To Save Israel:
Think Jewish With the Help of Classical Political Science

Prof. Paul Eidelberg

According to Maimonides, Mishneh Torah (Kings and Wars), Chapter 1: “Israel was commanded to fulfill three mitzvot upon entering the Promised Land:

A. To appoint a king, as [Deuteronomy 17:5] states: “appoint a king over yourselves;”

B. To wipe out the descendants of Amalek, as [Deuteronomy 25:19] states: “Erase the memory of Amalek;”

C. To build [God’s] Chosen House, as [Deuteronomy 12:5] states: “Seek out His Promise and go there.”

Since the present writer is not a Talmudic scholar, anything I say regarding the above is solely for heuristic purposes.

A. The first mitzvah, to appoint a king, requires Jews to topple the Ehud Olmert Government. This Government is a democratically elected despotism that is betraying our people, dividing our God-given land, and violating our civil rights to the extent of placing Jewish girls in prison with drug addicts and prostitutes. (Public outrage should explode that Olmert should liberate Arab terrorists and imprison teenage Jewish children for putting up tent on a Jewish hilltop!)

Let’s be serious about how to stand up for these Jewish heroines: Replace Israel’s unJewish and sham democracy with a system of government consistent with Jewish law. The closest thing to kingship is a popularly elected president. (Note: When there is no Sanhedrin and no prophet to elect a king of Israel, the power reverts to the People.)

Massive civil disobedience will be required to accomplish this goal. Non-parliamentary nationalist groups should form a strategy board possessing the know-how—elaborated elsewhere—to compel the Olmert clique to resign and force the Knesset to take the following course of action (of which space permits only the barest outlines):

1. Since only a Member of the Knesset, accordingly to Basic Law: Government, is eligible to be Prime Minister, and since the law does not require any other MK to be a member of the Cabinet, simply amend the law to exclude any other office-holder from being a cabinet minister. (This will eliminate the divisive, inept, and corrupt system of multi-party cabinet government.)

2. The Prime Minister will nominate cabinet ministers—a team united by shared goals and values. Their appointment must be approved, however, by an absolute majority of the Knesset.

3. Since cabal and corruption may tarnish the approval of cabinet appointments because of the excessive number of parties in the Knesset resulting from Israel’s parliamentary system—where party slates compete in a single countrywide election on the basis of proportional representation—this system must be replaced by regional or constituency elections. Knesset Members, instead of being subservient to party machines or party leaders in the Cabinet, will then be accountable to the voters. This will empower the people and render the Knesset independent of the Government—a precondition of institutional checks and balances.

4. Abolish the existing office of the president, designate the Prime Minister as the Nation’s President, and endow him with Executive powers.

5. Divide the nation into 80 single-member plurality election districts of roughly equal population. Provide for 40 compensatory Knesset seats drawn proportionally from national lists using a 5% threshold. (See how this is done in Sweden, Denmark, and Germany.)

6. The Knesset will then call for new elections.

This will yield the equivalent of a king, who will be elected by the People for a fixed (renewable) tenure of four years.

Simultaneously, the People will be empowered in the Knesset by having elected MKs in constituency elections.

B. Abrogate Oslo and destroy the Palestinian Authority with its entire terrorist network west of the Jordan River. Provide measures and incentives for accelerating the present exodus of Arabs from Jewish land.

C. Rebuild the Temple.

The above is intended to get Jews to think. What is said above is a minute fraction of what the author has in mind. For further details, consult my publications or website.

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The author is the founder and president of the Foundation for Constitutional Democracy dedicated to the improvement of Israel's system of governance.

See the FCD website:
http://www.foundation1.org/