"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Friday, August 31, 2012

ISRAEL'S LEGAL SYSTEM NEEDS AN OVERHAUL VERY BADLY

Caroline Glick's written about just how the legal system in this country, headed by vile, disrespecful men like attorney general Yehuda Weinstein, are what's led to the casualty in Migron:
Ahead of the court hearing last month, the government's Ministerial Committee on Settlement convened to determine the government's position on the new Migron petition. Led by Netanyahu, the ministers decided that the government's position was to ask for a continuance in order to enable the lower courts to adjudicate the claims of ownership of the land.

Rather than follow the law and represent that position to the court, Weinstein instructed attorney Osnat Mandel from the State Prosecution to inform the court he did not accept the government's decision, and ask for a continuance in order to give him time to force the government to change its position.

Addressing the court, Mandel said, "The attorney- general believes that the ministerial committee's position will raise legal difficulties. And since we're requesting a continuance for undertaking the evacuation anyway [for unrelated reasons], he requests [time] to hold meetings with the elected leadership."

On the face of it, Weinstein's defiance of a legally binding government decision was unlawful. Certainly it would appear to be grounds for his immediate firing. But while shocking, Weinstein's rank insubordination was not unique.

As relates to Israel's legal rights in Judea and Samaria, Weinstein is guided not by the law but by the ideology of the far Left. This ideology received formal expression in a 2005 report on unauthorized Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria authored by former assistant state attorney Talia Sasson. The Sasson Report represented a wholesale renunciation of all Israeli claims to legal rights over Judea and Samaria. It was unhinged from both Israeli and international law.

And it was embraced by the legal fraternity. [...]

Weinstein is only able to behave as he does because he operates in an environment where the Supreme Court has usurped the power of Israel's elected governments to determine state policy. [...]

Netanyahu has come under sharp criticism, particularly from his voters, for his refusal to stand up to Weinstein and his band of legal despots. And this makes sense. Netanyahu should have stood up to Weinstein in defense of Galant. And he should have denounced Weinstein last month for his unlawful defiance of the government on Migron. He should also stand up to Weinstein on the Levy Commission report, and just as a matter of policy, adopt its findings as the formal position of Israel's government.

But even if he does these things, all they would serve to do is temporarily mitigate the frustration of his voters. They wouldn't change the basic calculus of power. The fact is that today Netanyahu lacks the means to curb the legal fraternity's abuse of power.

The media staunchly defend every move the legal fraternity takes to usurp the powers of the government and the Knesset. Indeed, the media represents the legal brotherhood's unlawful moves as supreme acts of selflessness on behalf of Israeli democracy and the rule of law. [...]

The dispossessed residents of Migron are just the latest casualties of the legal fraternity's campaign to force its radical agenda on an unwilling electorate. If we wish to save Israel's democratic system, the people of this country must stand up and demand that our representatives protect our right to be governed by those whom we elect and not by self-appointed clerks.
She's right that Netanyahu's failure to stand up to Weinstein and his minions is another very serious foible of his, and for all we know, it could even serve to become his undoing. Anyone who recognizes just how destructive the legal system's operatives are being to Israel must get to work immediately to work on how to put an end to their atrocious behavior for good.

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