Calamity and Clarity

A terrible act, but one that will hopefully shed light

Yesterday was perhaps the darkest day in the history of the Knesset.

It was time to appoint a new State Comptroller. The job of the State Comptroller, as defined on the website of the Government of Israel, is as follows:

The State Comptroller’s Office is responsible for the external control of the activities of government ministries, the local government, the public bodies, and supervises the management of the financial affairs of the parties and parties. The State Comptroller safeguards the public’s interests concerning government bodies.

Appointing someone to put checks and balances on the government, and prevent and punish corruption, is obviously something that requires someone of great integrity and objectivity. (One recalls how careful the Torah is about the integrity and objectivity required of judges.) A senior, widely respected judge is usually chosen.

The appointment process is vulnerable to being corrupted by inappropriate pressures. Accordingly, it’s done in a secret vote. By ensuring that an individual's choice cannot be linked back to them, the secret ballot system protects against intimidation and other pressure.

Yesterday, the Knesset voted in Bibi’s personal lawyer, Michael Rabello, as the State Comptroller, thanks to the universal support of the government MKs. Rabello himself did not recuse himself due to his blatant conflict of interest for such a role. And Likud reportedly told its members of the government to take videos of their “secret” vote, in order to ensure that they would vote for Bibi’s preferred choice. A re-run of the vote was needed after the initial round did not produce a clear winner, for which while Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana, a Likud MK, decided (against legal counsel) that while it is illegal for Likud leaders to instruct their MKs to film their vote, the MKs could take their phones and film their vote if they wanted to. Several Likud MKs were happy to do so and to publicize the videos of their “secret” vote in order to entirely undermine the purpose of the secret vote and create pressure on the rest of the MKs, which worked - it resulted in enough of them changing their vote to enable Bibi’s choice to win.

I’ve written posts in the past about the appalling corruption of the Likud and other parties in the current government. But this is even worse. They are corrupting the very choice of the person whose job is to prevent government corruption. And then corrupting the way in which this appointment was made, and then even being proud of it!

The only silver lining in this absolutely terrible development is that it gives clarity in several areas.

First, it reveals that the judicial reform protests were extremely important. It’s true that some degree of judicial reform was needed, but we needed something measured, that would ensure a proper balance of power. It’s clear that this government is not interested in any balance of power, but rather in having unrestricted power.

Second, in light of the corruption of the anti-corruption appointment, and the corruption of the electoral process for it, it warns us all about how careful we need to be to ensure that the coming elections are conducted honestly.

Third, it reveals how utterly corrupt the Likud and other parties in the current government are, to the extent that the Likud is not even ashamed to publicly advertise it. If anyone was wondering that perhaps it is worth voting for one of them, this should show clearly otherwise. They are fundamentally undermining the very institutional basis of the state.

Fourth, if the current government manages to win the next election (honestly or dishonestly) and cement its grip on power and corruption, then when the state eventually turns into a Third-World country like Somalia and collapses, there will be no theological challenges as to how God could have allowed this to happen. After all, the prophets were very clear (and proven correct) that political corruption would lead to the destruction of the Jewish state.

חֲזוֹן, יְשַׁעְיָהוּ בֶן-אָמוֹץ, אֲשֶׁר חָזָה, עַל-יְהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלִָם

הוֹי גּוֹי חֹטֵא, עַם כֶּבֶד עָוֺן, זֶרַע מְרֵעִים, בָּנִים מַשְׁחִיתִים

שָׂרַיִךְ סוֹרְרִים, וְחַבְרֵי גַּנָּבִים, כֻּלּוֹ אֹהֵב שֹׁחַד, וְרֹדֵף שַׁלְמֹנִים

The vision of Yeshayahu ben Amotz, which he saw about Judah and Jerusalem…

Oh, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly…

Your ministers are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loves bribes, and follows after rewards…

We have been warned.