Israel has never been a liberal state. This country was built by true communists– so convinced that they emigrated from the socialist Soviet Union, and created even more socialist kibbutzim. The kibbutzim embodied communism ideals much better than Soviet collective farms: the property passed into the ownership of the community, people’s incomes were combined into a common pot, and children were often brought up by a commune more than by their own parents.
There is no freedom of speech in Israel. It has a military censorship; however, the greatest obstacle to the freedom of expression is the Israeli libel laws. Civilized countries allow defamation against public officials if it serves the public interest and potentially exposes their crimes, but in Israel, the public entity is legally protected from defamation better than ordinary citizens. Journalists writing about public figures have to prove every word in court, while civilized countries adopted the opposite approach: a public person must prove the existence of malice in the actions of the abuser. In Israel, there is simply no independent press (Wolterstorff 55).
Freedom of expression is legally curtailed in Israel. Sharon’s government has pursued a people only because they protested against the disengagement from Gaza: a lot of people who just dared to express their opinion were put into jail. The freedom of political activity, which is created to serve as a guarantee against prosecution becomes a pretext for punishment and even aggravating circumstance.
Police violently disperse peaceful demonstrations, beating protesters mercilessly and even breaking their bones. The police create real unrests in religious districts to prevent peaceful protests against provocative actions such as gay parades in Jerusalem. Police arrests and beat Jewish women with babies in their arms. Regularly, police detains and beats teenagers (both boys and girls up to 12 years) just for the fact that they are involved in anti-government demonstrations(Wolterstorff 105).
Israeli intelligence agencies are hunting at political opponents of the regime. Conservative activists are constantly condemned for counterinsurgency provisions of the British Mandate, which is still valid in Israel. This means that military courts are secret trials of Jews. Defenders are prohibited to be acquainted with the charges, which are allegedly classified.
The practice of extrajudicial executions grew from horrific precedents: we can remember how “Haganah” eliminated political opponents of Ben-Gurion, such as Arlozors; the operation “Season” against the independent Jewish fighters with British occupation forces; regular prowhisper of political opponents. For the Israeli police, it has become commonplace to delve into the lives of political figures, to blackmail or discredit them.
Western lawyers often refer to Israel’s Supreme Court as the most activist court in the world. This ultra-left court rewrites and complements laws makes decisions based on its own opinion without reference to any laws, and intrudes into all areas of governance, ranging from military to construction. The Supreme Court prescribes army certain steps, such as moving the separation barrier for a few meters; it hears a great number of trivial cases and thus usurping the powers of the executive branch. It even appoints judges for itself (Wolterstorff 155).
Justice in Greece, according to the constitution, is exercised by courts composed of regular judges who enjoy personal and professional independence. Court decisions are executed on behalf of the Greek people.
Depending on the cases, the courts are divided into administrative, civil and criminal. Decisions on juvenile offenders are made by the juvenile court. Cases, which involve members of the armed forces fall within the competence of the military court, which is divided into the court-martial, the Admiralty Court and the court of military aviation (Balot 44).
In Greece, usually open hearings are held except the cases when the court itself decides to hold a hearing behind closed doors to protect the parties (for example during the juvenile hearing). Court decisions should be specifically and thoroughly justified, declared publicly. The opinion of judicial minorities should also be made public (Balot 67).
Administrative courts consider conflicts involving enforcement authorities, such as the statements on the abolition of the decisions of administrative bodies, etc. They have two stages – the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal. Supreme Administrative Court of Greece is the Council of State. It’s responsible for consideration of the legality of all regulatory decrees. The organs of the administrative proceedings also include the Accounting Chamber, which is responsible for monitoring state spending and local governments, public procurement, etc (Murphy 77).
Civil courts consider cases on the settlement of personal issues, such as compensations for personal injuries; financial disputes; family conflicts, such as divorce or service conflicts, separations, etc. Depending on the nature of the case or the subject of the financial issues the cases go either to the Magistrate’s Court or to the Court of First Instance. The next instance is the Court of Appeals while the Supreme Civil Court in the state is the Areopagus (it considers the correctness of decisions rendered by criminal courts).
The Criminal Court considers the cases in accordance with the Criminal Code. Before the case goes to trial, it’s considered by a prosecutor, and as a result of checking he determines the severity of a crime – whether it is a minor offense, misdemeanor or a felony, and sends the case to the appropriate court.
In the event of a minor offense, a case is considered by the lower court. If the offense is on the level of a misdemeanor the accused falls under the jurisdiction of the trial court (which deals with criminal offenses punishable by imprisonment from one month to five years). When a crime is more serious it’s given to the investigator; together with a prosecutor, he makes pre-trial detention after the interrogation of the accused. The investigator is conducting an investigation, gathering witnesses, studying the case materials (Murphy 98).
After the investigation, the material is sent to the Judicial Council. After reviewing them, it makes a decision to transfer the case to court (or denies it). Criminal crimes are within the competence of the mixed jury or criminal court of the first instance, while the second phase of the case is considered by the mixed Court of Appeal or the Criminal Court of Appeal. These courts are composed of three judges and four jurors – citizens who are annually selected from a list drawn up on the basis of the data of state and municipal authorities, as well as legal entities of public and private law (Murphy 134).
Some criminal cases involving serious financial crimes or cases of bribery in the public service activities of criminal organizations are within the competence of the Court of Appeal for serious crimes.
If we compare Greece and Israel in terms of justice we will find out that Greek system is much more democratic and fair than the Jewish one. We have described these two systems using different approaches because Greek justice works in accordance with official provisions while Jewish one doesn’t.
Works cited
Wolterstorff, Nicholas. Justice: Rights and Wrongs. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2008. Print.
Balot, Ryan K. Greek Political Thought. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2006. Print.
Murphy, Peter. Civic Justice: From Greek Antiquity to the Modern World. Amherst, NY: Humanity, 2001. Print.
