Israel Matzav

Israel's 'Supreme Court' signs some death warrants

I have discussed Route 443, the back road between Jerusalem and Modiin many times on this blog. It runs very close to my house, and I was on it when it suffered its first terrorist attack in December 2000. In response to many terrorist attacks that occurred on Route 443 between 2000 and 2002, the IDF put roadblocks in front of all the Arab villages along the road. While that didn't make them 100% safe it did reduce the risk somewhat.

Now the 'Supreme Court' has ordered the government and the IDF to remove the roadblocks. It has given them five months to do so safely. There is no way to do so safely.

The court panel accepted a petition against the closure from Arabs living in villages near the highway. The judges said although the military can limit traffic for security reasons, it cannot issue a blanket order that affects the Arab population in Judea and Samaria.

I don't know what 'limiting' traffic means. Does it mean that they're going to count the 'Palestinian' cars on the road? That's impossible unless you only give them access at the beginning or the end. Are they going to say that 'Palestinian' cars can only be on the road at certain hours? How do you enforce that?

The truth is that there are already 'Palestinian' cars on Route 443. The key here is removing the road blocks that deny the villages along the highway (Beitunia, Harbata and others) direct access to the road. If the villages have direct access to the road, it will be much easier for terrorists to get on the road, shoot at a random Israeli car and then escape into one of the villages along the road. That's the real issue here.

MK Yaakov Katz, head of the National Union Party, responded to the ruling, "Highway 443 was closed to Arabs after much Jewish blood was spilled on it. How can Justices [Dorit] Beinisch and Fogelman adopt an anti-Jewish stance that goes against IDF recommendations and endangers Israeli citizens? This ruling expresses the stance of the Meretz party that has only three MK's in the Knesset, but of a majority on the Supreme Court who agree with it." He called for citizens affected by the ruling to initiate civil suits against the decision.

How can they do that? Very easily. Until very recently, the 'Supreme Court' was effectively selected by the uber-Leftist Meretz party. Now, only some of the judges are selected by Meretz, but the court, through Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch still reflects Meretz's worldview and judges are assigned to cases like this one (which was not heard by the full court, and for which the opinion was written by Justice Fogelman who is a Beinisch favorite) with that worldview in mind.

Israel's 'Supreme Court' has just signed death warrants for many Israelis who use Route 443 (many of whom have no choice). Who will live and who will - God forbid - die on the altar of political correctness?

The picture at the top is the Maccabim checkpoint at the point where Route 443 crosses northbound over the 1949 armistice line.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:01 PM