Yom Chamishee
Thursday
26 Tevet 5783
January 19 2023
A Series of Quotes Concerning Yesterday’s Disqualification of Aryeh Deri as Interior and Health Minister (see Today’s Blog below for a further discussion of Deri’s Disqualification).
Shas head Aryeh Deri speaking yesterday following the Court decision (photo Tamar Neuberg).
Deri’s Statement
“I pledge to continue the revolution that our gentlemen started with more strength and more strength. They will close the door for us, we will enter through the window. They will close the window for us, we will break through the ceiling, with God’s help.”
The Statement of the Shas Party
“The Supreme Court, which claims to care about minorities, today threw away the voices and votes of 400,000 voters of the Shas movement, which represents the underprivileged public in Israel, who went to the polls only two months ago . . .
Today the Court actually ruled that the elections are meaningless. The Court’s decision is political. The scandalous disqualification of the chairman of Shas from a ministerial position is not only a personal injury to Deri, but a severe and stinging injury to all Shas voters and its supporters.
Wide sections of Israeli society today feel excluded by the Court, The entire Shas movement is shocked by the arbitrary and unprecedented decision of the Supreme Court. Contrary to the law and justice, it is a serious violation of the right to choose and be chosen, which is the lifeblood of democracy.”
The statement of Yehuda Cohen, a Shas rabbi closely associated with Deri:
“If you were an Arab-Israeli or a Palestinian, the Court would not have touched you. If you had formed a coalition with the Left, they would have applauded and praised you. But you are a second class Jewish citizen.”
The News on the Israeli Street
The war in Judea and Samaria . . .
Palestinian terrorists fired an IED at IDF soldiers entering Jenin last night. Two soldiers were wounded. In the ensuing firefight, two terrorists were killed and a senior member of Islamic Jihad and his two sons were captured.
Two bad omens . . .
A delegation of pro-Israel U.S. senators arrived in Israel on the last stop of their trip around the Middle East. Some of these senators are among Israel’s closest friends.
However, in advance of their arrival, they let it be known that they did not want to meet with Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, and Israel’s Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich.
Unfortunately, PM Netanyahu acquiesced to their demand.
Which means that every politician that comes our way for the next 4 years will make the same demand.
Secondly, PM Netanyahu showed his true colors yesterday and halted a planning commission meeting to advance building plans for expanding a Jewish neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem.
Apparently Netanyahu’s directive was the result of a Biden Administration demand that the project be stopped, and with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Israel and Secretary of State Blinken about to arrive, Netanyahu again acquiesced.
We have always pointed out here at OneIsrael that nothing is more important to Netanyahu than keeping the status quo.
TODAY’S BLOG
The Ugly Truth About Yesterday’s Supreme Court Ruling
Let’s begin with what the Supreme Court ruled yesterday. By a vote of 10-1, it ruled that Aryeh Deri, the leader of the Sephardic Orthodox Shas Party, cannot be a Minister in the Coalition government and must be fired immediately.
On the other hand, the Court inexplicably ruled that Deri can remain in the Knesset as a legislator.
How is it possible that Deri can remain in the Knesset but he cannot be chosen as a Minister? Again, there was no law on which to base this inconsistent decision.
Instead, 5 of the Justices led by Chief Justice Esther Hayut employed, once again, the ludicrous “unreasonable” argument.
The other 5 Justices ascribed to the “judicial silence and motives” argument which claimed that Deri misrepresented himself by saying he “would retire from public life” in obtaining a plea deal for his conviction last year on income evasion charges. Of course, if the 5 Justices really believed this, how did they at the same time agree that Deri could return to the Knesset?
Now we come to the ugly truth which your humble servant heard expressed repeatedly at a dinner last night hosted by our Sephardic neighbors whose families came from Morocco.
As we already noted, the vote was 10-1 in the Supreme Court. All 10 Justices who voted against Deri are Ashkenazi. The 1 dissenting vote came from the only Sephardic Justice on the panel.
Take a moment and remember that the former Justice most revered in Israel is Aharon Barak. In the aftermath of right-wing Menachem Begin’s rise to power and the subsequent political awakening of the Sephardic segment of Israeli society in terms of representation in the the Knesset, Barak set out to usurp the power of the democratically elected Knesset representatives.
The Supreme Court became the means by which the Ashkenazi segment of the population could maintain its grip on power. Now, it is the last bastion of Ashkenazi political supremacy.
If you take a good look at who is out in Habima Square in Tel Aviv demonstrating against judicial reform, you will find that the vast majority of demonstrators are Ashkenazi.
The ugly truth is that no matter how much one talks about how there is no longer a divide between Ashkenazi and Sephardic in this country; a chasm exists which is only getting wider.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.