High Court President Aharon Barak claimed the chareidi public
criticizes High Court rulings because they thwart the
political achievements of the chareidi parties, which he
referred to as "a minority that acts like a majority."
In a lecture before students at Tel Aviv University, Judge
Barak said the criticism of the High Court voiced by chareidi
MKs stems from "ignorance and a lack of understanding of how
the systems operate in the State of Israel," but he also
acknowledged "some of the criticism by chareidim is
legitimate."
"There is inherent and constant tension between the Court and
the political system," the High Court President explained.
"The tension derives from the separation of powers, and the
role of the separation of powers is not to prevent friction
but to create it. If the executive branch, the legislative
branch and the parties are pleased with the High Court's
activity, something is wrong with the Court."
Later he said, "The religious parties feel we are taking food
from their mouths, but they do not understand that the court
is the one who will defend their rights as individuals, on a
rainy day. The problem with the religious parties is that
they are a minority that acts like a majority. The court can
do nothing against this lack of understanding except to wait
until the minority is a minority and the majority is a
majority."
Degel HaTorah Chairman MK Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz submitted an
urgent motion before the Knesset last week. "I would like to
point out Judge Barak's error," said Rabbi Ravitz. "He also
contradicts himself. He says the problem with the chareidim
is they feel as if they are a majority, and he demands that
the "true" majority have its rights. `We cannot do much when
this is the understanding of chareidi Jewry and we must wait
for the majority to be a majority and the minority to be a
minority,' said Barak without explaining himself.
"Democracy is not a tyranny of the majority, but the
opposite: when the majority considers the needs of the
minority it must be attentive to the minority. All of our
demands are not demands because of how many we are and how
many they are, but because we represent all Am Yisroel
of the past generations and the generations to come. We
speak in the name of the Jewish People who received the Torah
on Mt. Sinai and not because of our numerical power.
"The ones suffering from a lack of fundamental understanding
in the matter are Judge Barak and his colleagues. Imagine
that twelve judges ruled on offensive remarks that they
should be heard in public based on the law of the freedom of
expression, although they knew it would offend the
sensibilities of people and their way of life.
"So who is not being considerate of others? So Judge Barak
has a basic mistake in the underlying reason for our
struggle. This is not a question of majority here."
