The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
As is widely known, Israel has had increasing political unrest in recent months. Tens of thousands have taken to the streets many times to protest actions that have been taken by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Knesset (parliament). “Bibi,” as he is universally known, has been indicted for various crimes, but thus far he has managed to avoid convictions or imprisonment by delaying tactics approved by his rightist/nationalist government, which has a sizeable number of members of the Knesset from Hasidic parties of ultra-conservative religious Israelis.
One of the loudest objections of the center and left non-religious Israeli parties is that since its inception in 1948, Israel has allowed male Hasidic citizens who are enrolled in any of the many state-funded religious schools whose students spend years – or a lifetime – studying the Torah, the religious law. These men are not required to serve in the IDF, the Israeli Defense Force. Naturally this sticks in the craw of the center/left.
In addition, Israeli laws on abortion are very strict, as they are in many “red states” in the USA. And the “blue laws” of Israel, regarding the Jewish Shabbat (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown), make the USA from the 16th through the early 20th centuries look like a libertine town in the Old West. These unique features of Israeli politics are due to the reality that none of the many political parties has ever had a majority since the State of Israeli was founded in 1948. Thus every coalition parliamentary government has had to allow some of the religious parties into the cabinet in order to create a majority.
The issue which has caused the most voluminous uproar in the past few months is a move by Netanyahu to weaken the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court. He wanted to eliminate the “unreasonableness” clause in a law that was passed by a center/left government a number of years ago to curb extreme measures of the religious parties.
Therefore, a few days ago, a Bibi-led Knesset vote nullified the unreasonableness clause from the law. Knowing they would lose, the center/left stayed away in protest when the law was changed. Now the Supreme Court will have to decide whether that is constitutional or not (even though Israel does not have a written constitution).
Large protests were staged before and after the “unreasonableness” clause was struck down by the Knesset. The crowds concluded that Bibi wanted the clause erased so that he could avoid conviction in his criminal trials. They also wanted to put a damper on the small percentage of religious Israelis who have such a large influence in every coalition government.
For the past seven years, the United States has had a man who became president who has done everything in his power to avoid conviction for a number of crimes it has been alleged he committed, and he is now fighting several more indictments on many other alleged crimes.
No one has ever accused Donald Trump or Bibi Netanyahu of being religious zealots. The two men have known one another for many years. Both have sought to become “strongman rulers” of their respective democracies. Bibi has succeeded in many of his goals, but The Donald is far behind him. However, Trump is trying to win the presidency again in order to equal his fellow democracy-destroyer.
If Trump becomes president again, he will pardon himself of any convictions he may have accrued by January 20, 2025. He has nearly two hundred people in Texas who are working on plans for a rapid movement to weaken the judicial and legislative branches of our government, and to institute autocratic rule in America, like that which has been thrust upon Israel by Benyamin Netanyahu.
There is yet another would-be strongman in the wings of American political theater. He is Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, who is running as fast and as hard as he can to be our next president. His campaign has certainly not caught fire, but if Trump trips, and enough disillusioned Trumplicans should anoint Mr. DeSantis as our next president, he also has people working on a fast-track-plan to make him the other Trump. The citizens of Florida can attest to his prowess as a strongman. Furthermore, he has developed a close relationship with Viktor Orban, the strongman president of Hungary, who has effectively destroyed democracy is that oft-tortured land.
Millions of Americans and Israelis are wondering how men such as Donald Trump and Bibi Netanyahu could ever be elected the leaders of two nations that both had strong democratic credentials from their inceptions. There are several answers to that question, but perhaps the most pertinent one is this: In both nations the religious-right has an influence far greater than their numbers would seem to warrant.
The major question that has plagued Israel from 1948 is this: Shall Israel be a Jewish state or shall it be a democratic state? As the decades have passed, most Israelis of whatever political stripe have concluded it cannot be both. Because of the rapidly-growing Palestinian population, sooner or later Palestinians within the borders of Israel shall outnumber Israelis. And if all Palestinians everywhere in the world should return to a newly formed Palestinians state, they would outnumber the Israelis as soon as such a state became independent.
A small minority of religious Jews effectively made Netanyahu their leader. A relatively small minority of American evangelical Protestants and conservative Catholics are attempting to re-elect Trump as our president in 2024.
Recent US Supreme Court decisions have given some religious groups what they wanted in a series of very controversial judicial rulings. Three of those justices were nominated by Donld Trump. If either Trump or DeSantis is elected, we will become another Israel. A small percentage of conservative Christians will have seized the reins of American government. Conservative people are usually much more zealous than liberal people. Most conservatives act from the heart; most liberals act from the head.
If everyone who is to the left of either Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis does not turn out to vote in the presidential primaries, but especially in the presidential election, a hefty majority of Americans will be feeling the dejection and despair which have seized the hearts and minds of Israeli liberals at the present moment. Therefore, Americans: Caveat Suffragator: Let the Voter Beware! – August 4, 2023
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.