In the video: Levin reacts to living (Photo: L.A.M.)
The State of Israel has already known many unprecedented moments under the auspices of the gravest political crisis in its history.
Ones after which they say "We have never seen this before".
For the first time in history, a sitting prime minister was accused of serious crimes, and appeared in court surrounded by members of his party to attack the justice system.
Under his leadership, the shortest tenure ever was recorded in the Knesset, when the members of the Knesset on the 21st voluntarily dispersed themselves for the second elections after only two months.
This broke the dam for the second, third, fourth and fifth elections in a period of four years and a political chaos that the country has not known since its days and many extreme events that were once hard to imagine.
Examples: the Speaker of the Knesset who violates the High Court's decision, a politician with six mandates who became Prime Minister, an opposition that boycotts the committees in the Knesset and whose leader knowingly violates the law and does not show up for security update meetings with the Prime Minister.
And Benjamin Netanyahu's victory in the last elections, which was also of historic and unprecedented magnitude, and made him the first Israeli politician to return to the Prime Minister's office after being removed from it twice.
We haven't had one yet.
If four years ago someone would have suggested that the far-right activist Itamar Ben Gabir become the Minister of National Security with increased powers over the police - no one would have believed him.
Well, it turns out there is no such thing.
Like many of the extreme and astonishing shows that Israeli politics has known in recent years, the war of authorities between Supreme Court President Ester Hayut and Minister of Justice Yariv Levin was broadcast live last night.
A day after Levin disseminated his draconian reform laws to the public, Hayut gave the speech of her life and clearly and sharply accused him of crushing the justice system and fatally damaging the country's democratic identity.
No supreme court president has ever spoken that way about the appointed minister, but there has never been a minister whose stated goal in political life is to weaken the system he was entrusted with.
An unprecedented constitutional frontal collision.
Hayut in her speech, last night (Photo: Flash 90, Shir Toram)
And to begin with, Levin's reform is unprecedented in itself.
It transfers unprecedented power to politicians in the government and the Knesset and completely neutralizes the court and the constitutional protections for the rights of citizens and minorities in Israel.
The proposed changes in the selection of judges will lead to a complete politicization of the judicial system, and the politicians will not only be able to choose their judges but also their legal advisors from among those who do their bidding.
Hayut's speech may have been unprecedented, but it is entirely commensurate with the magnitude of the occasion.
The sharp reaction of Levin, who accused Hayut of being the leader of the black flags and a politician who put herself above the will of the people, set the tone for another unprecedented wave of personal attacks against the supreme president from his friends in the coalition and the faction, which is usually reserved only for Gali ombudsman Beharev Miara, who also warned yesterday From changing the genetic code that Levin is planning for Israeli democracy, the war of authorities has officially opened, and this is only the beginning of the campaign, which leads to a constitutional, political and social frontal collision that has never been seen before.
Of all the unprecedented moments provided by the political crisis, this is probably the most explosive and dangerous.
Within two weeks of the establishment of the government, the streets and networks are full of demonstrations, protests and calls for civil uprisings and the fight for the image of the state, and the political discourse is more violent and predatory than ever before. The new commander with instructions to use excessive force against the protesters.
A member of his party, Zvika Fogel, the designated chairman of the Internal Security Committee in the Knesset, the man who is supposed to supervise the police, went so far as to call for the arrest of Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz for their support of the protests.
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Supreme Court President Hayut opposes Levin's reform: "a plan to crush the justice system"
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set the tone for another unprecedented wave of personal attacks against the Supreme President.
Levin (photo: screenshot, none)
The leaders of the opposition, meanwhile, do warn against a coup attempt and warn of a fratricidal war, but most of the time they quarrel among themselves in ego and credit wars that prevent them from presenting a unified or effective opposition front to the moves the government is leading.
With the overwhelming majority of the right-wing bloc and the determination of Levin and the chairman of the Constitution Committee, Simcha Rothman, to advance the reform as soon as possible, the main struggle will not be conducted in the Knesset, but on the street, and under High Commissioner Ben Gabir the potential for friction and escalation is even higher.
President Hayut's speech, as well as the round of interviews of her predecessor in the position of Judge Aharon Barak, were mainly intended for the ears of one person, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an attempt to speak to the democratic soul of the past.
For years, he stopped all the pretensions and extreme legal initiatives of his protégés and partners for them and bravely stood up as a defender of the Supreme Court as the fortress of democracy; but there is no trace of that Netanyahu since he became accused of crimes and the justice system became the number one enemy at the top of his mind. He knowingly entrusted the court case In the hands of Levin, the greatest of the ideological opponents of the court, and gave him a blank page with a commitment in advance to support the revolution / coup that he has been dreaming of promoting for years.
He also gave full public support this week to the Minister of Justice's plans, firmly rejected the panic about the death of democracy, and did not signal any intention to stop him.
For years he held back all pretensions and extreme legal initiatives - until now.
Netanyahu (Photo: Flash 90, Olivier Fitoussi)
The most common assessment is that Levin is Netanyahu's emissary and that all his moves are intended to rescue him from the trial, but at the same time, he is also using him and taking advantage of the special situation to fulfill his ideological ambitions.
Not sure how much Netanyahu really controls and knows the details and nuances of the grandiose event he is leading.
Even if at some point he wants to soften the moves and slow down the pace in order to calm the war of authorities, it will be difficult for him to stop the speeding train.
Some of the clauses in the detailed plan are extreme, which were put into the mix in advance to be waived later as part of the discussions in the Knesset, but if Levin is required to make significant concessions - he may resist to the point of threatening to resign.
The Chairman of the Constitution Committee, Rotman from Religious Zionism, who holds an even more extreme legal worldview, as far as possible, is the one who will control the actual legislative process in the Knesset.
Between the years 2015-2020, Netanyahu dropped on Moshe Kahlon all of his attempts to avoid dealing with the High Court and an override clause, this time, without a center or left wing, Netanyahu's partners are more enthusiastic than him and will not put up with delays and delays. Within the Likud, there is absolute and enthusiastic support Levin's plan, and not a single member of the Likud disagrees and says that it is unacceptable. If there is an internal opposition, of those disappointed in the division of duties, Dodi Amsalem and Danny Danon, it will pull to the right and prevent any possibility of significant compromises. Without any effective political opposition, within the government or Outside of it, only a large-scale public and international protest can make Netanyahu remove Levin from the tree and stop the war of authorities, before it deteriorates to another new and unprecedented low that we have not yet known.
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