Supreme disgrace

by **havanagilla** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:18 am

<blockquote>Quote:<hr> Last update - 10:04 15/05/2006 <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/715825.html" target="top">Supreme disgrace</a> By Haaretz Editorial The bottom line is the decisive one in yesterday's Supreme Court ruling on family reunification. In light of such serious damage to the equal rights of Arab citizens of Israel, it does not matter at all what the ruling says or how instructive the position of the minority justices, led by Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, was. It also does not matter that the decision to rob Israel's Arab citizens of the right to marry the person they choose and live with that person in Israel was made by a 6-5 majority. There is no country in the Western world that does not limit immigration and set priorities in accordance with its needs at a given time. Immigration laws make it difficult for foreign partners of citizens to receive citizenship, and they combat fictitious marriages. But not one single Western country discriminates against some of its citizens by passing laws that apply only to them, and that impose limits only on their choice of a partner with whom they can live in their homeland. It is difficult to accept the argument that the amendment to the Citizenship Law, which won the Supreme Court's approbation yesterday, comes in response to a genuine security need. It is easier to accept the skeptical position of Justice Ayala Procaccia, who wrote that in light of the facts before her, she doubted whether the security explanation is the only one behind the law. The facts presented by the security establishment do not explain the law, since out of the tens of thousands who have become Israeli citizens since 1967 in the framework of family unification, only 26 have been questioned on suspicion of abetting terrorism. Since 1993, 16,000 requests for family unification have been submitted. This number also does not justify the demographic frenzy at which the justice hinted. The relatively small number of people suspected of abetting terrorism does not justify the blow the Knesset dealt to family unification in general, nor does it justify the injustice done in particular to hundreds of married couples who were barred from living in Israel because the law applied retroactively to couples whose cases were pending. Advertisement The justices did agree that the law infringes on the equality and human rights of Arab citizens of Israel, but they decided that this was trumped by the risk of terror. It is tough to be impressed by the security rationale when recalling the approximately quarter of a million Arabs from East Jerusalem who were annexed against their will, and who have given rise to more terrorists and terror accomplices than did all those who entered Israel as a result of marriage. In the minority opinion, Barak wrote things that the Knesset and the majority justices chose to forget: "Democracy does not impose a sweeping ban, thereby cutting off its citizens from their partners and not allowing them to live a family life ... It does not give its citizens the option of living in it without their partners or leaving the country ... Democracy cedes a certain amount of security in order to obtain an immeasurably greater amount of family life and equality." The fear is that the position expressed by the Supreme Court president will fade and disappear once the Knesset turns the Citizenship Law into a Basic Law, aided by a tailwind from the Supreme Court in one of its most shameful hours. Nouvelle vague Number of immigrants from France to Israel to hit all-time high in 2006. <hr></blockquote> Yesteray, high court of justice rules that israeli palestinians who marry palestinians from territories WILL NOT be granted the right to live here united. Bit of a storm here over this dubious decision, however, while at it, Haaretz informs that same legal situation applies in Egypt and most other Arab countries vis a vis the Palestinians ! -- Shameful situation, let's hope that LOVE prevails.

by **NavnDansk** » Mon May 15, 2006 3:24 pm

THE WALL is just unbelievable. I guess Israeli elections are as corrupt as US elections. Is there any strong popular movement of the Israeli people against the Israeli government? Read that the Gaza Strip residents were sick of being used by the government and were refusing to leave and wearing ORANGE Star of David armbands in a reference both to the Ukrainian election protests and the fact that the Israeli government is treating its' citizens like the Nazis. I read an article, I think on Common Dreams, about a year ago by a former Israeli Soldier called "Just Say No To Torture" and that he had been brainwashed to believe everything was permissable so that the Houlecost would not happen again but he was finally so sickened when he was present at the torture of a 14 year old Palestinian boy who fainted from the torture that he refused to participate in the Nazi style torture again. I read another article about a US soldier who refuse to participate in torture even though her fellow soldiers kept telling her it was a different kind of war after 911. I remember CS Lewis writing about the fact that morality is pretty basic the world around, "Law is written in our hearts" and that when people want to go against it they don't argue against the basic morality that everyone feels is right but make arguments why this situation (whatever it is) is an exception to this basic morality.

by **havanagilla** » Mon May 15, 2006 6:34 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Is there any strong popular movement of the Israeli people against the Israeli government?<hr></blockquote> I'm looking around my living room now to count "the popular movement"...well, maybe 50,000 votes could be described as the "movement"...most of them Palestinians, but still, israelis. -- well, the settlers who demonstrated with Orange Patches are not precisely saints, but I was for them, regardless of their obnoxious views, if only because they were a very small minority of civilians, facing an overwhelming military/police force. Basically, besides the backtalkers of Haaretz, who take good care to remain anonymous, the opposition is theoretical. Since most of us are unemployed, we can appear as a large crowd of backtalkers, (sitting all day in front of the PC...) -- this ruling was a nail in the coffin of democracy here. But just to be fair on the mainstream. The popular wisdom here now is that the two peoples need to "disengage" towards the creation of a two state solution. The mainstream sees this as "unfair", but if necessary, then, under their logic, Israsel should be Jewish per se, whereas Palestine should be Arab per se. therefore, in their logic, the Israeli palestinians should get ready to pack, certainly they should not expect equal rights or to increase their presence via unification. (or as Justice Cheshin puts it, crudely, "they can re-unite in Jenin").

Supreme disgrace

Supreme disgrace

Re: Supreme disgrace - That is so terrible

Re: Supreme disgrace - That is so terrible

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