1985-1986 Rothberg Yearbook

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THE WORLD UNION OF JEWISH STUDENTS presents an evening with ANATOLY שצירנסקי in his first public discussion since his release Binyanei Hauma, Jerusalem Students: •5 NIS Saturday evening, Non-Students: 10 NIS 5 April <strong>1986</strong> 8:30 P.M. Dear Diary, Wow! It’s one thing to have Anatoly Shcharansky in the country — but it’s another to actually see him in person. Tonight I heard him speak at Binyanei Haumah. And boy did he have the audience eating out of his hand! The evening was set up as a question-answer session. I sat right near the microphone, coaching people to ask their questions in a straightforward manner. But did they listen? No! Everyone tired to sound like a Harvard graduate. People asked about Soviet Jewry activism, religion, and Israeli politics! Shcharansky gave great encouragement to activists like WUJS. He spoke of his beloved book of Psalms to the dati. But about politics — even when he finally understood the question he had to dodge it with a joke! He’s only been in Israel two months, what does he know about the politics! April 5, <strong>1985</strong> I guess my favorite part was when Shcharansky said how difficult it is to be so loved by everyone! He pleaded in his wity and charming manner to be forgotten. His cause must be remembered. But the emphasis, he explained, should no longer be on him, rather on those still imprisoned in the Soviet Union. Shcharansky made it clear that he would only be in the public’s eye for the sake of freeing his peers in the Russian jails. He summed up by saying that he didn’t want to go to the United States to campaign for Soviet Jewry. He would rather spend time with Avital, catching up on the last ten years. But he chose to increase his public image to help his people! Need I say he won my heart! What a cute, inconspicuous looking, great man! What a symbol! I’m just thankful that I was able to go tonight to hear him speak! Tomorrow more exciting Israeli experiences, Geri
A Question of Democracy Pamphlets appear in JA offices professing Israel to be among the foremost protectors of democracy in the world, while Arab newspapers in Jerusalem compare the Israeli government to a facist, totalitarian, Nazi regime or a South-African institution of apartheid. After having spent the past year living in Jerusalem, it has become quite apparent to me that the reality lies somewhere in between. The questions which consequently surfaced in my mind, then, were:*4s partial democracy democracy at all? Is the Jewish character o f Israel reconcilable with a democratic one? And if so, how can a truer democracy in Israel be realized? These questions have loomed over Israel since its birth in 1948 and are among the most devicive questions facing Israel today. At the birth of Israel, the only consensus among the Jewish people was that the new state must have a Jewish character, first and foremost. Emerging from an era where the sheer vulnerability of the Jews was exploited by the world at large, the Jews felt the urgent need of a homeland as a protector of their life and liberty. This realization predicated Israel’s Jewish character as the only means to perpetuate the state’s initial purpose. Along with this Jewish identity, however, the founders o f the state saw the need for splicing democratic values and liberties into the character of the state as well. But due to a lack of consensus among the people and founders of the country on what role this democratic character ought to play in a Jewish state, no constitution was drafted, no Bill of Rights was assembled and, consequently, no structural basis for the promulgation of democracy within the society was provided. The lack of an affirmed democratic foundation creates problems not only in the resulting shift in democratic character from one government to another but also in its inability to provide the general public with an explicit understanding of what true democracy really means. The majority of Israel’s population did not come from established democracies and so lack an intrinsic understanding of what democracy is. It soon became apparent to many of these people that democracy equals the vote, the vote being the only structural democratic feature evident in Israel’s political system. In fact, the vote is only a part of what democracy means, for the greater part of democracy is the ‘check’ on the majority rule. This check is the protection that in a democratic system, basic rights of every participant in the system, including dissidents, will be upheld in spite of the majority. This is not to say that Israel does not, in fact, uphold the rights of all its citizens but only to point out that such protection while existing today to any extent is not assured a place in the future of Israel due precisely to the lack of an explicit democratic framework for the country. Today, Israel is officially at war with over a dozen countries and only one of its contiguous neighbors even recognizes that the country exists. Military antagonism to the sovereignty and security of the state due to external and internal sources, is a real and continuous concern, yet, in spite o f this, Israel does maintain the right to assemble and the right of free press at a level comparable with that in the United States. Of course, if all rights in Israel were as easily afforded as these, there would be nothing to discuss here. But as I see Israel, there are two topics which warrant attention: army service and restriction orders. Very good arguments can be made for why Palestinians in the army would create for themselves a conflict of interests, and, in fact, I never met a Palestinian who protested not being in the army. However, the Palestinians do realize that completed military service is a criterion for financial assistance towards higher education. And their lack of service in the army whether because they don’t want to serve or because the government doesn’t want them to serve, is understood by all as a way to distribute such funds while simultaneously overstepping the Palestinians. This point is a valid one, and there seems to be no reason for a lack of some sort of mandatory Palestinian community service, which would bring with it the sought financial assistance for education, except for a lack of initiative on the parts o f both the government and the Palestinians. Presumably, it would be the government’s responsibility to initiate such a program. It seems that the apparent apathy in the government over this situation stems from an aversion to gathering the necessary funds together at a time when everyone in Israeli bureaucracy is tightening his purse strings. If the problem were important enough to the government, however, the funds would be assembled to introduce such a program and alleviate at least one of Israel’s nagging problems, while creating that much more institutionalized equality in the system. Restriction orders are the hardest blow to civil liberties in Israel today and must be dealt with. This control is a watered down remnant of administrative detentions which were discarded in 1980 due to mounting internal and world pressure. It puts severe restrictions on the movements of suspected insurgents without actually imprisoning them. The justification for such orders is that in times of public emergency every country founded in liberty enacts such as suspension of rights for the sake of security. Israel, then, under a constant cloud of threat to its security, follows suit. Studies have shown that such orders in Israel are used sparingly and discriminately, being invoked usually on select individuals who seem to be tightly woven into the planning of foiled schemes against the State of Israel, indicating their danger to public safety, but against whom insufficient evidence exists for their prosecution according to conventional criminal law. The fact remains, however, that the existence of such civilian control is a constant and ominous menace to any state which values civil liberties. Israel does, in fact, display many important elements of true democracy, but any real democracy must always be striving towards fairer dispensation of civil liberties. Partial democracy, while democracy, is never enough, and it has yet to be seen if the citizens of this young country will opt for movement in the direction of truer democracy or will be satisfied with the stagnating inertia o f the status quo which can only lead to the system’s inevitable erosion.
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Page 71 and 72: From Sea to Sea Did you ever wonder
Page 73: THE END
Page 76 and 77: m pnn J U iru Bureaucracy In Israel
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1985-1986 Rothberg Yearbook

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