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| By Dr. Aaron Lerner March 23, 2005 |
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| AP |
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Background: Why did Rabbi Ovadia Yosef oppose referendum?
Aaron Lerner Date: 23 March 2005
Shas spiritual mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef instructed Shas Knesset members today to vote against a referendum on the disengagement plan in the Knesset's Law, Justice and Constitution Committee. Rabbi Yosef also told Shas MKs to oppose a vote on a referendum in the Knesset plenum.
The official explanation for Rabbi Yosef's decision is his concern that if a referendum is held on disengagement that it will lead to plebiscites on sensitive religious issues.
While retreat supporters have certainly pushed this threat, Rabbi Yosef is anything but a novice in politics. And as an expert in the Israeli political process, Rabbi Yosef certainly is aware that national referendum serves as an additional layer -- or "check" against controversial legislation, rather than in lieu of such legislation.
Simply put: the only way that a national referendum can be held to approve changing draft deferments for Yeshiva students, Sabbath legislation, etc., is if these moves that Rabbi Yosef opposes already pass the Knesset.
A different explanation for Rabbi Yosef's moves has been offered: Iran.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's pubic explanations for disengagement are anything but convincing. In point of fact, Rabbi Yosef's public position on disengagement is that it is madness.
But behind closed doors the logic of the program presented to Rabbi Yosef by Sharon's team may very well be completely different: disengagement has nothing to do with Israeli-Palestinian relations and everything to do with addressing the Iranian nuclear threat. The disengagement plan, the argument goes, plays a critical role in insuring that the United States (and perhaps other) are both willing and able to neutralize this existential threat.
If this is in fact the case, disengagement opponents face a difficult challenge: It is one thing to bring in ex-brass to explain the disaster Israel will face after withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria - you can show maps, rocket trajectories, etc., but what experts can disengagement opponents send to Rabbi Yosef to counter the Iran argument - a logic that hinges on speculation regarding the dynamics of American foreign policy?
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