Not democratic

As a recent immigrant from countries that have strong, long-established democratic traditions, it troubles me that here in Israel we have this very peculiar situation where some political parties and movements can petition the Supreme Court to have opponents disqualified from running, such as in the case of Otzma Yehudit’s Baruch Marzel and Bentzi Gopstein, “Marzel Gopstein disqualified,” August 26.

Some of these groups ironically give themselves names incorporating the term “democratic” reminding us of those police states who also fraudulently included in their titles the term “democratic.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. Being truly democratic means that you accept the will of the people, whether you like their vote or not. You let the people decide. Certainly not a small group of self-appointed judges.

I am aghast at the arrogance of those judges who did not refuse this task, but took it upon themselves to decide that they – not a few million citizens – can judge what and whom is racist.

I realize that this may have been one of the disastrous legacies of the Barak Supreme-Court regime, and we have to hope that Ayelet Shaked or whomever becomes the permanent justice minister in the next government, will remove this profoundly anti-democratic process.

That one of the lead petitioners was the vehemently anti-religious “Reform Movement,” and among its targets were fiercely nationalist religious Jews, certainly does nothing to encourage support for their wishes for a more “pluralistic” Israel. JOSEPH BERGER

Netanya