MK Chaim Oron presents the main points of the proposed Code of Ethics for Knesset Members, 2011

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin:
Today, Monday the 19th of Shvat, the 24th of January 2011, I am honored to open this session of the Knesset.

His Honorable Prime Minister and Member of Knesset Benjamin Netanyahu, Madam Head of the Opposition Member of Knesset Tzippi Livni, Honorable Ministers past and present, Chairman of the Public Committee to Determine a Code of Ethics for Knesset Members, Supreme Court Justice Professor Yitzhak Zamir, and Committee Members: Justice Yitzhak Eliasuf , Former Minister and MK Haim Corfu, also Professor Assa Kasher, Professor Susie Navot, former Minister and MK Uzi Baram, Deputy Speaker Ruchama Avraham Balila, Master Sergeant Salman Amar from the Border Guard who, thanks to his resourcefulness and quick action, prevented a terrible disaster on a train this month - we would like to welcome his family who accompany him today and are taking part in today's celebration of the Knesset's birthday as a token of gratitude of the state of Israel; soldiers, teachers, parents and dear students and the esteemed crowd that has gathered here today to celebrate the establishment of Israel's Knesset.

I would like to begin my speech by sending condolences in the name of the entire Knesset to the President of the State of Israel Mr. Shimon Peres on the passing of his wife Sonia, a special personality in her own right, may she be of blessed memory.

Israeli teens sit together with the Knesset Members in the Plenum, 2011

I am happy to open this celebratory session to commemorate 62 years of the establishment of Knesset. I would like to congratulate the representative best of the Israeli youth who are here with us today. Welcome to the sanctuary of Israeli democracy. This house is the exposed nerve center of the entire Israeli society. It is the scene of Israel’s meeting and debating; it is the constitutional arena of the relationship between the majority and minority located there. On its 62nd Holiday of Israeli Democracy let us recite the blessing – "Who has granted us life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this occasion."

My young friends, over the years, the walls of this house have withstood storms and painful earthshaking experiences. This House's existence, the Sanctuary of Israeli Democracy, is not by law of nature and cannot be taken for granted. I fear that many among us have grown tired from our longstanding alertness and willingness to stand guard to preserve the identity of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

Since the establishment of this house, the dual identity of being Jewish and Democratic has been the subject of nonstop attacks. Yet while in the past these attacks were instigated by small extreme factions in this House, today unfortunately they seem to come from its majority. It seems today that instead of searching for a recipe to create a healthy society with common values, the Israeli Parliament has developed a custom, from both the right and left to perfect the work of extremism and the art of defiance.

Too many among us treat the future of Israeli society and its ability to create a common "Israeli Experience" with contempt. The attempt to harm minorities that live among us and to emphasize the points of conflict with them affects every aspect of our democratic parliament. An atmosphere has been created in which a majority can strike a minority: Secular striking “Hareidi” (Ultra Orthodox), “Hareidi” striking secular, Jews striking Arabs, Arabs striking Jews, rich striking the poor, and almost no boundaries of right and wrong. When the rules of the game are broken, they are broken across the Israeli society.

The Prime Minister, Knesset Speaker, and Secretary General together with Israeli teens at the end of the festive sitting, 2011

Unfortunately today we are trying to settle fundamental disagreements with the wrongful use of the majority vote. It was Jabotinsky, one of the Jewish-Democratic State's great visionaries who said that blind compliance of the majority rule is not a practical solution, and even worse, it is morally flawed. As he said "it is ridiculous to associate the majority rule with the essence of freedom and democracy. The majority rule is in essence one of coercion and surrender, and must never be regarded as an ideal. The reason for democracy should be searched for in the theory of agreement and compromise." So wrote Jabotinsky.

My friends, ministers, former ministers, future ministers, sir Prime Minister, Madam Leader of the Opposition, the use of the power of the majority may originate from the feeling of the Israeli society that it is held hostage by a minority group. Nonetheless, let us not forget that either way the rule of the majority or of the minority is a sad distortion of the democratic theory and is not a practical or moral solution for the challenges that lay ahead.

Practically, make no mistake. It is not only by power of legislation alone to create such an internal and vast change, just as one cannot command another’s beliefs. Above all, morally speaking, when the majority rule fundamentally rises a step from being a pragmatic means, and becomes a valued end, woe to that democracy and woe to that society. When it appears that the power of the majority can provide a simple and cheap solution to all of the problematic issues at hand, something has been extinguished in the soul of that democracy; something has been extinguished in the soul of that society.

The solution to public injury and security cannot be found in the fists of the parliamentary majority, lawful as they may be, but rather in the legitimate tools of the judiciary system. This state of mind only deepens the rift and split in Israeli society and in any case creates a tear between the identities as a Jewish and democratic state.

My young friends, the people of this house are not only public servants, they are also public leaders. The responsibility and obligation we carry, and as do you, the next generation, is not to disrupt the regular but bothersome dispute between the majority and the minority. This House's right to exist is only through the existence of a true debate between the two; only it has the power to promise the durability of the Israeli democracy.

In the name of the entire Knesset, I wish to thank the Knesset Center of Studies which is a joint project with the Ministry of Education, the Minister of Education, and in particular Mrs. Nava Rosen on the assistance of turning the "Young Knesset" from a vision to a regular custom.

To the celebration today we are adding another parliamentary celebration, the completion of the new Ethics Code, a process that was pronounced in 2003 at the beginning of the 16th Knesset. Until now, seven years since the process commenced, we were unable to succeed in completing it. The Zamir Committee completed the draft for the Code of Ethics and presented its recommendations in 2006. Today, we have a draft on the Knesset table after long and arduous work by the House Committee headed by Yariv Levin and his predecessor Ruchama Avraham before she became a minister, and of the subcommittee headed by Jumas. In a moment we will clarify.

I would like to turn to those who placed us here, the citizens of Israel and say: The members of this House are not disconnected from that which transpires around us. We are aware of the bleak public image this House has, justified or not, and we are afraid of the danger that it might lead to the loss of legitimacy of the political system. Therefore, the completion of the Code of Ethics is an expression of the commitment and determination of the people sitting here to improve that image.

My friends, the first at the forefront of those determined and committed to the face of Israeli politics and social wellbeing of Israeli society is MK Chaim Oron, known as Jumas, who has signed on for the completion of the Code of Ethics. With Jumas’ decision which has been made public, to leave this house, the Knesset will lose one of its main icons, a true ideologist and parliamentarian from the top caliber. His future resignation from this House, even if not from the political world, will resound strongly inside its walls for awhile. It is symbolic in my eyes that specifically Jumas, who for many years served as a “compass” in this House, is the one who is laying in front of the next generation of politicians the Ten Commandments of normative and proper behavior in the Knesset.

I wish to thank you Jumas on this occasion, the Knesset's 62nd birthday on the fruit of your hard and essential labor that will benefit the public, and I invite you to come to the dais and introduce the principles of the ethics report that we are presenting with great festivity. MK Chaim Oron, please…