Activists of the Derech Chaim (way of life) movement last Thursday engaged in an original event as part of their ongoing campaign against the tyrannical ways of Israel’s Supreme Court. Some 20 activists arrived at the Jerusalem central bus station, a bustling part of the city, and handed out to pedestrians hundreds of helium-filled balloons with the slogan (we paraphrase) “The Supreme Court is flying on its own hot air,” beside a drawing of a judge.
Apparently, the Jerusalemites were delighted with their gift balloons, and most of them agreed with the message.
The same activists also handed out brochures and stickers with clever slogans about the court’s dictatorial style and how it considers its own ego ahead of the needs of Israeli citizens (as in forcing 40 Amona families to lose their homes and community over a Supreme Court ruling given without the benefit of evidence or proper documentation).
Uri Kirshenbaum, from Derech Chaim, said in a statement that “recent surveys have shown once again the growing lack of trust of the Israeli public in the Supreme Court.”
“Everyone nowadays understand that the high court is flying on its own supply of hot air,” Kirshenbaum explained, “but what we must realize is that as long as the court grabs for itself authority to which it is not entitled and no one is protesting, it’s only natural that it results in judges who feel they are above the rest of us, ‘a closed family,” as retired Justice Barak put it, and would continue to dictate to the rest of us [their version of] what’s right and moral.”
“We believe it’s high time to deal radically with this problem,” Kirshenbaum concluded, “and return to the public the authority the court has usurped from us – otherwise the bloated balloon of BaGaTz (acronym for High Court of Justice) would continue to hover above us.”
So far the Derech Chaim activists have demonstrated in front of the home of Supreme Court President Justice Miriam Na’or and hung provocative signs around Israel.