The Fun Has Begun Pt. 1
I have been silent for the last 5 weeks. That is not the case in the real world, where that would never happen, but a reality in the blogosphere only. Sorry for the silence. I was visiting the states and feel that since this blog is about my experiences in Israel I really should focus on that. We had a great time and I realize that by limiting my time in New York I get to appreciate it and my friends there much more. Leaving family is still rough.
I have been back less than a week and already the fun has begun. The night after our return we were invited to hear the minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked, speak at a neighbors house. It was a small gathering with no more than 40 people. I did not really know much about her other than she was a member of the National Religious Party ( now called HaBayit HaYehudi) although she ( very proudly) is not observant. So I wikied her (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayelet_Shaked). She has a degree in electrical and computer engineering. She used to write software for Texas Instruments and at the age of 41 is now in charge of one of the most important ministries in the state.
She spoke briefly about herself and then turned to the audience for questions.
The day before , the Israeli supreme court came out with two rulings that made the religious right very upset. The first had to do with the Kashrut monopoly. In Israel only the rabbinate can certify if a business is kosher or not. If a business does so on its own, it is liable for fines. The new ruling said that although a restaurant can not say it is kosher without rabbinate approval, it can tell customers that all the ingredients they use are kosher ( if they are ). The consumer would then have to chose whether this was enough for them. The court said that to prevent the restaurant from doing so would be a violation of free speech.
The second ruling struck down an amendment made to a law concerning the drafting of yeshiva students. The original law was voted on in 2006 and had the support of Shaked an her party. When the current government was formed, the religious right demanded that this law be amended to basically allow yeshiva students to defer their army service forever. The court found that this was discriminatory against all the other people that make up Israeli society that do share the burden ( that is how the issue is phrased here).
The first question to Shaked is what she thought of these two rulings, after all she is the Minister of Justice. I thought I knew how she would answer. She did vote for the original bill and is also a fan of Ayn Rand.
She decided to answer about the issue of the draft first. She said that the court had overstepped its authority and has been doing so for a long time. The Knesset passed a law and the court should respect that. Israel does not have a constitution so therefore the Knesset should be able to make laws as they see fit. She said that very soon they would be submitting a bill that would allow the Knesset to essentially overturn the court and end judicial activism ( it was submitted the next day). She said that the deferred yeshiva students are making big progress each year and now 3000 of them draft a year. This is out of 64,000 that are eligible to draft ( either because they turned 18 or have deferred). She continued to say that the army does not really want them anyway and that the only thing that matters is that they are allowed to join the workforce. There is no reason to push the draft on them.
As far as kashrut , she said it doesn't make sense to have a situation where many agencies provide certification. When asked about the idea of competition she dismissed it.
I was blown away. Here the Minister of Justice was defending monopolies, the right of one segment of society to shirk it's responsibilities and most reprehensibly the passing of a law that would rid the country of any checks and balances to defend and maintain the democratic nature of the state. I am not a fan of all the High Court does here but I do understand what it would mean if they no longer had the right to overturn bad laws. Shaked is very smart and she knows as well. This will give her a lot of good will with those parties looking to use religion to impose their power and influence and the vast majority of the population that does not want them to.
to be continued ...