The rule of no law?

A news report arrived early Wednesday morning. “Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu delayed a Knesset vote on a bill geared at sanctioning illegal west bank outposts on Wednesday, with the intent of reaching an arrangement that would evade the need to demolish illegally built homes,” the report, from JTA, said. “The move came as Netanyahu continues to seek ways to avoid the forced evacuation of homes in the Beit-El neighborhood of Ulpana Hill, after the High Court of Justice ruled that the state had to demolish those structures by July 1.”

The reports also stated that “several top right-wing ministers urged Netanyahu to advance a High Court-bypassing bill that would allow the Knesset to sanction outposts built on private Palestinian land.”

Talk about the rule of law. Israel’s Supreme Court, sitting as a High Court of Justice, ordered an end to an illegal outpost. The state stalled for months, then returned to court and asked for the order to be delayed. The court said no, but gave the state an additional six weeks to meet its deadline. Rather than make plans to carry out the decision of the court, the state is trying to find a way around the order.

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Democracies do not thrive when the rule of law is subject to the political whims of its leaders.

Regardless of how Netanyahu and his government feel about the decision to evacuate the Ulpana neighborhood of Beit El, democracy demands that the court order be carried out.

Anything less would be a betrayal of everything the modern State of Israel stands for.