The use of the spyware by the police, and the claim that "the State Attorney's Office did not know", are on the order of the Line 300 affair.
It is doubtful whether the appropriate public pressure for the size of the hour will be created.
And it is highly doubtful that intellectuals and opinion leaders on the right and left will be able to transcend the usual ideological controversy between them, and begin to work together for the existence of a democratic regime.
In the Line 300 affair, briefly, after General Staff patrol soldiers took over a hijacked bus and captured two terrorists alive, the GSS chiefs gave an order to execute them when they were handed over to them.
When the information was leaked, GSS members gave false testimony and tried to put the blame on the army. Only after pardon was promised in advance to GSS officials and legal advisers, a commission of inquiry was set up and the campaign began to reveal the truth.
And today?
An affair called, not coincidentally, the "NSO affair" or the "Pegasus affair" was first exposed, in order to place the blame on the company itself, or on the technological development.
The question then arose as to whether the software was in the hands of the police, and whether it was used against Israeli citizens.
The initial police denial soon became a "mistake" when it became clear that software was being used against "innocent citizens" - whether those who took part in the demonstrations, or others who were taken to the interrogation room to testify against Netanyahu.
It also turned out that in Israel there are more wiretapping orders issued with the approval of the court, than in any other Western country.
And yes, the erroneous discussion continues that involves the use of spyware in the wiretapping law, while there is no authority, in any law, to use software that extracts all the information from the cell phone.
And as in the Line 300 case, in order not to let the right questions bubble and to divert the fire from those responsible, a commission of inquiry was soon set up by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. Netanyahu's investigations and the tenure of Commissioner Alsheikh, who passed from the GSS to the police;
We, the undersigned, disagree about the legitimacy of the use of spyware and surveillance against the Palestinians for reasons that are defined as security, but are unanimous about the huge risk that this affair reveals to the citizens of Israel.
Two elements were highlighted in the framing of the incident: first, the attempt to describe it as something that happened "only" in the investigations of one of Netanyahu's trial witnesses.
And the second, the attempt to claim that the State Attorney's Office and the ombudsman did not know. Not in vain. Thus the left camp, which was known for its war for human and civil rights, heard the words "Benjamin Netanyahu" Much shock, he singled out his opposition solely to the effect of the undemocratic acts on Netanyahu's trial (whose examination is indeed required).
The exercise was successful.
The classic mule and mule.
The left and the right will each care only about the "people of their peace", and exposing the enormous damage to civil rights, interrogees and defendants - will wait for another date.
This event is much larger than the sum of its parts.
His connection only to the Netanyahu trial on the one hand and only to the police on the other, is not accidental.
Some are trying to reduce its size.
In response, a cross-camp call must be issued to cancel the "self-commissioned" inquiry committee set up, and to immediately pass the examination to the Knesset of Israel.
The Knesset, the sovereign overseeing the executive branch, should establish an independent commission of inquiry with representatives of all House factions, and its findings must be made public.
We are writing this column together, two academics from right and left, because this is a historic moment, the development of which will affect the possibility of Israel's existence as a democratic state, no less.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us