Calcalist's exposure to the use of offensive cyber software against elected officials, including directors of government ministries, associates of the prime minister, journalists and political activists and demonstrators - indicates the collapse of the concept, which supported the complete independence of law enforcement and the prosecutor's office. Who tried to criticize them.
The fight against oppression and abuse of power is not new.
Attempts have been made in the Bible and ancient Greece to draw up a system of government that will give the leader effective governmental power while limiting his governmental power, in order to prevent unjustified harm to the inhabitants.
It does not matter to the public who exercises unlawful governmental power against him: the king, the local duke or the tax collector of the village, it is in the interest of the common man that no arbitrary governmental force be used against him.
When the state turns its power and overthrows the citizen it is left helpless, and it does not matter who the governing body acts against it arbitrarily.
Democracies have sought to resolve the fear of directing governmental power against the citizen, through a series of oversight and control mechanisms.
At the forefront of the mechanisms: a functioning system of separation of powers, the handing over of power by elected officials standing for election and the prohibition of the exercise of governmental powers, without there being any legal authority to do so.
In the State of Israel, all these mechanisms have been weakened in recent years, and the inevitable result is the use of governmental power against the citizens, while trampling on human rights.
The weakening of the surveillance and control mechanisms enabled the platform on which the police cyber and intelligence unit flourished.
The platform includes the day-to-day conduct of law enforcement without an authorizing law.
An open secret is that the ombudsman exercises unlimited governmental powers without legal authority, and even formulates guidelines that subject the elected officials to his decisions. Effective on law enforcement agencies, which have gained tremendous power.
In addition, the ministers in charge were deprived of the ability to oversee the systems for which they are presented as responsible.
The gatekeepers' concept developed in Israel deprived them of the ability to intervene in the work of the bodies that are "subject to them" and in any case to take responsibility for what happens in the offices.
As a result, the public's ability to monitor these bodies, by measuring the ministers' performance, was denied.
The violation of the supervisory mechanisms was accompanied by the courts, which allowed law enforcement agencies to ignore the law, when it was intended for "good causes", while blaming and creating a built-in suspicion of the motives of elected officials.
In such a public climate, the voice of the legal academy has also been silenced with an important role as an informal review mechanism.
Recent exposures require a sharp mental account.
It is not possible to go on as usual and think that this is a one-off event.
Even if the system, which has managed to weaken everyone who is supposed to visit it, insists that there is nothing to see here - it is not enough.
Even if those responsible for the extensive operation of the software are fired, this should not be enough.
The collapse of the mechanisms that are supposed to protect the citizen and not just treat the symptoms of the disease, even if they are severe, should be examined.
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