Last week, the Knesset passed three important bills presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition. Two of them are strong pieces of legislation that empower the Israeli voting public. The third risks quite the opposite occurring.
The most historic of the new laws will see the vast majority of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox be drafted into the army, or face the prospect of imprisonment. I have previously advocated in favour of the haredi conscription law because it is, in a word, fair. Sure, Torah study may very well be a useful tool in the defence of Israel (though it’s a difficult metric to track), but that doesn’t mean Israel’s ultra-Orthodox shouldn’t share equally in the responsibility to fill the ranks of the Israel Defence Forces. But don’t take it from me: most Israelis feel the same way.
Netanyahu’s coalition also pushed through a bill that promotes a 2010 law – which subjects land-for-peace deals to a public referendum – to the level of “basic law,” or quasi-constitutional status. The bill is not without flaws – it won’t apply to the West Bank, where ceding territory will almost certainly be part of any peace deal with the Palestinians – but it is inherently good. If and when the time comes for Israel to decide whether to give up land for peace, all Israelis should have their say. It’s the only way every citizen will be able to live with the result, whichever way the vote swings.
The last of the three laws passed by the Netanyahu government raises the electoral threshold from two per cent to 3.25 per cent. Put plainly, if a party does not receive enough votes to earn at least four seats in the 120-seat Knesset, it will get no seats at all. As a result, smaller political parties will be forced to merge or be folded into one of the major parties. The government and its supporters argue that raising the threshold will make the process of forming coalition governments less chaotic by reducing the number of parties with representation in the Knesset. But if the smaller parties don’t, or can’t, find partners, there is the risk that some Israelis’ votes will effectively count for nothing.
Still, as the great vocalist of our time, Meat Loaf, once said: “Two out of three ain’t bad.”
* * *
Last week in this space, I wrote about this newspaper’s bold new direction. While the specific features I outlined were fake – a Purim gag – the central premise of the column was true: on April 10, The CJN will debut the results of our redesign project. Look closely through this week’s issue, and you’ll find two hints about the future of The Canadian Jewish News.
As a bonus, I’m also revealing one of the features you can actually expect to find beginning April 10. It’s called “Rabbi2Rabbi,” wherein two Canadian rabbis will engage in a written conversation about current events, community issues, cultural quandaries or Jewish law. Who’s right? That, my friends, is up to you to decide.
Next week, I’ll tell you more about what you can expect in the new CJN, including “Back Story.”
yoni