I  wasn't born in Israel. I grew up in a strange country, with all kinds of ancient traditions and customs.

For instance, they had a very curious attitude to democracy there. We had no lessons in citizenship in High School, and there were no annual remembrance days for greatly admired leaders. There was no constitution, no law for financing political parties, and no need to pass a special law to dissolve the parliament. The prime minister simply announced that general elections would be held in another three weeks (except in a case where Parliament had continued until the maximum time).

The people voted there in constituencies, for a candidate and not for a political party list. Every citizen who had come of age could vote and also be elected, without the need for election committees and a judge who would decide if the candidate had committed a crime involving moral turpitude. Prisoners in jail could be elected, and this occurred occasionally, although for technical reasons they could not exercise their right to sit in Parliament (because they were not released from jail).

The immunity law was also strange. It merely gave members of Parliament immunity against slander charges for remarks made during Parliamentary sessions. It did not give them exemption from being brought to trial for any other offence. One MP was even found guilty of treason and executed for this.

They had strange customs there: They didn't have ID cards. It was a criminal offence to impersonate someone else for purposes of deception, but if you declared that your name was so-and-so, they believed you and didn't demand proof.

The courts also behaved in a very curious manner. If the police arrested someone for purposes of investigation, they had either to release him or bring him before a judge to extend his period of arrest, within 24 hours, after charging him with a specific offence. For some strange reason, they did not permit the prosecution to give incriminating material to the judge without showing it to the defense. They had a strange custom of a jury, whose task was to determine if guilt had been proved beyond sufficient doubt. Apparently they didn't rely on the judges being objective. Very strange, right?

Perhaps as a result of all these negative influences during my deprived childhood, I haven't succeeded until now in becoming accustomed to the "democratic" regime in Israel.

Perhaps I'm in need of corrective education in the new Gulag that the enlightened regime will shortly set up for its opponents.