“Some are more equal than others”

During the final months leading up to the 2016 Presidential elections, Hillary Clinton brought to the world the three infamous words; “basket of deplorables”, thereby ensuring that she would lose the coming election against Donald Trump. According to her version of society, there were two baskets of people, those who feel abandoned and desperate, whom she placed in one metaphorical basket, and those she called “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic” — whom she placed in the other metaphorical “what I call the basket of deplorables.” Hillary evidently believed that deplorables were incapable of voting for the Democratic party due to their limited capacities, you know, being hillbillies or rednecks, and in general unappreciative of and unable to fathom the Democratic principle.

I am reminded of this episode in American politics as Israel’s current government, a coalition of four political parties led by the Likud and Benjamin Netanyahu, attempts to legislate Judicial reform. The last elections took place less than three months ago, during which the left-progressive parties that lost the elections did not demand at the time a recount nor did they question the legality or the legitimacy of the results. Yet, despite a majority of the Israeli public voting for political parties that made judicial reform a core issue in their political platform, you would think that the very opposite is the truth, and that Israel is in the midst of a coup d'état and imminent dictatorship. In January 2023, three weeks after taking office, Israel’s newly elected government unveiled a broad package of judicial reforms that would reduce the broad judicial self-proclaimed powers of the Supreme Court and Judicial system on the grounds that they were undermining the separation of powers and encroaching on traditional executive and legislative branches of government, thereby endangering Israel’s Democratic political system.

What began as a so-called protest against judicial reform, has evolved in recent weeks into something entirely unexpected. The opposition parties have claimed that the judicial reforms are the true threat to democracy and not the courts. Over the past 11 weeks the protests have intensified, with elite centers of power in the deep state, industry, media, academia, and the legal system all banding together to stop the judicial reform. This despite recent polls show that over 75 % of the public have lost faith in the courts and belief that the courts are broken and dysfunctional. The average Israeli makes every effort to stay away from the courts knowing from past experience, that the “little guy” has no chance of getting justice, and that the courts show no mercy for the honest citizen. Progressive elites, industrial giants, importers, and monopolies receive preferable treatment by the justice system accompanied by selective enforcement by the police. The courts have over the year’s ruled against Israel’s Jewish identity giving a systematic preference to those who reject Israel as the Jewish national homeland. Despite claims of Israel descending into chaos, all spheres of Israeli society are functioning regularly. Israel is far from descending into chaos, despite the false, biased and one-sided media generated portrayal of anarchy on the streets of Israel.

It’s a closely guarded secret in the business community of Israel, especially within the international Hi-tech world that if you want to do business with companies located in Israel, stipulate and condition that any investment contract be subject to American or European contract law and not Israeli court. What do international companies know that make them so unwilling to trust the Israeli court system? The Israeli courts have over the years based their rulings on a new method of construing contracts. Contrary to common law jurisdictions found in Britain and other Western nations, Israeli courts rule according to a contracts’ “objective purpose” as determined by judges and not primarily by the wording within the agreement. The result of this Israeli judicial construction (judicial activism in simple English) is that in Israel, Judges arbitrarily determinate the purpose or latent intent over the objective language of a contract. In the United States and Western European nations, “objective purpose” does not take precedence over the objective language of a contract which is taken as the best evidence of a parties’ intent. The bottom line being; a judicial system that allows Judges to base their rulings on “reasonableness” or own personal preferences in interpreting the law thereby creates a built-in uncertainty and inherent instability in the judicial system.

The Israeli public made their preferences known at the ballot box less than three months ago. The formation of a conservative government voted in by a clear majority of the voters, has only intensified powerful elite circles to maintain the current judicial system broken as it is and mobilize their supporters to take to the streets and attempt to create chaos. This elite also known as the “First Israel” understands that the progressive left will never be able to garner a majority at the ballot box, and that only by maintaining their hegemony on the Judicial system can they continue to receive preferable rulings allowing them to maintain their control of critical circles of power in Israel.

Hillary Clinton would feel at home among those that belong to the “First Israel”. Our hometown version of what she calls the “deplorables” belong to those who are part of the “Second Israel”; Mizrachi, Sephardim, Haredi, Dati-Leumi, Ethiopians, and other minorities. Our deplorables serve in the Army, pay taxes, contribute to the well-being of others, and are proud of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people. Our “depolorables” refuse to accept the Orwellian concept of “Some are more equal than others” and will continue to support judicial reform as it advances through the different stages of legislation.

It was President Abraham Lincoln who said, "Democracy is a rule of the people, for the people and by the people". The citizens of the country elect the Government to rule the country and the elected government work for the welfare of the people. It would be wise for the judicial system to accept not only President Lincoln’s wise words but also his “intent” concerning what Democracy means.

Israel’s judicial tyranny perpetuates “White Privilege”

Leaders of Israel’s progressive left, the heads of the Military-Industrial/Hi-Tech complex, the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, the judicial system, and governmental offices manned by self-appointed guardians of the deep state have all united and banded together for a last stand, as bastions of “White Privilege”, rejecting the electoral preferences of the majority of the Israeli voting public. These self-appointed officials in government along with their cohorts in the private sector, ignoring the democratic notion of accepting the will of the people, have declared war, in this case civil war, on the bottom up demand for judicial reforms proposed by the recently democratically elected government with a clear parliamentary majority, led by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

In a nutshell, the judicial reform will end limitless power for unelected “Elites”; the Israeli Supreme Court/Court of Appeals exists and functions outside and beyond the authority of the legislative branch, Israel’s Knesset. The Israeli Supreme Court has over the past three decades created in Israel a judicial reality in which there are literally no limits to its authority, and recognizes no limits or restrictions to intervene and exercise judicial review by governmental action and/or legislation. The Israeli Supreme Court recognizes legal standing for any person or organization that demands judicial review of any action or legislation decided upon by the Israeli Knesset. The Israeli Supreme Court has given itself more authority, more power than any comparable judiciary in any Democratic nation in the Western World. Israel’s Supreme Court has ultimate exclusive authority and discretion over the appointment of all Judges at all levels in Israel’s judicial system; creating a situation in which Israel’s Judges lack diversity and are top heavy with progressive judges promoting a world view that is not supported by the majority of Israel’s voting public. Imagine a United States Supreme Court overturning laws passed by Congress based on how “reasonable” the judges believes these laws are irrespective of the legality of the law.

For those of you who remain skeptical after reading recent Israeli headlines in English or hearing the unanimous across the board yet misleading condemnations from Jewish American organizational leaders claiming that the judicial reforms are a threat to the very fabric of Israel's democracy, and I quote: “endangering the very existence of the State of Israel and the Israeli nation." I have good news, the reality is the very opposite. The judicial reforms are not out to destroy Israel's democracy but to save and restore it. Those who are at the head of the opposition to Israel's judicial reform are nothing more than the last vestiges of the old "Elite", "White Privileged" Israeli's of European descent who are unable to accept that they no longer have a moral or electoral mandate to decide for the general public. The protest movement against judicial reform has received positive and encouraging support from the media outlets in Israel and from abroad yet their goal is not to save Democracy but to save the power of the ruling progressive elite and the unproportioned power they wield in Israel.

Who are these population groups who dare to question the old order? Who are mad as hell and are unwilling to remain silent any longer. Who are these usurps who have the gall to no longer put up with the hollowing out of Israel's democracy and Israel’s Jewish identity; who stop at nothing to impose their own "White Privileged" principles, preferences and values on the Israeli electorate.

As a former Bronx boy who studied in New York City with other Jews who grew up in Manhattan, Riverdale, Yonkers, and so forth, I remember quite distinctly how they referred to those of us that came from poorer and less sophisticated backgrounds as......"Shvartze Chayot", we were derogatorily called. In today’s Israel, the "Shvartze Chayot" are also labelled “baboons”, “Sh-t heads”, “and “dispensing machines of poison”; the list goes on and on representing a number of social ethnic groups in Israel. The dominant and largest group are the secular Sephardic-Mizrachim, and those among them who vote for Shas {the largest religious Sephardic political party), the Haredim irrespective of their ethnic background, and the Dati-Leumi (those who live in central Israel and those that populate the communities beyond the green line in Judea and Samaria). These diverse population groups make up the majority of what has become to be known as the “the second Israel.”

In response, there is a perfect storm of factors that have brought about the judicial reform initiative after the recent elections in Israel. An election that voted for a Likud electoral victory giving Israel’s newly elected government a clear and uncontested mandate to promote and advance a conservative political agenda including judicial reform. Fixing Israel’s judicial anomaly that has skewed the checks and balances between the branches of government in favor of the judiciary having no comparable judicial system among Western democracies. For this reason alone, the judicial system, and the Supreme Court specifically have lost the trust and respect of all Israelis. Public support for the judicial system has wavered for a number of years under 10 percent, making the judicial reforms imperative and the expected showdown between Israel’s conservative government and the “Elite” of White Privilege unavoidable and necessary.

The Holocaust, and the flat earth society

I was recently reminded of an article published at a Yeshiva University affiliated website called “The Beacon”, entitled “Why it’s time for Jews to Get Over the Holocaust”, the author had suggested that now is the time that Jews move on and stop making the Holocaust the most pivotal event in Jewish history. The author suggested that the Holocaust is unnecessarily singled out as if it’s more special or unique than other historical events, he continued and stated that although the Holocaust was on a much greater scale and horrifically well-organized, it was far from the first incident of a dominant power killing those deemed “inferior”. As far as this Yeshiva University student was concerned, mankind has been perpetrating horrible atrocities on each other for centuries. He seems to be genuinely puzzled as to why Holocaust denial is considered a crime in over a dozen countries. Surely, for this learned Yeshiva student, this is an overreaction. Do we arrest those that believe and express the opinion that the world is flat he ponders? Why denial of a historical event should even be considered a crime, something detrimental to society, he asks again and again. Denying the significance and uniqueness of the Holocaust is no different than denying that the world is round, so he believes.

Historical events, as earth-shattering and history-ending as they seem, eventually fade over the course of time from the forefront of public consciousness and become a footnote of historical memory. When holocaust survivors will no longer be around, and when there is longer an opportunity to let children and educators hear firsthand testimony of the Holocaust, will the Holocaust be just another event studied in world history classes? With all of the effort that has gone into recording testimonies of the Holocaust be enough to preserve historical memory in terms of the magnitude and uniqueness of the Holocaust? There are few historical events that have undergone greater scrutiny and preservation. Perhaps we can even acknowledge that we’ve done enough to ensure that the Holocaust can never be forgotten. In a moral world, in a world that differentiates between good and evil, right and wrong, this kind of preservation of historical memory would probably suffice.

However, today in the age of “woke” culture that is rooted in signaling support for progressive causes as a substitute for genuine change, and “Critical Race Theory” in which everything is viewed through the prism of cultural relativism; facts and evidence are not enough. The enemies of the Jews and of the State of Israel not only claim that the Jews exaggerate, but that the Holocaust was made up to justify the establishment of the State of Israel. They go even one step further and claim that Israel itself is implementing a Holocaust on the Palestinian Arabs.

The provocative article from the “The Beacon” that questioned the uniqueness of the Holocaust and posted on a website affiliated with Yeshiva University is a sign that the orthodox community is not immune from the politically correct triviality of the Holocaust and acceptance of intersectionality as the intellectual context of interpreting world events. Jewish identity that ignores or belittles or “moves beyond” the systematic attempt to exterminate the Jewish race eighty years ago cannot possibly fathom the significance and importance of the establishment of the State of Israel. The Jewish people made a conscience effort to rebuild out of the ashes of the Holocaust. Those that regard the Holocaust as just another unfortunate event cannot be depended on to understand that for modern Israel, in order to deal with existential threats, Israel must do whatever is necessary so that “never again” will not remain an empty slogan.

Those that compare the Holocaust and the Flat Earth Society should be reminded what the Holocaust was all about. In Daniel Mendelsohn’s book; The Lost, A Search for Six of Six Million, he describes in detail the core horror of Nazi action in collaboration with locals in Bolechow, Poland, September 1942:

A terrible episode happened with Mrs. Grynberg. The Ukrainians and Germans, who had broken into her house, found her giving birth. The weeping and entreaties of bystanders didn’t help and she was taken from her home in a nightshirt and dragged into the square in front of the town hall. There… she was dragged onto a dumpster in the yard of the town hall with a crowd of Ukrainians present, who cracked jokes and jeered and watched the pain of childbirth and she gave birth to a child. The child was immediately torn from her arms along with its umbilical cord and thrown – It was trampled by the crowd and she was stood on her feet as blood poured out of her with bleeding bits hanging and she stood that way for a few hours by the wall of the town hall, afterwards she went with all the others to the train station Where they loaded her into a carriage in a train to Belzec…….

In every generation, the Jewish nation has had to deal with the threat of annihilation. In ancient Egypt, it seemed that the Jews would be gone. In ancient Persia, it looked like Haman would have his way and annihilate us. Yet, in the end, the Jewish people were saved. All of these so-called great empires that attempted to annihilate the Jewish nation have all disappeared and against all odds, we the Jewish nation are still around. Not just surviving, but thriving. The enormity of the Holocaust, with the majority of European Jewry being systemically murdered, is a singular event that defies comparison to any other historical event in the last millennium.

In retrospect, the Holocaust compels Jews to confront their own Jewishness. After such unspeakable events such as described above, every Jew must look inside and consider: Hitler tried to exterminate my people and the world stood by in silence. Will I, through apathy and indifference, or by belittling the tragic uniqueness of the Holocaust become a partner to Hitler? Or will my life convey a testimony to the glory of the Jewish people and our resurrection from the ashes. For this reason alone, we must stand united and dismiss the politically correct idea that it’s time for Jews to get over and move beyond the Holocaust.

International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust will be commemorated throughout the world this year on Friday, January 27, 2023

Applying the “Broken Windows” doctrine to Fight Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism is spiraling out of control throughout the United States with a precipitous rise in anti-Semitic attacks on the streets, on campuses, on social media, Synagogues, JCC’s and other Jewish Institutions; wherever Jews are visible. The tsunami of Jew hatred comes from all corners of the political spectrum; the extreme Right, the progressive Left, radicalized Black and Muslim Americans, and the Muslim world. It has crept into the educational system, the corporate world, the political echelon and the celebrity sphere. Brazen anti-Semitic attacks are being carried out daily without inhibition or hesitancy on the streets of America as if attackers are granted immunity from punishment or accountability. A general sense of fear and intimidation has become the norm for American Jews. For many Jews in the United States, zero tolerance for anti-Semitism is further than ever from being a reality.

This past year, major Jewish organizations have announced that they have embarked on major campaigns aimed to fighting anti-Semitism. These organizations have infused hundreds of millions of dollars into these campaigns, with little if any noticeable reduction in anti-Semitic attacks, or empirically measurable efficacy. With the amplifying effect of social media, Jew hatred can now be spread and amplified with the double click of a finger to millions of people of all ages, of all ethnic groups throughout the United States, transforming Jew hatred to be viewed as acceptable and normal. Violent and physical anti-Semitic attacks have been shown to happen as a result of violent postings and incitement online.

As the world begins the New Year under a cloud of economic and political uncertainty, traumatized by years of the COVID pandemic, amid rising global populism and political disunity, history has shown us over the millennium that when economic, political and social crises erupt and disrupt life as we know it, the usual suspects have been Jews. History has taught us that Jews were always the first to be blamed, then scapegoated, and eventually attacked. The late Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author, stressed that the Holocaust did not begin with gas chambers, it began with words. Leaders of American Jewry have a shared responsibility to work together in order to identify and combat the spiraling of anti-Semitic vitriol.

Applying the “Broken Windows” doctrine to combat anti-Semitism can provide an effective starting point. The broken windows theory, defined in 1982 by social scientists James Wilson and George Kelling, used broken windows as a metaphor for disorder within neighborhoods. Their theory links disorder within a community to subsequent occurrences of serious crime. They suggested that one broken window would soon lead to many more windows being broken: “One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.”

The “Broken Windows” theory had an enormous impact on police policy throughout the 1990s and remained influential into the 21st century. Perhaps the most notable application of the theory was in New York City, where the aggressive order-maintenance practices of the New York City Police Department were responsible for the dramatic decrease in crime rates within the city during the 1990s.

Jewish community leaders and heads of Jewish organizations both on a national scale and local scale must demand that the judicial system, state and local district attorney’s, courts, police forces, and political leaders adopt a “broken windows” orientation towards combatting anti-Semitism.

Only by forcibly demanding that anti-Semitic incidents be investigated, prosecuted and perpetuators be held accountable, only then can we begin to turn the tide and bring spiraling anti-Semitic attacks under a semblance of control. In recent years the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) has adopted the following working definition of antisemitism to empower local judicial and enforcement authorities to act;

Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities

The IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism enables judicial and enforcement agencies the necessary conceptual pathway to combat the spiraling anti-Semitic attacks in the United States. Adopting the “Broken Windows” anti-crime doctrine will enable enforcement authorities an operational pathway to significantly decrease the level of violence currently targeting American Jews, and provide a long-term strategic effect that can be a deterrence by holding those responsible for anti-Semitic attacks accountable for their actions. Zero tolerance for anti-Semitism can indeed become a reality.

Hatred starts with the Jews, but never ends with the Jews. The first airplane hijacked by Jew haters and anti-Semites was an Israeli airplane, and today at every airport at every country in the world, everyone lines up for security checks, so all Americans should be concerned. The danger of dismissing the inherent threat of today’s anti-Semitism lies in its danger for all Americans.

Appendix: A working definition of antisemitism

In the spirit of the Stockholm Declaration that states: “With humanity still scarred by …antisemitism and xenophobia the international community shares a solemn responsibility to fight those evils” the committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial called the IHRA Plenary in Budapest 2015 to adopt the following working definition of antisemitism.

Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

To guide IHRA in its work, the following examples may serve as illustrations:

Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as anti-Semitic. Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.

Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:

Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.

Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.

Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.

Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).

Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.

Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.

Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.

Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.

Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.

Anti-Semitic acts are criminal when they are so defined by law (for example, denial of the Holocaust or distribution of anti-Semitic materials in some countries).

Criminal acts are anti-Semitic when the targets of attacks, whether they are people or property – such as buildings, schools, places of worship and cemeteries – are selected because they are, or are perceived to be, Jewish or linked to Jews.

Anti-Semitic discrimination is the denial to Jews of opportunities or services available to others and is illegal in many countries