion. The origin of Democracy evolved from an idea that the people should decide, rather than a king, authoritarian ruler, or dictator. However, one needs to ask: "who are the people?" They are individuals. Hence, there is a contradiction: how do you protect the individual from a group of other individuals who would write laws negating the purpose of a democracy in the first place.
This became obvious to those whose sole aim was to protect citizens and states from the tyranny of the Federal Government of the newly formed United States. After agreeing on a constitution, they soon realized that it wasn't sufficient: it enabled a "tyranny of the majority." For this reason, amendments were proposed and added to the constitution, which are referred to as the "Bill of Rights" (https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/billofrights). The Bill of Rights protect American citizens from arbitrary searches and seizures, excesses fines and punishments, cruel and unusual punishments, and guarantee the rights to practice religion without government interference, to assemble, to speak, and to petition the government and (most importantly) the courts.
The ultimate protector of the individual is the court, and the court requires the lawful power to stop government actions that trample the rights of the individual, regardless of whether that individuals is represented by the ruling party or not. (By the way, I do agree that our court selection process required changes (open and representative), which the previous Justice Minister succeeded in doing).
If there is a "court override" and truly the majority or ruling party has unlimited power to legislate, then the ultimate expression of this power is to pass a law invalidating the individuals right to choose new representatives (cancelling elections outright) or to ensconce the leader of the government for life (as in China). Or, if this is not graphic enough: pass laws legalizing the murder of the Jewish people -- as done in Nazi Germany.
Be careful what you wish for,
Barry Lynn
