Fear and loathing in Saladin Alley | Israel today

Summoning MK Mickey Zohar for questioning on a silly statement on the radio is pointless • Zohar just voiced what everyone knows, and understood who was really grabbing them by the throat • Opinion

• Mandelblit

  Photography: 

  Coco

Senior prosecutors and the Justice Department like to speak in heroic rhetoric about "having no fear other than the law," and that they are acting "impartially and without fear."

These are certainly nice words, but when you get down to reality, it turns out that the opposite is true: the attorney general is acting like a rabbit in his den.

He sees mountain shadow as mountains, subdued legal cases, any whispering out of place in his environment is perceived as a "threat," and criticism of his judgment is always a "danger to democracy."

The latest story, of course, is the summoning of coalition chairman Mickey Zohar for questioning for things he said on a radio show. Zohar does not hold the materials and recordings of Mandelblit or others, and it makes sense that he echoed messages from the direction of Efi Naveh, who apparently holds many embarrassing materials about senior members of the judiciary.

Zohar's summons for questioning of a silly statement on the radio is therefore unprecedented, and the wall-to-wall criticism heard on the subject will testify.

The fact that interrogations and arrests of people who spoke out against the ombudsman are only the part of right-wingers (left-wingers were arrested after violating police instructions regarding demonstrations, but not because of statements), making the whole farce more serious and part of the prosecutor's enforcement enforcement.

But there is another matter here as well: they are really scared.

Efi Naveh holds a pile of cluster bombs, and none of those sitting in Saladin know when his day will come.

According to rumors, Mandelbit recordings are just the tip of the iceberg.

Zohar only expressed aloud what everyone knows: Effi Naveh grabs the guys by the throat, collar and whatever comes next.

Coincidentally or not, Zohar's interrogation took place on the day that Liat Ben-Ari was also interrogated about the construction violations in the house in Rosh HaAyin.

The Ben-Ari affair is very embarrassing to the system.

This was not supposed to happen, senior law enforcement was not supposed to get involved in offenses and poinsettias, and trust in the system was severely damaged.

What Naveh and Ben-Ari have in common is that our legal system has been exposed in its nakedness (perhaps even verbally) and it and its senior officials are on the defensive.

The offices in Saladin are shrouded in uncertainty.

The official rhetoric is sharp, but deep inside Salah is gentle, and in a debilitating fear.

But fear, like anger, is a bad advisor.

And when you have a lot of power, it's also dangerous.