by Victor Rosenthal 23.7.23
As I write, Israel is undergoing a carefully planned, well-financed, coup d’état.
Its leaders, members of Israel’s elite, including two former prime ministers, military officers, high tech entrepreneurs, media, judges and lawyers, supported by an army of useful idiots, will tell you that it is not a coup. They will say that it’s the government that is trying to effect a revolution, to destroy Israel’s democracy and install a dictatorship or even a theocracy.
They are either fools or lying. To begin with, Israel is not a true liberal democracy today, nor has she ever been one, except perhaps for brief periods. For the first 29 years of her existence, she was ruled by a single party, Mapai, the Labor Party. Her first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, was a virtual dictator. Later prime ministers were chosen from among the Labor apparatchiks, and some of them were incompetent enough to imperil the existence of the state. The opposition, led by Menachem Begin, was entirely shut out.
In 1977, thanks to public disgust over the Labor government’s failure to prepare for the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, and the demographic changes in Israel resulting from the immigration of almost a million Jews forced to flee Muslim countries, Begin’s Likud party received enough votes in an election to form a government, and make him prime minister.
But control of the Knesset didn’t translate into control of the country. The elites that controlled government-owned enterprises, the army, the media, the legal system, the labor unions, the educational establishment, and everything else, did not let go. The “new Israelis,” mostly Mizrachi Jews, but soon to include immigrants from the Soviet Union, Ethiopia and other places, were kept out. I remember a song popular around 1980 about a singer who wanted to appear on the (state-controlled) radio, but was turned down because of his Mizrachi accent.* It wasn’t a joke, even at that late date.
The elites saw the demographic bus coming, and they knew that they had to somehow control the “barbarians” who would soon begin to take over by sheer force of numbers. So in the early 1990s, led by Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak, they engineered a real judicial coup. What was called a “constitutional revolution” vastly increased the power and scope of the Supreme Court, gave quasi-constitutional status to vague laws passed by a small minority of Knesset members, and for the first time enabled the court to overthrow laws passed by the Knesset. A system of legal “advisors,” accountable only to the judicial system, was created, whose “advice” to every ministry and government department is binding. Now, although the “new Israelis” often elect a majority of the Knesset, the elected officials can be blocked from doing anything that the old elites don’t like.
The new system has worked well for them. The Knesset, the prime minister, and his cabinet, who derive their authority from the electorate, have been stripped of their power. For example, at least four times the Knesset has passed laws to enable the humane repatriation or resettlement of some 50,000+ migrants who entered the country illegally across the Egyptian border. In every case, they were blocked by the Supreme Court. Today the migrants have children whose native language is Hebrew, and they and their descendants are likely here to stay.
The issue of what to do about the migrants involved finding a balance between rights – the rights of the migrants vs. the rights of the residents of South Tel Aviv, whose neighborhoods were devastated by their influx, and the right of the state to control its demographic composition. This was the very paradigm of a political decision, one that should have been made according to the will of the citizens, expressed by their democratically elected representatives. Instead, an unelected court decided on the basis of the judges’ prejudices – which reflected their elite status and liberal worldview rather than the collective desire of the citizens of the state.
This is the “democracy” that the demonstrators who are blocking roads, burning tires in front of the homes of government ministers, shutting down airports, wish to “preserve.” This is what those reservists who refuse to report for duty are endangering our security in order to protect. This is why pundits are trying to damage Israel’s economy with self-fulfilling prophecies of disaster. And this is what the movement has – unethically if not treasonously – lobbied foreign leaders to pressure Israel over.
It’s important to understand that the specific proposals for judicial reform are not fundamental to the conflict. How do we know this? For one thing, even if all the reforms were enacted in their original form, they would do no more than return the balance between the Knesset and the Supreme Court to what it was before the “constitutional revolution” of 1994. In addition, the argument that rule by an unelected, self-selecting, elite legal establishment is somehow more democratic than that of an elected parliament is simply absurd.
So what is behind it? It needs to be understood in the context of the attempted prosecution of Binyamin Netanyahu for some very amorphous “crimes,” of years of anti-Netanyahu demonstrations, and especially as a consequence of the demographic shift in Israel, which is becoming more religious and more diverse. The secular Ashkenazi descendants of pre-WWII immigrants are feeling “their” country slip away; secular people in general are afraid that the balance between religion and state will tip towards greater intrusion of religion into their lives; and everyone below the top economic brackets is finding it harder and harder to afford the necessities of life in one of the world’s most expensive countries.
The leaders of the protest movement present it as a last-ditch effort (before open civil war, which they seem to enjoy predicting) to stop Netanyahu from abolishing democracy and establishing a religious dictatorship “like in Turkey.” They argue that only an all-powerful judicial establishment can protect minority rights – by which they mean the rights of minorities favored by the Left, such as the LGBT community, rather than those favored by the Right, such as religious people and residents of the periphery or Judea and Samaria. They play on secular fears of religious coercion and resentment against Haredim, whom they accuse of parasitism.
They argue – irresponsibly – that their concerns cannot be assuaged through normal political processes. The government, they say, has “gone off the rails” and therefore they themselves are justified in adopting any means necessary to stop the nation’s slide into dictatorship and theocracy. Normally it would not be justified to deliberately damage the economy, to lobby foreign nations against our government, or to imperil our security by refusing military service. But today, they say, the situation is not normal. Suppose you lived in Germany in the 1930s, they ask, would you have allowed Nazism to take hold without a fight?
The protests are becoming more and more punishing to ordinary people trying to get to work, to operate businesses, or to get medical care. They are increasingly pushing the limits of free expression, and often veering into harassment and sabotage. The police, in turn, are using more aggressive means to control the demonstrations. More demonstrators are being injured in confrontations with the police. But probably the most important is a growing movement among IDF reservists to shirk reserve duty. This trend, presently confined to units drawn from the upper classes in Israeli society such as the air force and the cyber and intelligence units, is extremely worrisome to IDF commanders. As I write (23 July) protest organizers claim that 10,000 air force reservists are prepared to join the protest by failing to volunteer or even refuse orders to report for duty. It would certainly impact IDF preparedness if they were to follow through on such a threat.
The immediate issue is a law that the government is trying to pass to limit the “reasonableness criterion,” one of the tools that the Supreme Court can use to block actions or appointments by the government. In fact, this law would have little or no effect on the Court’s power, since it has other equally vague criteria (such as “proportionality”) that it can use in a similar way. But it has become the focus of conflict. From the point of view of the government, if this law can be defeated by extra-legal means, then the democratic election that brought them to power will have been subverted. Power will have been transferred from the elected government to the rebels, who could use similar tactics to derail any government action. From the point of view of the protest, if the government is allowed to “get away” with passing this law, then there will be nothing to stop it from continuing its program to “end democracy and establish a dictatorship.”
There are various groups and individuals that are encouraging, controlling, and financing the protests. The parliamentary opposition, led by Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz is naturally happy to see Netanyahu’s coalition in trouble, but they are nervous about the increasingly bellicose attitude of the protestors, and especially about anything that can endanger the IDF’s ability to respond to threats. There are several non-governmental organizations that provide organizational and financial assistance to the protests. There are ad hoc groups of former security officials, etc. And there is Ehud Barak.
Barak, a former chief of staff and prime minister who presided over the debacle of the 2000 Camp David summit between Israel, the PLO, and the US, has been one of the driving forces, ideologically, and financially, of the protest movement. He served as Minister of Defense under Netanyahu in 2011-12, and together with him advocated for attacking the Iranian nuclear program before the Iranians entered a “zone of immunity” after which an attack would not be effective. The plan was not carried out due to opposition from elements in the army and the security forces, and the Obama Administration. Since then, Barak has reversed course, aligning himself with the anti-Netanyahu side. In 2020, he argued that PM Netanyahu was attempting to acquire dictatorial powers using the Covid pandemic as an excuse, and called for removing him from power, detailing the precise tactics that are being used today. He also said that he saw himself as the best choice to replace him.
The Biden Administration has pressured the Israeli government to stop the judicial reform legislation, despite the internal political nature of the debate. It has also denigrated PM Netanyahu, following the precedent set by the Obama administration, many of whose alumni now work for Biden. Although smoking guns are hard to come by, I would be surprised if the protest movement were not being assisted by the US State Department and intelligence agencies.
At this very moment, three days before the observance of Tisha b’Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the two Temples, PM Netanyahu is in a hospital having a pacemaker implanted after episodes of transient heart block which led to losses of consciousness. At ten o’clock today the Knesset will begin debate on the bill to limit the reasonableness criterion, and the vote is expected to take place tomorrow. At the same time, there are warnings that Iran’s proxy Hezbollah is preparing for war. It is possible that the Iranians think that Israel is on the verge of implosion and wish to take advantage of it.
I don’t think there has been this degree of tension in Israel since the Yom Kippur War. Will the coup succeed? Will Netanyahu manage to reassert control? Are we on the verge of a multi-front war which will make all the political machinations moot? It’s been said that the existence of a Jewish state today is miraculous, but miracles these days require both divine and human action. Now we need such a miracle; may it happen, speedily in our day.
_______________________
*Moti Giladi, Korim oti Beber
****
Dr David Nussbaum
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/histadrut-chief-to-hold-emergency-meeting-tonight-amid-calls-for-general-strike/In a democracy, a protest, whereby one is given free voice to express their dissent with a government policy and their supportive facts and logic, is legitimate and in some circumstances, a corrective.
Mob rule, whereby those who LOST AN ELECTION AND ARE OUT OF POWER AT LEAST UNTIL THE NEXT ELECTION, attempt to physically coerce and bully a democratically elected government to follow the defeated party’s policies, is not sanctioned in any democracy. After all, the saving grace of any democracy worth the names is that presents citizens the ability to settle political differences by dialogue BEFORE THE PEOPLE DECIDE which party’s policies they prefer VIA THE BALLOTBOX!
Attempting to obstruct an elected government from exercising its legal authority is criminal behavior. When the ultimate goal of the disruptive and often destructive mobs on the streets involves regime change, it is called an insurrection.
Do not let the criminal Leftist Israeli mob get away with their insurrection allegedly for the noble purpose “to save Democracy.” That is a pernicious piece of propaganda and classical “Virtue Signalling . They essentially want to circumvent the voting public’s ability to chose leadership based on policies and outcomes, and rule by typically unreasonable judicial fiats, passing as the ultra-subjective term: “reasonableness”. That is why the Left is holding a “National Tantrum” to maintain its sub-rosa control of government policy and decision-making, even when traditionalists and not the nihilists win the democratic elections.
Destroying the country from within is NOT democracy. The lemmings who follow their foolish, short-sighted and too often corrupting or corrupted leadership will follow them off the cliffs.
Caroline Glick on media disinformation and the coup.
https://youtu.be/Z-c5Kr7sdrk
@Bear Are you in Israel, right now?
Yep nothing to worry about disturbances, some violence, closed stores, closed roads. Just fake media reports. It is all exaggerations.
Ostrich Syndrome is alive and well!
@Ted
Nor, in my opinion, should you be. Great op-ed piece in today’s Arutz Sheva that talks about that which deserves republishing.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374594
Israel has been playing this game longer than they been a nation (1947). While they are playing the “War of the Roses” they are destroying themselves through baseless hatred and letting their enemies destroy their house/land. Bibi, it’s time to get your foot off the brake and get both feet on the gas pedal. Run through the goddam wall and let the bricks fall where they land. Israel repeats the Shema twice a day. It’s time they act like they mean it.
As far as the 10,00 to 24,000 reservist that say they want report. Yea, Yea Yea. ….. just wait till Hezbulah starts in on their wife’s and daughters and see how fast they clean out the streets. Democracy is a shade evil people hide behind. God nor his Anointed is democratic.
@Ted, glad you are optimistic and happy. I am cup half person normally. More of a pragmatic realistic in actuality. Haredi have the power to say no to getting educated and going into the military. Your analysis on this is not accurate but faulty.
In the meantime many but not all of the Israeli pilots who had made threats to resign from their voluntary reserve duty have done so.
Ted, you better volunteer to get pilots training for F35s and make the state safe.The poll numbers that mattered is that far more people were against doing what happen today in the Knessett. So they had enough votes but are losing the public. You can disagree but I think the poll is very reflective of Israelis overall
@BEAR
I am not troubled by the polls. Many Israelis were affected by the propaganda and fear mongering. This government is unified to the last man. It has 4 years to make a difference. I expect the Palestinian issue to be resolved so that means one less thing to fight about. I look to Bibi and Derry to get the Heredi to accept curriculum changes and maybe more. After all they don’t want to be subject to a left wing government. Laws can be passed which narrow the legislative power of the judiciary.
I am an optimist at heart.
Reasonableness bill passed. Levin and Smotrich are estatic.
Let us see what happens now.
I think moving ahead is playing into Barak’s plan for a coup. He is completely power hungry and off the wall. What is written below should be investigated and if true Barak should be arrested for treason (or other crimes) and with any co-conspirators. But slow down the judicial reforms and address this.
Gantz’s party leads, Netanyahu’s coalition wanes – KAN News poll
A particularly contentious issue addressed in the poll was the passing of the reasonableness clause. The findings indicate that 46% of the respondents are against it, while 35% are in favor.
What this poll indicates is that many in the center and right are also against plowing ahead into the abyss and want to do reform with consensus in spite of the difficulty and the distrust the sides have of each other.
@Ted, behind the scenes they were negotiations that if this were agreed there would be an over all deal with the opposition on reasonableness clause for starters. This was the hang up is my understanding. It is still possible to do this I hear maybe.
@Bear, please read my comment again. They are only playing for time and maybe that Bibi Passes in the meantime.
@Bear
No mention of the reasonableness clause.
Is the law on Selection Committee part of what is being passed today?
@Bear
The reasonableness law is a small part of the Judicial Reform. It should be passed today. Then there will be quite a few months of no more overhaul. Gantz can separate himself from the rest of the anti Bibi coalition and try to cut a deal. It would be best if all issues are dealt with including agreeing on the Palestinian solution, the Heredim . If such agreement can be reached in three months then the rift in the right will be no more and the Right will enjoy a majority for a long time to come.
I have no animus towards Bibi. I don’t want him to suffer the same fate as Churchill did after WWII, Israel has benefited greatly by Bibi’s policies and Israel can continue to benefit from his leadership.
So now Smotrich and Gallant want to delay the passing of the bill for the good of the country. Only the hot heads want to continue to the potential destruction of the country.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374604
@Ted, Gantz claims he willing to negotiate a deal with Bibi. I would put him to the test. Provide a Bill of Rights, which Bibi claims he is in favor. And frankly Israel needs and you could get a deal
I believe. It would provide Gantz a win and actually raise his popularity in the country. Bibi probably realizes this and does not want Gantz getting the most votes in the next election, Bibi is most concerned about being PM until he dies and not the good of the country. Where the left has many ills and things I do not like, the right is has been too dependent on Bibi and his power for the good of the country.
https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/israel-zionism/2023/07/in-israel-the-center-holds-but-politicians-seem-unable-to-do-what-it-wants/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_campaign=2023-07-24&_kx=WyjhU1e5XJk8ab1rDRZGX9d8UrfC9JLpFk4dvbs_ols%3D.L87CGh
@Sebastien
Arlen Specter comes to mind.
@Ted You mean, again? Has anyone in public office in the history of politics, ever crossed over and then crossed back?
@Sebastien
I meant if Bennett could cross over, why can’t Gantz?
@Ted Because the left couldn’t form a government without Bennett, Ganz and LIeberman. Did Bennett accomplish or even advocate judicial reform? If Ganz agreed to compromise, would the resulting reform be significant? Would the rest of the left accept it? They don’t want to give up any of their power. What can Bibi possibly offer them that they don’t already have. Bibi has already stated that he is a centrist. What would a compromise with the left from the center look like, in the unlikely event Ganz agreed. And Ganz is right wing in name only.
The only thing that can happen is that Bibi says, “look we tried” and it gets voted through anyway. The “mostly peaceful protestors” and their financial backers have to be prevented from disrupting and threatening the government again and again. Maybe it’s time to start treating them the way Biden treated the Jan. 6 protestors or Trudeau the truckers.
The left is standing strong together but it embraces a very wide spectrum of views. If National Union broke the mold and acted alone to cut a deal with Bibi on Judicial reform and the Palestinian problem and the Heredi problem. The left would get something and Israel would get stability. If Bennet could do it, why can’t Ganz?
@Ted & Peloni okay we will have to agree to disagree. We have different views.
My views were stated below, I will repeat and expand a bit. I think it is better to and try and get agreement on judicial reform and a bill of rights. If a bill of rights is included some on the left have agreed to judicial reform. It likely has to be all in one package. I prefer to be patient even if the outcome takes longer. Going full steam ahead appears to risk the stability of the whole country. Judicial reform is not worth the risking the stability of the whole country. Some who are in my view reckless are willing to do that.
I agree with Peloni
.
Keep in mind, the reason we don’t have a constitution is that there is no consensus on what it should contain. The High Court under Barak took it upon themselves to write part of the constitution without any right to do so. The current government wants to undue their unlawful act.
In addition the old, secular, Tel Aviv elite are unwilling to cede power to the
new power block of Settlers, Heredi and nationalists. And they will go to any means not to accept it.
My daughter is a leftist who got he PhD in the area of government. She doesn’t argue for the maintenance of democracy because she knows what that means, she argues for “liberal democracy” which is what Barak imposed on us. And she does so righteously.
The left keeps asking for further discussions. That’s only a delay mechanism. Instead they should make an offer setting out the wording they will accept.. No negotiations. But they won’t do this because they know they must come more than half way to get any concessions. They are not prepared for that.
The last thing they want to do is to achieve consensus. Because that means giving up the fight.
This government has no choice but to exercise their rightful power and not give into the mob.
@Bear
I didn’t say that you are for the status quo, nor do I even believe that this was so. What I did say was that the acceptance of the status quo would be all that your proposal will result in gaining, for the reasons I explained.
Also, regarding Gallant. His role in ignoring Smotrich’s control over the matters under the Civil Administration was disturbing to me. I was also taken back when he chose to detain defendents after being released by the courts. Personally, I was greatly relieved when he was fired, and disappointed when this was reversed. You obviously find him to be an impressive leader, and I am sure he has attributes aplenty to support this fact, but I am not so convinced as you that he is the man to follow in this matter. Not to belabor this topic, but I thought I would add my own thoughts on the man.
@ Peloni I will wait and see on the whole subject. I would personally would prefer the status quo to the whole country breaking up.
You frankly are mistaken that I am for the status quo let me put it simply and if you disagree or do not believe it, that is perfectly acceptable to me. As always I believe people are entitled to their views and certainly you are no exception.
I think Israeli leaders should work towards an agreement on judicial reform (including separation of powers) and a bill of rights. I think it is the right and most important thing to do and with great fortitude and patience it can be done.
Gallant the Defense Minister, a person who draws respect from a wide spectrum of the Israeli population is someone I am taking my cues from on the subject. He is also not a career politician but a widely respected IDF veteran, who has always worked for the good of the country. He also thinks Israel should be patient and obtain consensus on the judicial reform.
Will it happen, I do not know as I think someone stole my crystal ball this week. Will partisan politics trump the good of the country from one side or the other, quite possibly but I hope not.
@Bear
The problem is that there will never be the consensus for which you are waiting. In fact, Bibi has taken the very approach of slow walking the reform without any change among the Left, because change is the one thing which the Left can not and will not find consensus in pursuing. This is because it would require the Left to consent to their own diminution. The only power which the Left holds is in maintaining their grip upon society as they now have it. They can never win an election without the support of both the Arabs and the fake Right, and they know this. Consequently, their hold over the Judiciary provides them with the only power over the Right wing govts which defeat them at the polls time and again. Indeed, even as the Lawfare which did not come to control Bibi is still ongoing even as it is falling apart, and yet they still persist.
The manipulation of the political elites, the disorder stirred within the military, the wholesale theft of state owned gas assets sent to foreign enemies, these are but a few of the corruptions which the Left are able to gain against both the interest of the state as well as the will of the people. Do you think that should we wait a month, a year, or ten years, that it would gain the consent of the Left to rip this control from them? I tell you it will not. Even if the Left would deem to consider neutering themselves in this way, the US govt which wields a considerable control over both the Left and the Supreme Court, would not allow such a consensus to be brokered.
Hence, what you are waiting for is not consensus, it is acceptance of the status quo, and this will not be acceptable to the people who demanded just a few months ago for the Court to be stripped of its supremacy over both the govt and the people. You fear the limits to which the Left will go to hold on power, and this is a real threat to consider, but when you make the people the obvious pawn of such tyrants as would be the obvious consequence of the act of surrender, your desire to pursue discretion would only be valid if you ignore the consequence of ignoring the will of the people. Do recall that Judicial reform has been around for decades, but it is only a relevant and popular topic today because the people, not the politicians and not the parties, demanded it be pursued. This demand did not come from nowhere. Indeed, the govt has been overturned by the Court, the premiere of the state has been hounded by the Court, and the nation has been weakened by the Court. It is the combination of mismanagement and tyranny which has led to the public demand for the reform which the Left will not tolerate. Good governance and representative government are not topics to be ignored in a nation which sees itself as a democracy.
So, you see peace and stability as being the end product of kicking this very necessary reform down the road, but delay in this instance is surely simple surrender and that would leave the govt joining the opposition in securing the Judicial Tyrants in even greater security than they previously held. Quite simply, I disagree that the result you seek will be gained by the subtle move towards certain surrender to which your call for delay will surely lead.
@Peloni I am very familiar with all that. Still scared and reluctant. Will the world change for Israelis if judicial reform is slowed and obtains consensus. Not really or significantly for 99.9% of the population.
Maybe for a Cabinet Minister or want to be Cabinet Minister who was convicted of corruption before, could now become a Cabinet Minister without the Judges resorting to saying it is unreasonable for a prior jail bird convicted of taking bribes to become Interior Minister. Speaking of Deri if you are not sure whom I was referring to.
But even for Deri everything will go to hell in a hand-basket if this is done without consensus. He is one of the people wanting to slow it down because he maybe a crooked politician but he is not stupid. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. Going slower here is wise and prudent.
Saying I was right and bringing the country down in the process is not wise to be understated.
Judicial reform, separation of powers and a bill of rights all need to be done. However, they should be done by consensus and not in a manner detrimental the stability of the country. Being right and breaking up the country in the process is reckless and unwise. That is the reality no matter how many bad or illegal things some are doing.
This coalition is the most corrupt, unethical, and stupid in the history of modern Israel.
The only reason for its existence is not that the coalition won the elections – if a party entered the Knesset, it won the election – but the fact that Netanyahu, through his skillful “horse trading” (enabled by the idiotic division of the Knesset into coalition and opposition which disables almost half of the Knesset having the misfortune to end up in the opposition) promised the moon and stars to the religious parties in return for them helping him disable the judiciary in order that he doesn’t go to jail and that a recidivist financial criminal (Deri) becomes his deputy and takes over three ministries including finance.
Of course, Netanyahu’s enablers understood perfectly well that disabling the judiciary will untie their hands to promote any laws they want for the benefit of their constituency/sector.
This coalition has in mind 180 other laws in addition to canceling the Supreme Court’s reasonableness argument, and ‘”thus saving democracy in Israel”, these laws are meant to give all the power to the religious, mostly Hareidi sector (20%) of the population.
The power which this sector is absolutely incompetent to hold.
If the coalition stays in power, it is quite possible that there will be no more elections in Israel.
Sorry to say, but what we are seeing is the implosion of and the end of The West. The toxic Left are so consumed with hatred and so intolerant of anyone they don’t agree with that they are seemingly preferring to see Israel destroyed than they lose power. Yes, it is an insurrection and could see the end of Israel and Hitler’s job completed. The same is being played out with the left while bleating about “democracy” are only interested in “democracy” when it goes their way. Look at the deliberate incitement with Trump, arguably the best president since Reagan and the willingness of the Biden junta to kowtow to the UN/WEF/WHO. Look at the efforts made by the Remainiacs to overturn the Brexit referendum and keep the UK shackled to the unelected unaccountable unremovable anti-democratic hostile foreign elite of the EU. Israel is a microcosm of the destruction of a decadent West more interested in “Trans” neutering and spaying of children than their tottering economies, kowtowing to China while “decarbonising” themselves back to medieval digital serfdom. I give the West 10 years before the final rapid collapse with the barbarians picking over the remains and the millions of dead. I won’t be saying Kaddish when the pathetic useful idiots are the first against the wall and the mass graves.
Once again in Israe as in the Ghettoes and various Jewish bodies, the “elite” will throw the rest of us under the bus to hopefully save their own worthless miserable skins, yet we know that it won’t.
@Bear
Is it really necessary to have a consensus to make profound changes to the country? Is that what took place when Oslo was rammed thru with the support of the treacherous Goldfarb and Segev? Was this what took place in the previous govt when Bennett betrayed his voters and empowered the Left? Was this what took place when Lapid and Bennett gifted state owned gas fields to Hezbollah?
Seriously, consensus is not the rule by which the Left rules, instead it has too often been by ignoring the will of the people, ruling against any consensus. Likewise, this is exactly what would be achieved by setting aside this key issue on which the recent election was won, not by those who oppose Judicial Reform, but by the consensus of those who support it.
Elections have consequences, or at least they do in a democracy. One question to consider might be whether a country which holds an election and has its govt controlled, not by the will of the people, but by the threats of insurrection from within both the opposition and the military, actually still a democracy. This question is complicated even further when it is realized that the threats against the govt made by these groups are supported from political and financial opposition from a foreign govt.
These are dark days for Israel, the US, and for the West in general.
So I think at this time moving forward without consensus on the Judicial Reform is like driving into a brick wall on purpose. You see it and your foe has erected it so you want to destroy the brick wall.
Your choice step on the gas pedal and crash into destroying the brick wall but likely killing yourself in the process. Or step on the brakes and slow down and figure out how to go around the brick wall to get where you want safely even though it will take longer.
We need the government to be wiser than the protestors. Let us stop this headlong crash to a conflict and perhaps the fall of the third Israeli Reign.
@Bear Klein: I once agreed with your sentiment but in the meantime I have realized that sitting together with this opposition can only play into their hands. The have played for time from the beginning in the hopes and expectations that external forces such as the deep state would apply so much pressure on the government that they it cave in. They also hope that the US government would not be willing to rearm the IDF in the case that Israel were attacked by Hezballah or whoever with Iranian support in order to coerce the desired result. The elephant in the room is the force behind the US government who use their private line to Israel’s Supreme Court to get the policies they want, such as the two state solution with Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital and Judenrein.
If it is a coup or protest movement is the question. I do not have an answer for that. I agree Barak is off the wall and trying to regain his past glory and power.
What I do know that proceeding with the judicial reform might be playing into his hands. The wise move would be to agree to sit down with the opposition and schedule a six (6) month negotiation including finding a mediator.
Hammer out two things Judicial Reform (e.g. Separation of Powers) and a bill of rights. Then at the end of six (6) months if the parties have a joint agreement bring this to a vote in the Knesset.
If they do not have a joint agreed document let the mediator write a document that he feels was the closet to agreement. Bring this to a referendum of all the voters and let them vote yes or no.
Not slowing down the process is tearing Israel apart. The amount of reservists not willing to serve in critical functions like the IAF is jeopardizing the state of Israel. Israeli standing army is too small to safeguard the state in any conflict. Reservists are even called up for periodic mini wars or battles in Gaza.
Proceeding at this point is like stepping on the gas when you know there is a brick wall ahead. It would wiser to step on the breaks and figure out carefully how to get around the brick wall. Even if you know your foe put up the wall and you do not want to give in to him.
I agree this is a coup, these are not protests they are attempts at overthrowing a duly elected government.
I think the problem will be in prosecuting those who are charged with violent crimes or who are armed, because the current justice system may be so biased towards the protestors as to release them without trials. If these individuals bent on destroying the current government are not charged and tried, the state of Israel can be destroyed by this elite mob.
From a recent interview I saw with Netanyahu it appears that he sees the protests as symbols of the robustness of Israel’s democracy. He did not see them as constituting an attempted coup, or if he did, he did not want to show it at the time of the interview.
There is a difference between a protest and an insurrection, usually the difference is the goal (take down of a government) and that insurrectionists are armed and/or violent. These protestors are calling for regime change and for the end of the Netanyahu government. They are attempting by physical means to bring the country and governance to a halt.
As the elected government, I think it is the responsibility of the administration to stand up to those who want to use any means including illegal means to undo an election.
This situation has parallels to the Presidency of Lincoln. Lincoln had no choice but to stand up to the elites of the south who were determined to save their aristocracy [and the slavery it depended upon], and to fight to save the country as a whole.
The absurdity of comparing Netanyahu to Hitler. Have these people lost their minds?