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Last update - 12:35 14/02/2008 Barak is no Barack By Ari Shavit Tags: barack obama, israel  Ehud Barak made a mistake when he decided to remain in Olmert's government. The defense minister missed a one-time opportunity to redefine himself and his party. The day after the Winograd report, Barak was supposed to shape a formative moment that would give the Israelis what Barack Obama is now giving the Americans: a sweeping sense of change and hope. But as opposed to the American Barack, the Israeli Barak preferred political mechanics to moral leadership. In his surrender to Olmert, he labeled himself as a defense technocrat, and his party as a party without a backbone and without an agenda. With his own hands, Barak is ensuring that Labor remains Kadima's dishrag, and that Benjamin Netanyahu is the only alternative for heading the government. The first arena in which Ehud Barak's mistake is reflected is the law. From the moment that the chairman of Labor removed the threat from Olmert's cabinet, which is characterized by the alliance of capital and government, the capital-government justice minister became powerful. What Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann accomplished in the past two weeks is very impressive. He attacked former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak in an unprecedented manner, and mercilessly battered the incumbent President Dorit Beinisch. He rejected out of hand any compromise proposal regarding the future structure of the legal system, and tried to promote a political deal with Shas that would turn the rabbinical courts into alternative civil courts. Advertisement Friedmann did not demand a cooling off period for a criminal lawyer with clients in the crime world, whom he appointed this week as a district judge. Friedmann ruled that international courts are better for Israel that its own Supreme Court. Friedmann initiated a series of bills with one intention: to overturn the independence of the Israeli justice system. Prof. Friedmann began serving as justice minister a year ago last week. This year has for the most part been described a war of D. versus D. A year of mud-slinging between Minister Daniel and President Dorit. However, the truth is even worse. Friedmann's crusade is not only personal, it is institutional. Its goal is not only to harm the president of the Supreme Court, but to undermine the system that she heads. By breaking the internal order of the rule of law, Minister Friedman is trying to destroy it. By shattering the organizational hierarchy of the court, Minister Friedman is trying to turn it into a dependent and violated court. The court that the justice minister is trying to establish is a Winograd-style court: appointed by the government, loyal to the government and obedient to the government's demands. The proposals being raised by the justice minister are localized and private. They deal with the length of the judges' terms and with the composition of the committees that appoint judges and the powers of the various courts. Ostensibly these are boring subjects that are not of great public interest. But the truth is that behind the abundance of Friedman-proposals lies an ambitious attempt to bring about a revolution in the Israeli regime. A revolution that will turn Israeli judges into the serfs of the justice minister. A revolution that will lead to a situation where every judge will know that his superiors and those who appoint him are politicians and people with vested interests. A revolution that will lead to a situation where the rule of law will no longer stand in the way of capital-government. In the 1990s the Supreme Court was attacked by the lunatic right and the ultra-Orthodox. That attack was finally repelled by Labor under Barak, whose victory in 1999 is first and foremost a victory of the defense of the law. Today the Supreme Court is under attack by powerful factors in the media and the business community, who support Friedmann in the hope that he will put an end to the war against corruption. However, even today the task of defending the courts is the task of Labor headed by Barak. The only way in which the defense minister will be able to reduce the damage he caused himself and his party is to espouse the cause of the battle against Friedmann. Only a determined demand to replace the justice-destroying minister can restore the ethical dimension to Labor. Only a redefinition of Ehud Barak as a defender of the legacy of Aharon Barak can prevent him from becoming the adjutant of big money. If Labor under Barak once again becomes the party that defends the basic values of Israeli democracy, it will be able to check the Friedmann revolution, to separate itself from Kadima and to give new hope to its followers. Not hope like the hope of Obama, but nevertheless the hope of Barak. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Seeking refuge 123 Sudanese refugees infiltrate Israel from Egypt overnight. Bracing for terror Israel, U.S. fear retaliatory strikes after killing of Mughniyah.   1.   BARACK VS BARAK 12:47  |  indrajaya 14/02/08   2.   Barak as is 13:06  |  Esther 14/02/08   3.   i would rather have our barack then the empty headed barack 13:40  |  amir yoffe 14/02/08   4.   to my ex-friend ari shavit 13:43  |  amir yoffe 14/02/08   5.   anythinking man who backs hussain obama is a fool 13:45  |  amir yoffe 14/02/08   6.   ari shavit the very fact that you pretend to think obama 13:48  |  amir yoffe 14/02/08   7.   OBAMA vs. EHUD 13:51  |  Yuval Cohen 14/02/08   8.   to mccain 13:51  |  amir yoffe 14/02/08   9.   Egerious misinterpretation 14:07  |  The Northen Wind 14/02/08   10.   Mediocre journalism 14:22  |  Ehud (not Barak) 14/02/08   11.   Sure they are not alike 14:30  |  Mary 14/02/08   12.   Obama is more than you are willing to admit 14:40  |  Hilda 14/02/08   13.   Barack Obama will be our next President 16:35  |  Proud American 14/02/08   14.   Israel`s leaders— Profiles in Cowardice 16:42  |  Stuart Wilder 14/02/08   15.   Go Obama! 17:04  |  Nathan 14/02/08   16.   Obama has done nothing in life but talk 17:29  |  McQueen 14/02/08   17.   Avi, Are You Really So Ignorant ? 17:48  |  Tod Zuckerman 14/02/08   18.   Proud American...his mother is white 18:18  |  Lynn 14/02/08   19.   # 14 Tod Zuckerman...the "cult of personality" 18:22  |  Lynn 14/02/08   20.   Far-fetched rhetoric... 18:25  |  Esther 14/02/08   21.   Supreme Court 18:26  |  David Yashar 14/02/08   22.   to proud American(?) on #13 18:37  |  Shmuelshachor 14/02/08   23.   Barak Hussein Obama 19:08  |  Larry54 14/02/08   24.   I agree with everything that amir yoffe said 19:26  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/02/08   25.   Barak the warrior. vs Barack the Orator. !! 19:32  |  Stephen. 14/02/08   26.   #17, Lynn 19:37  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/02/08   27.   Barak was pro-Oslo; pro-Itnatkut = A Total Failure 21:30  |  Moshe 14/02/08   28.   Re Cipora #26 21:56  |  Esther 14/02/08   29.   #18 Say Cupcake, keep up 23:18  |  ballistic 14/02/08   30.   Golly Larry!! 23:22  |  ballistic 14/02/08   31.   #17 Say there Mr. Zuckerman 23:25  |  ballistic 14/02/08   32.   Say Mr. Shmuelshachor 23:29  |  ballistic 14/02/08   33.   You should listen to this man 01:22  |  Johnboy 15/02/08   34.   #28, Esther 03:53  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 15/02/08   35.   #34 A pig in the polk is worse than a healthy cow! 19:24  |  ballistic 15/02/08   36.   #26 Say Cipora, you must be old!! 19:29  |  ballistic 15/02/08

Today Online Israel: We know how to deal with threats by Hezbollah Responses: 94 Palestinians: Ailing woman dies after IDF denies her access to ambulance Responses: 168 Editorial: As with Mughniyah, killing terrorists sometimes unavoidable Responses: 123 Zvi Bar'el: Roiled Hezbollah chief throws down the gauntlet Responses: 96 Roi Ben-Yehuda: If U.K. rejects sharia law, beit din will face same fate Responses: 74 More Headlines 23:57 Top Islamic Jihad militant, six others killed in Gaza blast 22:15 Source: Syria detains suspects in Mughniyah killing 07:12 Islamic Movement blames Israel for quake-induced hole on Temple Mt. 07:26 U.S. meets Iranian officials to discuss 'terror' funds 19:22 UN official says situation in Gaza Strip 'grim and miserable' 00:59 Sarkozy defends Holocaust education proposal amid uproar 19:57 Israeli wounded in Molotov cocktail attack in West Bank 01:54 Hezbollah chief's threats raise alarm among Jewish groups worldwide 19:59 U.S. on alert for attacks against Jewish targets after Mughniyah killing 19:45 123 Sudanese refugees inflitrate Israel from Egypt overnight 20:45 Israeli citizen reportedly murdered by robbers in India 20:08 Italian officials: Canada extraditing wanted Nazi war criminal 22:49 Hamas tells Egypt it is ready to discuss truce with Israel, Shalit deal Previous Editions Select Day 15 feb 14 feb 13 feb 12 feb 11 feb 10 feb 08 feb 07 feb 06 feb 05 feb 04 feb 03 feb

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