Opinion | Tyranny of gatekeepers Israel today

I find it hard to believe that the heads of the prosecution under the management of Avichai Mandelblit and Shai Nitzan knew nothing about the illegal listening operation of the Israel Police, which reportedly operated under the command of Commissioner Roni Alsich.

We are faced with two questions: The first is whether and how the Israeli police became a government body designed to protect the safety of its citizens, something that raises associations of a criminal corporation, exposing all citizens to listening and surveillance that may develop into extortion and threatening illegal indictments?

But the first question depends on the second question: have we not been told early in the morning and evening that the prosecution, at least in the most prominent cases we are all familiar with, has closely followed the activities of the police and no deviations and illegal actions have been taken in collecting investigative materials?

Was not this the first intellectual of the prosecution's work, to know how and from what materials the indictments were constructed?

I wonder if Mandelblit and Nitzan will now maintain their right to remain silent and say that they did not know, did not hear and did not understand where the materials of the investigation came from.

Press investigations give the impression that the Israeli police acted on the assumption that all citizens are guilty, and hence they are subject to surveillance.

All the police investigators had to do was point to a citizen, and then, out of nowhere, an investigation file was built that could have led to an indictment.

The commission of inquiry will have to find out how deep and systematic this undemocratic venture was.

For years we have been surrounded by a dominant theory of the relationship between politicians and state management and oversight systems, which is called the gatekeeper theory.

At its core is the assumption that the role of senior government officials is to closely monitor the conduct of the people's public messengers.

"This is the most important line of defense of democracy," cried those who wanted to curtail the freedom of choice and decision of politicians.

"Politician", according to the theory, is a nickname for a corrupt person or a person who is about to be corrupt, and therefore must be defended against.

Hence the short road to the reality in which Commissioner Alsheikh was the ultimate guardian of democracy, alongside Mandelblit and Nitzan.

But once they became a senior government official or government organization part of the gatekeepers' circle, they actually became part of the Untouchables elite.

The senior government official has become one who must not ponder her motives and touch her people, who have become unrestrained agents capable under the auspices of the law of undermining every good part of democracy - and especially fortifying their status.

Any call by politicians to curb, monitor and manage the state bureaucracy in Israel was automatically presented as a call against the preservation of democracy.

This is the workspace where Alshikh, Nitzan and Mandelblit operated.

In this way, the foundations of the basic trust between the citizens of the State of Israel and the police and the State Attorney's Office, which were supposed to preserve them, were tattooed.

The question "Who will keep the guards?"

Has completely disappeared in this theory, and has rendered the system of balances and brakes in Israel empty of content.

In the shift of Alshikh and Mandelblit, the State of Israel has taken many steps towards the establishment of a "depth state", what is known in public discourse as "Deep State".

The use of the term "deep state" is attributed to delusional elements who spread conspiracy theories, but in essence it describes a situation in which a secret group, made up of hidden networks of power, acts independently to advance its agenda outside of elected leadership.

The term refers to senior officials and officials in the public service and the various governing authorities, who take a counter-policy towards the elected political echelon, and try to impose their opinions and values ​​through bureaucracy and legal tools.

The great leak of gatekeepers into the consciousness of Deep State, therefore, leaves us with the most important question of all: what was the real purpose of those behind the reality of depth revealed in recent weeks in Calcalist investigations and elsewhere, which roughly changed the basic fabric of guarding citizens, For lawbreakers under the auspices of the law?

Were we wrong?

Fixed!

If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us