Religion Magazine
I would be happy if the law in Israel would be changed to say that someone who was convicted of a crime (it could be limited to crimes of public trust or crimes with "kalon" - disgrace or moral turpitude (whatever that is), or some qualification so we don't have the government rounding up and convicting people on minor offenses just to keep them out of politics) will not be allowed to serve in government.
I would like that, and I think it is a good law to have.
However, right now we do not have such a law. Just the opposite. The current law allows anyone to run for office. Even a criminal, if he has served his time, he can fully rejoin society in every way. Even if he was tagged with moral turpitude on his crime, if he waits out the waiting period, after that he ca run for office or do anything else he might want to do.
If you think running for office presents an ethical problem, change the law to say such a person cannot run for office.
I don't get Yehuda Weinstein saying that Deri can legally be made a minister but he would have a difficult time defending such an appointment in the Supreme Court on ethical grounds.
Legally he is allowed to be appointed as a minister, so what's the problem?
You don't like it, and I don't, work to get the law changed. Weinstein should be pressing the government to change the law to better deal with such situations in the future. Deri should be allowed to serve now. It is a failure of our electoral system, but if that is the way it is, it is wrong to single him out and punish him more when he has already served his time. The entire electoral system needs to be reformed, and this is just part of it.
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