Haim Misgav
Don’t quit, Lieberman
Leftists cite rule of law but wish to get rid of foreign minister for political reasons
Avigdor Lieberman does not have to quit his post, neither now nor after the attorney general will declare that he intends to serve an indictment against the foreign minister. A Basic Law, which is part of the State of Israel’s constitution, determines when a minister should be ousted as result of committing an offence. The law on this matter is clear: Only after a court of law convicts a minister, we should deal with the question of whether the conviction carries moral turpitude. The very conviction, in and of itself, is not sufficient in order to terminate a minister’s term in office.
Hence, the demands voiced by various interested parties – mostly belonging to the leftist camp – whereby the foreign minister should be quitting his post at this time are incommensurate with the law. They also give off a stench of opportunism. The hope of all those people who seemingly concern themselves with the rule of law is that his forced departure from the government may prompt the coalition’s collapse, which they believe may give rise to a government that is less “rightist” and more conciliatory.
If someone still has any doubt about the direction the State of Israel is being dragged into at this time by the radical leftist camp, he should occasionally visit the protests inspired by the hoodlums of this “camp”; these rallies include chants in favor of the “liberation” of Jaffa and Haifa, as well as other holy sites, for the sake of “peace.” There is no doubt that many of these people view Lieberman as an “obstacle” to peace – and as such, they feel someone needs to push the attorney general to act.
It is a pity that terms such as the “rule of law” become a means in the hands of those who seek to prompt the Jewish State’s collapse. Some of them may be acting out of naiveté or folly, yet most of them view the demands for honest conduct and the elimination of corruption as a means only.
They are not bothered by the demand of Jews to live in east Jerusalem; rather, what bothers them is the argument that Jews should not be prevented from living anywhere they wish. After all, nobody prevents Arabs from living in Jerusalem’s French Hill neighborhood, just like nobody prevents members of the “occupied people,” who seemingly suffer under apartheid, from purchasing homes in Nazareth Ilit or in the heart of Tel Aviv. They are also not prevented from building large homes in their own communities.
In the eyes of all those people who are insulted on behalf of the “Palestinian people,” Lieberman has turned into a sort of red rag just because he doesn’t believe in the foolish formula of “land for peace.” He also does not believe that peace is at arm’s reach or beyond the door – or even somewhere beyond the horizon. Yet this is not a good enough reason to rape the rule of law, literary, and ignore something that is so dear to so many: The right of innocence until proven guilty.
There is no state in the world that does not view this right as a fundamental part of its legal system. Yet only Israel’s leftist camp does not view this right as a perpetual light. The totalitarian methods accepted by this camp were always a subject for ridicule. Lieberman, who hails from places where Bolshevik regimes got rid of political rivals via show trials or staged probes, is certainly familiar with what is being directed at him at this time.
Dr. Haim Misgav is a law lecturer at the Netanya Academic College
