Prof. Paul Eidelberg
A. GENERAL STATEMENT: Realizing that the Likud, the so-called National Union, and the National Religious Party have abandoned Zionism, and recognizing that they have no constructive goal and have tolerated the murder and maiming of thousands of Jewish men, women, and children, and seeing, moreover, that the Likud alone is facilitating a secular revolution in Israel, the present writer urges the leaders of all extra-parliamentary national-religious groups to assemble in Jerusalem and create an unabashedly Jewish nationalist camp. By a Jewish nationalist camp I have two basic things in mind:
1. Undeviating commitment to Israel’s preservation and development as an authentic Jewish state—which requires immediate attention to Israel’s immigration laws and demographic problem.
2. Undeviating and unqualified opposition to relinquishing even a centimeter of Jewish land to any foreign entity—which opposition logically precludes any negotiations with the Palestinian (terrorist) Authority.
B. AXIOMATIC REQUIREMENTS OF A JEWISH NATIONAL STRATEGY:
1. Affirmation that Israel is the State of the Jews.
2. Affirmation that a Jewish State must be based on Jewish principles and values.
3. Affirmation that the primary source of Jewish principles and values is the
Torah.
4. Affirmation that only Jews, whether religious or not, can formulate a Jewish
national strategy.
5. Affirmation that the previous axiomatic requirements preclude complete or
absolute equality of Jewish and non-Jewish residents of Israel. (Here one should
recall Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s statement of May 6, 1976: “There
is room for a non-Jewish minority on condition that it accepts the destiny of
the State vis-à-vis the Jewish people, culture, tradition, and belief.
The minority is entitled to equal rights as individuals with respect to their
distinct religion and culture, but not more than that.”)
6. Affirmation that Israel’s system of government—its laws and institutions—must
be consistent with the foregoing axiomatic requirements if Israel’s leaders
are to develop a Jewish national strategy capable of preserving the heritage
of the Jewish People.
C. BASIC FLAWS OF ISRAEL’S SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT:
1. Multi-party cabinet government is divisive and inherently incapable of
pursuing coherent and resolute national policies.
2. The Prime Minister can make agreements with foreign entities without serious
Knesset or public debate and even release terrorists.
3. The membership of the Supreme Court is controlled by its president and two
other sitting judges, making the court a self-perpetuating oligarchy.
4. The absence of district or constituency elections has pernicious consequences:
(a) Knesset members are subservient to their party leaders and cannot perform
the function of administrative oversight.
(b) An impotent legislature leads to usurpation of legislative power by the
Supreme Court,
(c) MKs are not individually accountable to the voters.
(d) Citizens cannot influence government policies via their own elected representatives.
5. The system of fixed party lists entrenches flawed party leaders in office
and enables them to ignore public opinion with impunity.
6. Proportional representation with a low threshold multiplies parties and
fragments the Government.
In short, lacking in Israel is a system of institutional checks and balances,
a precondition for the rule of law.
D. THE REMEDY: A Constitution based on Jewish principles and values. But for this purpose it will be necessary to form a Jewish Nationalist Camp.