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Dec 11, 2007
Quote of the Day (qotd)
Avigdor Lieberman, the Minister for Strategic Affairs (whatever that is) and the head of Yisrael Beiteinu party in the Knesset, criticized the government today for taking down and threatening to remove illegal outposts put up around the West Bank. Lieberman said that Israel cannot discuss the issue of illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank, while ignoring illegal construction in the Negev and Galilee. The Arabs and Bedouin famously erect illegal structures and villages with no permits, and Israel generally ignores it.
In response to Lieberman's attack, Tzippi Livni, the Foreign Minister, wins today's qotd award for saying, "The fact that the law is not enforced in one place is not an excuse for not enforcing it in another"
Actually, it is an excuse. The excuse is called Selective Law Enforcement, otherwise known as "tyrrany".
Or better yet, it is not an excuse, but if you are going to begin enforcing such laws, they should be enforced equally and not whitewashed....
The truth is, that the government does not enforce these laws suddenly because they are so concerned with the rule of law. they use the law as an excuse to implement policy. When the disengagement was in effect, and when they dismantled Amona and Homesh, they passed laws to make these places illegal and then removed the residents and destroyed the homes as enforcement of the law.
If they really cared about the law, as soon as the government decided it was strong enough and capable enough to enforce a certain law, they would implement it equally everywhere. The fact that they do not and only do so selectively is a cynical use of the law and is, in essence, tyrrany.
In response to Lieberman's attack, Tzippi Livni, the Foreign Minister, wins today's qotd award for saying, "The fact that the law is not enforced in one place is not an excuse for not enforcing it in another"
Actually, it is an excuse. The excuse is called Selective Law Enforcement, otherwise known as "tyrrany".
Or better yet, it is not an excuse, but if you are going to begin enforcing such laws, they should be enforced equally and not whitewashed....
The truth is, that the government does not enforce these laws suddenly because they are so concerned with the rule of law. they use the law as an excuse to implement policy. When the disengagement was in effect, and when they dismantled Amona and Homesh, they passed laws to make these places illegal and then removed the residents and destroyed the homes as enforcement of the law.
If they really cared about the law, as soon as the government decided it was strong enough and capable enough to enforce a certain law, they would implement it equally everywhere. The fact that they do not and only do so selectively is a cynical use of the law and is, in essence, tyrrany.
Labels:
laws,
Lieberman,
politics,
qotd,
Tzippi Livni
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in the great DEMOCRACY of the middle east, nothing surprises me anymore.
ReplyDeleteJust to be lomed z'chus for the esteemed FM, we should recognize that the principle of selective enforcement is applied equally to all segments of society. (i.e., The government is consistent in its selective application of the law. By insisting the it apply the law in a consistent manner now, that in itself would be selective, since the law is often applied selectively. So by selectively applying a specific law now, the government would be departing from its consistent selectiveness in its general approach to law enforcement.)
ReplyDeleteFor example, Arabs and Charedi are not treated as fairly by police as other segments of society, but they by and large get away without paying taxes.
Two notes:
(1) What I wrote really does make sense, but you may have to read it a few times.
(2) I don't think that this is what Livni actually meant.