Anyone watching the televised
behavior of Israel’s Knesset will be astonished by the vulgarity.
Personal insults and obscenity abound or what critics call a “politics
of pornography”. The proceedings of the American Congress (on C-Span)
and those of the House of Commons (on the BBC), at their worst, appear
refined by comparison.
Why does Israel have so many
boorish politicians? What allows them to remain in office for decades
despite their shameless shouting matches in the Knesset? Why do
accusations even of criminal behavior have no effect on the tenure of
Israeli politicians, when polls indicate they are despised by almost 90%
of the public?
The answer is fairly simple: Unlike
the US and Great Britain, Israeli parliamentarians are not elected by
the people! They are not even elected in multidistrict elections
(contrary to the practice of 74 reputed democracies). Instead, the
entire country constitutes a single electoral district in which parties
compete for seats in Israel’s 120-member Knesset on the basis of
proportional representation. Under this system, Israelis do not vote for
individuals or even for a party. They select a letter or combination of
letters that represents a party’s list of candidates.
Except for the names at the very
top of each list, most candidates are unknown to the average voter!
Since a Knesset Member owes his
seat to his party and does not have to campaign for election in a
district, where any incriminating statement he may have uttered might be
exposed by a rival candidate, this restraint on his human-all-too-human
vices will be lacking along with due concern for his public image. His
party’s list is his fig leaf.
Because Israel’s parties insulate
politicians from the voters, politicians can usually ignore public
opinion with impunity. Parties can thus become havens for job-seekers,
especially army officers pensioned, as it were, on a party list. The
ineptitude of many Israeli politicians is notorious.
Consider Shimon Peres, Oslo’s
architect, which Charles Krauthammer referred to as “the greatest
diplomatic blunder in history”. Peres has never had to contest a Knesset
seat against a rival candidate. Suppose he had to face a rival in a
district election. His rival could wryly point out that Peres is a man
brimming with Chelm-like wisdom, such as the following:
1. “The
more we give up land, we discover that we have more Ph.D.s per
kilometer – so we are going to make a living on Ph.D.s and not on
mileage.”
To this
our rival candidate could respond: “The more Israel gives up land
the more idiots it will have per kilometer!”
2. “I
don’t think we should judge the [peace] process by the performance of
Yasser Arafat. We’re not negotiating with Arafat. We’re negotiating
with ourselves...”
To this
our rival candidate could respond: “We really should judge the
peace process by the performance of Shimon Peres: a disaster!”
3. Asked
about the wisdom of a peace agreement with Syria, a military
dictatorship, Peres declared: “Well, the system of government is
transitional; peace is permanent.”
To this
our rival candidate could respond: “To make Israel permanent we had
better make Shimon Peres transitional.”
The preceding may explain why Mr.
Peres has never won an election. Nevertheless, this septuagenarian’s
seat in the Knesset is guaranteed by his privileged place on his party’s
list. Clearly Israel’s parliamentary electoral system enables political
bimbos, and worse, to remain in office.
