But the unmitigated dishonor that the Labor party has brought upon itself these last three weeks is something that should be allowed to wash itself from the political system - for the good of the entire country.
Yossi Beilin is a good example. Beilin is perhaps the person most responsible for bring Israel the now totally condemned Oslo Accords. He began the charade by negotiating without the knowledge or approval of the Prime Minister, with representatives of an organization banned under Israeli law as terrorist. Within a few short years, Beilin was able to use those illegal negotiations as a career builder, as he became justice minister in the now defunct government of Ehud Barak.
Under Barak, Beilin was allowed to give full voice to his plans of divesting Israel of its strategic heartland and most of its religious symbols. After being appointed religious affairs minister, he was also instrumental in the government's attempt to dismantle the religious councils that administer many religious services in this country. And as justice minister, Beilin presided over a justice system that became even more openly anti-religious and anti-Zionist.
Beilin did make one good move during the term of the Barak government. He resigned his seat in the Knesset to make room for a party colleague, preferring to concentrate on his many activities aimed at reforming the state in his non-Jewish and non-Zionist image.
Now that Barak has resigned, Beilin is out of a job and must return to the private sector. Last week, as he prepared to leave the Justice Ministry, his final policy decision showed in no uncertain terms the contempt in which he holds the entire country.
The week after the election, the Knesset passed a law that enables criminals who have served half their sentence to apply for early parole, rather than after two thirds of the sentence. The Justice Minister is enabled under this law to provide a list of crimes with sentences over ten years that would be exempt from this law.
Beilin opposed the law, since he viewed its sole aim as being the early release of Arye Deri, the imprisoned former leader of Shas. Never mind that the bill's sponsor was not a member of Shas, and that the bill had originally been written well before Deri was convicted. Beilin saw in the wording of the law an opportunity to express his dissatisfaction with the country's decision to remain Jewish and Zionistic.
In his list, which had to be presented within 14 days of the law's passage, Beilin included only two crimes that were to be exempt from the law's provisions. Refusing to help a victim of a sinking ship, and piracy. Both laws carry sentences of over ten years, and none have ever needed to be implemented in Israeli legal history.
But murderers, rapists, other violent offenders, and even traitors, the worst scourges of any society, can now apply for parole after serving only half their sentence.
I suppose that Beilin's decision might be worthwhile in the end. He is, after all, liable to face charges in any honest judicial system, of treason, conspiring with the enemy, and providing aid to a terrorist organization, all stemming from his illegal meetings to negotiate the Oslo Accords. Those negotiations have already inflicted damage on Israel far greater than any other machination Beilin is capable of. And while his activities in 1992 and 1993 to begin the Oslo process showed his utter contempt for Israel, his tenure as Justice Minister proved the point for all to see.
Inasmuch as Oslo was the downfall of the Labor party, the current convulsions that rack the party are Beilin's fault. But the Labor party is not the only group in Israel that must lick its wounds and begin to chart a new course. The rest of the country must now decide how to deal with the damage Beilin has caused.
As such, it is with no sadness that we see Beilin leave the seen. One can only hope that his absence is not temporary. He, of all politicians, will not be missed.
Copyright 2001. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
