When Our Leaders Fail Us

The Colorado Democratic Party on Wednesday formally censured Democratic Gov. Jared Polis for reducing the prison sentence of Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk convicted of election-related felonies, and barred the term-limited governor from speaking or appearing as an honored guest at party functions until further notice.

For the record, Tina Marie Peters is an American politician who served as County Clerk from 2019 to 2023. In 2021, she was temporarily suspended by the Colorado Secretary of State, and was later convicted of criminal charges and sentenced to nine years in prison related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election of former President Joe Biden.

The pardon issued by Colorado Gov. Polis occurred after intense pressure from the White House along with implied threats that Colorado would suffer if the Governor did not accede to the wishes of the President. While the Governor no doubt acted in what he thought were the best interests of the state, his party was rightfully incensed by his overriding the guardrails implemented by the courts, and the legitimate party sanction was the result.

Regardless of how anyone there might feel about the merits of the case, this is a good example of how democracy works in a country committed to equal treatment under, and respect for, the law even when the law is abused.

Israel could learn from this as well. Last week, we saw two situations that were embarrassing diplomatically and could certainly justify some sort of censure.

The most egregious was the treatment of the members of the Gaza flotilla who were captured by the IDF as they approached Gaza and then assembled in a holding facility in Israel. In a videotape (https://tinyurl.com/9uz2tu2y) of those being held prior to their expulsion, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the most senior person in our government responsible for the safety and security of this nation, is seen exhibiting conduct unbecoming of a minister in the government, gloating over their capture and using obnoxious language to demean them as human beings.

The event caused outrage in Israel and around the world, and generated harsh criticism from our Prime Minister as well, which is covered in the video.

This, however, is not the first time Ben Gvir has acted this way. He has a long history of belligerent behavior to such an extreme that the IDF refused to induct him when he came of age to perform military service here in Israel. The real question then becomes, why is he still in the government and how does he remain a member of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet no less? Is his conduct not serious enough to be removed from office? At what point is someone’s conduct so egregious that it warrants immediate dismissal?

People here, of course, will say that this is just Ben Gvir being Ben Gvir. We hear that a lot today about unhinged political leaders worldwide. Putin is just being Putin, Orban is just being Orban, Trump is just being Trump. Yet even Israeli President Herzog made veiled reference to the obnoxious language used by Ben Gvir, although Ben Gvir’s name was not mentioned specifically.

But what about undiplomatic behavior by someone in a purely diplomatic role who should know better? Recently, Israeli Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, in a publicized speech there, took out after “J Street,” which their website states “organizes pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy Americans to promote US policies that embody our deeply held Jewish and democratic values and that help secure the State of Israel as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people.” One can, of course, disagree with their platform without demeaning them or their aspirations.

However, when the Ambassador of the State of Israel stands up in public and says: “J Street is a cancer within the Jewish community,” he has clearly crossed the line between diplomacy and politics, a critical separation that must be maintained for good order to prevail. Sadly, it is not the first time that someone at Leiter’s level has spoken this way about “J Street.” In 2017, former US ambassador to Israel David Friedman called the group “worse than kapos,” a reference to the Jews who aided the Nazis during WWII.

Acceptable norms in the world of diplomacy make it imperative that diplomats not express their personal opinions but, instead, reflect the policies of the governments they represent. If Leiter was expressing the opinion of the Israeli government and was told to do so, then as both an ordained rabbi and having suffered the devastating loss of a son in battle during the current Hamas war, he knows the importance of every Jewish soul regardless of their politics, so he should have stood up to the government here and refused to say anything that would demean other Jews and even resign if he had no other choice. If, however, he was expressing his own personal opinion, then he should no longer be representing the government of Israel in Washington.

We hear so often these days how the “norms” have disappeared from the political echelon and perhaps they have. But acknowledging that is therefore a mandate for all of us to do what we can to recapture them, not a license to disembowel them further. We talk a lot about being God’s chosen people, we read last week that we are to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, but we don’t speak enough about what God expects of us.

Sasha Davis, Indira Duggirala, Scott Mangino, Josh Trupin and Andy Yaste, the officers of the Colorado Democratic Party’s Central Committee, even bereft of a Jewish education, seem to have understood God’s expectation quite clearly. We here should be able to do the same.