Deri deserves a second chance
Op-ed: Aryeh Deri may have committed severe crimes when last in office as Interior Minister, but the time that has passed, in addition to the ultra-orthodox public's different perspective on Israeli society, make giving him another chance to serve the people a more reasonable act than it might initially seem.
I felt then that we had one state for two peoples: The fact that a party was publically opposing the superiority of the courts made it illegitimate in a democracy to my eyes. Without these "hoops" we might slide down into a state of social chaos, which would threaten our status as a nation of laws. Deri being incarcerated was a moment that marked, for me, the victory of the forces of light.
Deri served his sentence and was subsequently restricted from entering politics for many years, due to the disgraceful nature of the actions he was convicted of perpetrating. He was appointed to a minister's position in this government, with the approval of the Attorney General. Following his return to the position of Minister of the Interior, the role he held while committing the bribery offenses he was convicted of, petitions have been presented to the High Court of Justice opposing the appointment.
This time, I feel that the secularist justice organizations are overzealous in their pursuit of Deri. The moral argument sounds right on the face of it. How can you allow a man who disgraced his workplace to come back to the crime scene? Would you appoint the Boston Strangler to head a battered women's shelter?
Why did I change my mind? This is where full disclosure comes in. For the past two years, I've been lecturing at an ultra-Orthodox private college, and have gotten to know that world better. What seems from the outside like a homogeneous front of black-clad people who aren't willing to mix with the rest of Israeli society, turns out upon further inspection to be comprised of a few shades of grey as well.
The students at the college are young people who have decided to join the modern world without abandoning their ultra-Orthodox lifestyle and beliefs. They support academic studies, which are a point of controversy among some rabbis, and some of them have also enlisted in the IDF. These aren't people who discovered religion later in life, but "home-grown ultra-Orthodox" individuals, graduates of lucrative yeshivas, who wish to make their profession in the politics and communications worlds.
They are familiar, of course, with the democratic lingo, but they aren't sure if that familiarity will help them blend into larger society. They want to find work, but aren't convinced that the secular public wants that. They feel that ultra-Orthodox politicians are seen as illegitimate and criticized too harshly by secular people.
This brings me back to Aryeh Deri. He is a former yeshiva student, who was appointed as Director-General of the Ministry of the Interior at age 27, and was appointed Minister at age 29. Without going into the Shas party's considerations, the Deri of those days was lacking in social training, publically and politically. It doesn't excuse his criminal wrongdoings, but his constituents see it as an extenuating circumstance.
We need to remember that MKs represent the people who voted for them, and are judged by their ethical codes as well. As far as my students go, Deri paid his debt to society according to the state's laws. The moral argument is part of the perception of democracy.
They see Deri as today's most prominent leader advocating the ultra-Orthodox public's blending into Israeli society, while preserving their principles and religious practices.
Aryeh Deri wasn't innocent in 1999. But today, he deserves a second chance.
