Not Really Interested in Reform

Israel’s State Prosecution is a mess.  For years it has been incapable of keeping up with its workload; a few years ago the organization shredded over 30,000 files of cases it acknowledged it would never get around to investigating.  Its work is often sloppy, prompting harsh criticism from judges and violating the  due-process rights of defendants.  Its workers are demoralized, as reflected by a lengthy strike last year over pay rates.  It is infected with political bias.  A special unit, the “Office of the Deputy Attorney General for Special Affairs,” focuses on prosecuting people for what they write and say, as well as for demonstrating.  There are laws in Israel that can be interpreted in a way that prohibits these fundamental democratic activities, and the “Office” applies these laws selectively, generally against right-wing and religious political activists.

Widespread complaints against the State Prosecution have led to calls for some kind of oversight body with the power to redress the Prosecution’s violation of citizens’ civil and due-process rights.  Pressure for this reform grew to the point where the current Attorney General, Yehoshua Weinstein, admitted that something would probably have to be done.

Weinstein finally announced the establishment of a committee to consider how such an oversight body should be designed.  The composition of the committee is not encouraging.  All eight members are senior employees of the Justice Department.  They include Mike Blass, a deputy Attorney General with notorious left-wing views, and Raz Nizri, a senior aide to Weinstein (Nizri served the previous Attorney General, Menahem Mazuz, in the same capacity).  

The point is not so much the political bias of the committee—Nizri is simply a lapdog for whoever holds the office of Attorney General—as the fact that these are all insiders whose first concern is to protect the institutional interests of the State Prosecution.  Don’t look to them for any fundamental reforms. 

Weinstein’s decision represents a pattern.  A generation ago complaints about police violence led to the establishment of a special unit within the Ministry of Justice to investigate errant policemen.  A study by the State Ombudsman seven years ago found that this body was chiefly staffed by . . . policemen, seconded to the unit for a number of years before returning to the police.  Many had themselves long records of complaints filed against them by citizens who alleged their rights had been violated.  Needless to say this body, the Police Investigation Department, is not considered very effective.

In 2006, rising complaints against judges prompted the Knesset to pass legislation to create an ombudsman for the court system.  The judges fought tooth and nail and lobbied the Knesset to change the legislation to provide that the ombudsman be a retired judge, appointed by the Chief Justice.  So lobbied, so provided.

So in Israel, “oversight” of the legal and law-enforcement system means oversight by  the system:  Judges by a judge, policemen by policemen, and now if Weinstein has his way, prosecutors by prosecutors.  Which is to say, no effective oversight after all.

What really needs to be done is to establish a completely separate unit within the State Ombudsman’s office, charged with overseeing the protection of citizens’ civil rights.  This unit should have the authority to investigate complaints against judges, prosecutors and policemen, to launch disciplinary actions against them and if necessary to indict them for violations of the law.

Weinstein’s announcement produced protests by members of the Knesset Committee on State Oversight, which had scheduled a session on the issue.  The MKs insisted that the committee Weinstein established to prepare proposals for oversight of the State Prosecution include representatives from academia and the private sector.  Stay tuned.

Time to Decide

The Netanyahu government’s decision to approve construction of 500 housing units in Judaea and Samaria in response to the slaughter of the Fogel family in Itamar cannot please anyone. If building in the settlements is right, then it’s right whether or not Palestinian terrorists kill innocent people.

The decision underscores the fact that Netanyahu’s current non-policy on Judaea and Samaria is unsustainable. That policy is to approve no new building in Judaea, Samaria and Jerusalem, while waiting for the Palestinians to come around and resume negotiations. By not approving new building, Netanyahu hoped to reduce foreign pressure on Israel. The policy has failed.

The Europeans and the Obama administration are applying immense pressure to Netanyahu to “do something to facilitate negotiations.” This is pure cynicism. Everyone knows the Palestinians are not going to come back to the negotiating table. The foreign pressure is meant to force Israel to agree unilaterally to withdraw the IDF from almost all of Judaea and Samaria and destroy Israeli settlements there.

This is what the Olmert government was prepared to do. According to "Palileaks," the Olmert government had given up just about all Israeli settlements; only Ariel, Maale Adumim and Har Homa in Jerusalem remained to be negotiated about. Olmert himself confirms that he agreed to withdraw the IDF entirely from Judaea and Samaria, leaving the Americans to guard the Jordan front.

Subsequent events show how fortunate Israel was that the cavalier and shallow Olmert was thrown out of office before he could cut a deal. Without Israel’s military presence, Hamas’ takeover of Judaea and Samaria is only a matter of time. This is even clearer today, in the aftermath of the Egyptian uprising. An American presence in Judaea and Samaria won’t last long in the face of a Hamas terror offensive, just as terrorism is chasing the United States out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Israel cannot allow Judaea and Samaria to turn into another Gaza, where a murderous terror regime enjoys effective sanctuary from the IDF under the protection of hypocritical Europeans.

Obama and the Europeans consider Israel’s presence in Judaea and Samaria absolutely unacceptable, no matter what the consequences of withdrawal to Israel. Sooner rather than later, the Europe is going to announce it recognizes a Palestinian state in all of Judaea and Samaria. The Obama administration is going to agree—after all, it already agrees in practice if not in form.

Meanwhile, the Netanyahu government is doing nothing as the inevitable approaches. Netanyahu is preparing another Bar-Ilan-type speech, in which he will try to find some middle ground between Israel’s irreducable vital interests and the West’s nonnegotiable demands.

He may as well spare his breath. Israel and the West are on a collision course over Judaea and Samaria and Israel has nothing to gain by pretending otherwise. Israel is just going to have to tell the West, “We are not going to do what you want us to do, and we are all going to have to live with that fact.”

Israel needs to move unilaterally to create a situation in Judaea and Samaria conducive to its interests. This includes three elements:

• Move quickly to separate from the Palestinians. Start working on roads and fences to join Palestinian inhabited areas together and isolate them from areas Israel seeks to control.
• Lay claim to the rest of Judaea and Samaria, about 50-60% of the whole. From a security perspective Israel needs to control this area and especially to be able to intervene quickly in Palestinian-inhabited areas when needed. Its right to do so cannot be founded on security considerations however. It needs to assert that it is in Judaea and Samaria by legal right—which is only the truth—and the IDF’s presence needs to be backed up by a continued and growing civilian presence.
• By no means should Israel agree to recognize a Palestinian state unilaterally, in any borders whatsoever. If the Palestinians agree to recognize Israel as the Jewish state, then there’ll be something to talk about.

Netanyahu needs to move vigorously to assert Israel's rights and interests in Judaea and Samaria.  Procrastination isn't gaining Israel anything.  Israel should be building now—whether or not its own citizens are being slaughtered. For now, it can argue that building is a response to Palestinian diplomatic provocations. That is the only policy that might, at the last minute, cause the Palestinians and the Europeans to pause. But that’s unlikely. Israel has to make clear that it will place its own stamp on Judaea and Samaria whether it suits the West or no, because it has no choice. Better sooner rather than later.