Last week, Chief Rabbi David Lau gave an interview to the Israel Hayom weekend magazine in which he declared that the Knesset would not determine who is Jewish, just like the Knesset has no authority to decide that mortar is not necessary to construct a building. But the rabbi got different ideas completely mixed up. The Orthodox rabbinate can decide that as far as it is concerned, Person A meets the criteria to be defined as a Jew whereas Person B, who does not, is not a Jew. The state can ease these criteria or make them more stringent, because it is the state that grants citizenship to Jews from all over the world who make aliyah as well as provides them with various benefits.
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The definition of the Chief Rabbinate is only relevant to those who accept its decisions. Under the Law of Return, both those who were born Jewish and their relatives and those who converted come to Israel and are entitled to citizenship.
While Lau might not see many of the recently arrived immigrants as Jewish according to his definition, many other Israelis see them as Jewish in every respect – myself among them. Just like some sectors of Haredi Jewish society see food certified as kosher by the Chief Rabbinate as treyf, the chief rabbis see other kashruth certification as treyf – which is fine. Every group within the Jewish people may decide what it deems to be kosher, whom it deems a bastard to be cast out for 10 generations, and that anyone who converts to Judaism under a Reform rabbi is not Jewish. But the Jewish state has the right and the obligation to decide whom it considers Jewish and what kind of couples it recognizes.
Lau wants to change the most important Israeli law – the Law of Return – to reduce the number of people who come. But the Knesset, not the Chief Rabbinate, is responsible for changing laws. The Jewish state is allowed to decide to take in those who consider themselves Jewish, if there are no grounds to suspect that there are ulterior motives. Woe betide the Jewish state if it accepts the opinion of those who want to reduce the numbers and think that they are entitled to make decisions.
And on the matter of decisions, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett this week abstained during a vote on whether to establish a governmental investigative commission to look into the submarines affair. He was criticized by both the Right and the Left, and it appears that his explanations satisfied no one.
But Bennett, as prime minister, sets the government's agenda, and he is the only one who can decide whether or not to raise the matter in the weekly cabinet meeting or continue to postpone a decision on this problematic, important issue. Because he knew there would be only one vote against the decision, and that the government was already guaranteed a consensus, his very decision to hold a discussion of the matter was essentially a vote in favor of it.
True, the prime minister should express an opinion, especially about such an important subject, but no matter his motives, at least in this instance, those who support an official commission of inquiry have nothing to complain about. By bringing the matter to a vote, Bennett made his position known.
Meanwhile, it's good that the Israel Police have equipment that allows it to investigate suspicions, and not necessarily through in-person interrogations. But it's very tempting to use this special equipment in non-extreme circumstances because it is so accessible. True, only the chief justices of district courts and their deputies have the authority to approve bugging, but every year thousands of requests for bugs of different kinds are submitted, and the court tends to approve the police requests.
The solution is an organization assigned to oversee the process, to be headed by a retired judge and include experts from the cyber sector as well as legal scholars – all of whom would have security clearance. All the police requests for cyber tracking would be placed before this official body, whose sole job it would be to evaluate every case. This way, we can take advantage of the amazing technology we have but avoid going overboard in its use.
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