Supreme Court vs. Israel

The A Monkey Wrench In The Works – The Supreme Court vs. the Declaration of Independence

by Haim Misgav

The declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel was anchored constitutionally in the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom. Ever since, it was determined, basic human rights must be founded upon recognition of the worth of man, the sanctity of his life and upon his existence as a free man, and all these must be fulfilled in the spirit of the principles appearing in the Jewish state’s Declaration of Independence.

One need not be a distinguished legal scholar in order to understand that this document grants clear preference to Jews. The Jewish state is supposed to be the national home of the Jewish people – exclusively. Its gates will be opened wide before Jews alone. The borders of the Jewish state were not determined in the Declaration of Independence nor were the borders of the Land of Israel, as all that mattered to the founders of the State of Israel was to emphasize that the Land of Israel was from time immemorial the homeland of the Jewish people in which its spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped and in which it created national and universal cultural assets and bequeathed the eternal Book of Books to the entire world.

At the same time, it is important to remember that the rights of the Jewish people to the land of Israel were also recognized in international documents; both in the November 2, 1917 Balfour Declaration and in the League of Nations Mandate, granted to the British. Thus, universal legitimacy was granted to the historic connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel and to the Jewish people’s right to reestablish its national home.

Unfortunately, the Jewish people themselves, or at least large segments of it, once again fail to believe in the vision of the founders of the Jewish state. Led by phony elites, which are manifest in the central governmental institutions, the Supreme Court, the State Attorney’s office, at the upper echelon of elected officials or at central junctions of the media and the cultural world, decisions are made, which, for all intents and purposes, deny the very right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel.

Thus the Supreme Court decisions validate the baseless thesis that the territories conquered in the Six-Day War are subject to the early nineteenth century Hague Regulations and the Geneva Convention because those territories are occupied by the State of Israel in a “belligerent occupation”. Those decisions, adopted with the agreement of the Office of the State Attorney, first and foremost suffer, obviously, from moral flaws as they ignore the fact that there is no difference, legal or otherwise, between the territories conquered in 1948 during the war of Independence and those conquered 19 years later.

The Arabs have not relinquished one or the other – however, ironically, they receive legal support for their claims from the Supreme Court of the Jewish state.

It is unfortunate that many Jews do not believe in their ability to sustain the national home of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. The legal system and all of its subsidiaries has mobilized, not for the first time, in support of the Prime Minister’s delusional course of action. The Attorney General has already initiated “special” courts for the settlers in the true Bolshevik tradition. Blatantly anti-democratic actions are being undertaken in every corner of our public life. The Prime Minister’s office acts as if it owns the country. Cronies are appointed to the most prominent positions. Anyone who doesn’t fall into line – is dismissed in shame.

If what is happening now is not stopped – and it is hard to envision any public force able to stop what is happening – the fate of the State of Israel will be bitter indeed. The vision of its prophets and founders is liable to collapse all at once.
Haim Misgav

The declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel was anchored constitutionally in the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom. Ever since, it was determined, basic human rights must be founded upon recognition of the worth of man, the sanctity of his life and upon his existence as a free man, and all these must be fulfilled in the spirit of the principles appearing in the Jewish state’s Declaration of Independence.

One need not be a distinguished legal scholar in order to understand that this document grants clear preference to Jews. The Jewish state is supposed to be the national home of the Jewish people – exclusively. Its gates will be opened wide before Jews alone. The borders of the Jewish state were not determined in the Declaration of Independence nor were the borders of the Land of Israel, as all that mattered to the founders of the State of Israel was to emphasize that the Land of Israel was from time immemorial the homeland of the Jewish people in which its spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped and in which it created national and universal cultural assets and bequeathed the eternal Book of Books to the entire world.

At the same time, it is important to remember that the rights of the Jewish people to the land of Israel were also recognized in international documents; both in the November 2, 1917 Balfour Declaration and in the League of Nations Mandate, granted to the British. Thus, universal legitimacy was granted to the historic connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel and to the Jewish people’s right to reestablish its national home.

Unfortunately, the Jewish people themselves, or at least large segments of it, once again fail to believe in the vision of the founders of the Jewish state. Led by phony elites, which are manifest in the central governmental institutions, the Supreme Court, the State Attorney’s office, at the upper echelon of elected officials or at central junctions of the media and the cultural world, decisions are made, which, for all intents and purposes, deny the very right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel.

Thus the Supreme Court decisions validate the baseless thesis that the territories conquered in the Six-Day War are subject to the early nineteenth century Hague Regulations and the Geneva Convention because those territories are occupied by the State of Israel in a “belligerent occupation”. Those decisions, adopted with the agreement of the Office of the State Attorney, first and foremost suffer, obviously, from moral flaws as they ignore the fact that there is no difference, legal or otherwise, between the territories conquered in 1948 during the war of Independence and those conquered 19 years later.

The Arabs have not relinquished one or the other – however, ironically, they receive legal support for their claims from the Supreme Court of the Jewish state.

It is unfortunate that many Jews do not believe in their ability to sustain the national home of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. The legal system and all of its subsidiaries has mobilized, not for the first time, in support of the Prime Minister’s delusional course of action. The Attorney General has already initiated “special” courts for the settlers in the true Bolshevik tradition. Blatantly anti-democratic actions are being undertaken in every corner of our public life. The Prime Minister’s office acts as if it owns the country. Cronies are appointed to the most prominent positions. Anyone who doesn’t fall into line – is dismissed in shame.

If what is happening now is not stopped – and it is hard to envision any public force able to stop what is happening – the fate of the State of Israel will be bitter indeed. The vision of its prophets and founders is liable to collapse all at once.


--Dr. Haim Misgav is an attorney and a lecturer at the Netanya Academic College as well as at Bar Ilan University. His book, Conversations with Yitzhak Shamir, is available here:



NATIV  ■ Volume Eighteen  ■ No. 3 (104)  ■  May 2005 ■ Iyar 5765 ■ Ariel Center for Policy Research

A Monkey Wrench In The Works – The Supreme Court Vs. The Declaration Of Independence