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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, July 10, 1981

Caricatures

JPS Chooses
New President

Western Olim Seeking Electoral Reform

PHILADELPHIA — Dr.
Muriel Mallin Berman has
been elected president of the
Jewish Publication Society.
She is the first woman to
hold this position.
Dr. Berman is vice
chairman and vice
president ofHess's, Inc., and
an underwriting member of
Lloyd's of London. She is a
national board member of
Hadassah and is chairman
of the Hadassah-Israel Art
Show.

(Continued from Page 1)
to the voters.
Determined to avoid the
fate of the now defunct
DMC, the CCC under Her-
zog has insistently refused
to form itself into a separate
political party. Instead the
CCC is concentrating on
educating the general pub-
lic on vital issues and bring-
ing pressure to bear on the
already existing political
parties to do something
about them. At the top of the
CCC list of urgent problems
in need of effective solutions
is the matter of electoral re-
form.
In most democracies, a
member of parliament is
directly elected by the
voters of a certain district
and therefore must be re-
sponsive to their wishes
and establish a good re-
cord of performance in
his job or else face being
voted out.
In Israel, members of
Knesset are responsible to
their party organizations
only. They are selected by
a limited group of party
members. The citizens may
vote only for the predeter-
mined party list, not for an
individual.
The strength of the cur-
rent method of representa-
tion is that it allows any
group with a strong ideolog-
ical commitment to force its
way into at least one or two
seats of the Knesset. This
system was adopted origi-
nally by the World Zionist
Organization (based on the
Polish system of the time)
before the founding of the
state of Israel. The purpose,
then, was to give the
maximum number of views
expression within the broad

you the citizen."
lists.
Another major problem
It should be noted that
there are real reasons for with the current scheme of
for your party
opposing a constituency party dominated lists is that
system and without meet- once members are elected to
By
ing them a change would the Knesset, they may opt to
not necessarily be bene- break with their parties and
ficial. Israel is a new and form tiny factions of their
variegated society with own, which never received
many traditions and group- any confirmation from the
Call
ings which demand expres- voters at all.
The CCC was formed
sion. To crush minority
views so as to compel all to about a year ago by Israelis
support one of two blocs has of English speaking origins
a different meaning in Is- who wished to take a more
rael and in England, with active part in the political
its centuries of democratic process. Besides electoral
political tradition of all reform, the group is work-'
ing for improved efficiency
peoples.
Israelis should be most and a better quality of life.
Bringing with them the
sensitive to minority rights
democratic traditions of
— just as they must under-
their countries of birth,
stand the demands of stable
and responsible democratic immigrants from
In a spectacular pre-leasing promotion
America,., Britain and
government.
the 5600 WEST MAPLE Office Building
other English-speaking
However,
some
objec-
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tions may be countered lands feel they have
moving cost-per-square-foot of leased
something significant to
by a compromise pro-
space will be reimbursed to any tenant
posal put forward by MK contribute to the current
signing before August 30, 1981.
Gad Yaacobi which. Israeli society, in which
would divide 80 seats 60 percent of the popula-
5600 WEST MAPLE executive suites
among 16 electoral dis- tion come from countries
are luxurious and completely custom
tricts, leaving 40 Knesset which do not have demo-
finished with plush interiors. Office
seats to be decided by a cratic governments.
suites are available from 2-3 rooms and
The CCC has already con-
national list. Under such
. up. And our flexible floor plans are in-
a plan the National Reli- tacted the Knesset to seek
gious Party, for instance, support for electoral reform
dividualized to ideally suit your needs.
could
still count on about "legislation. "Except for the
A call today will show you how simple
the same number of Communists and Agudat
and convenient your office move can
Knesset members as in Yisrael, there is someone
from every party in favor of
be. Occupancy: September 1981.
the current system.
it," said Mrs. Harris. The
The
chief
advantage
of
SIGN BEFORE AUGUST 30 AND THE
the reform would be that it group will now launch a
MOVE IS ON US!
major drive to alert the pub-
would give the average citi-
zen someone to turn to lic to the issue and to gather
within the government to petitions in support of a new
electoral system for Israel.
take up his specific de-
Just East of Orchard Lake Road
mands and protect his indi-
vidual' interests. In the Dutch Churches
Leasing and management by:
existing framework, main- Support Israel
DAVID M. TISDALE & COMPANY
tained Zelda Harris, execu-
AMSTERDAM (JTA) —
tive director of the CCC, The Netherlands Council of
"There's never anyone Churches, in a statement of
who's -actually interested in solidarity with Israel and
the Jewish people against
1 week
anti-Semitism, declared
that criticism of certain Is-
SPECIAL
raeli policies must be tem-
pered by the memory of the
six million Jews who were
annihilated during the Nazi
era, which gives special
by Crawford
meaning to the Jewish
state.
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The statement asserted
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that Christians must not
deny the fundamental right
of the state of Israel to exist
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and must not forget the spe-
cial connection between the
Jewish people and the
Christian church. The last-
ing loyalty of God to the
Jewish people and his al-
liance with Moses has not
been superseded by the ad-
vent of Jesus Christ," the
statement said.
It noted however that
"after early great sym-
pathy for the young state
of Israel by which an
• Thomasville • Baker • Henredon • Selig • Kittinger
cient prophecies seemed
to be fulfilled, there has
• Stiffel • Beauty Rest • White • American Drew
been an increasing nega-
Clyde Pearson • Ficks Reed • Vanguard and more
tive attitude toward Is-
rael since the seventies,
caused, among other
things, by Israel's settle-
ment policy and by its
expropriation of Arab
lands in Galilee."
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Nevertheless, the state-
ment cautioned that many
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spectrum of Zionist ideol-
ogy.
In the parliament of a
modern state, this approach
leads to fragmentation
which can undermine the
stability of the government.
The system was adopted by
Israel in its first election be-
cause the War of Indepen-
dence was in progress and it
was impossible to divide the
country into constituencies
while the fighting was still
going on.
The proportional re-
presentation system was
adopted as a one-time
expedient, which it was
assumed the First Knes-
set would supplant with a
system of direct repre-
sentation. However, the
results of the first elec-
tion were to distribute
power among a number
of small parties, each of
which obviously had a
vested interest in main-
taining the vehicle which
had brought them to
office. The consequence
has been government by
coalition, which has
enabled certain factions
to hold on to the balance
of power.
Opposition to the pro-
posals for electoral reform
has been expressed, among
others, by the religious par-
ties, who fear losing the cru-
cial role they've played in
the ruling coalition, under
both Likud and Labor-led
governments. The kibutz
movement has also come
out against direct repre-
sentation, since their mem-
bers are spread out around
the country and therefore
can command more political
clout by proportional repre-
sentation of national party

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