"When my brother is in need - I come to him," Netanyahu explained the gesture he took immediately after the High Court invalidated the appointment of Aryeh Deri as a minister in the government. Netanyahu came to visit Deri at his home in Mount Nof. At the same time, he issued a strong statement on behalf of the coalition.
"We received the verdict with shock, pain and great sadness. His extraordinary abilities and vast experience are needed by the State of Israel. In addition to the grave personal injustice caused to Minister Deri himself, the verdict constitutes a huge injustice to more than two million citizens. We will act in any legal way at our disposal and without delay, to correct the injustice".
Indeed words from girls, which somehow skipped over Deri's lie to the court.
Rhetoric of sympathy is not only what Netanyahu offered to Derai, but also his general attitude to the legal reform of Yariv Levin, and the things are obviously related.
The reason for reasonableness was the focus of the Supreme Court judges' reasoning for disqualifying Deri's appointment.
Its abolition is one of the main points in Levin's reform plan, which now with Deri's removal will accelerate even more.
But it is not clear how much Netanyahu wants the reform.
Because while the immediate reaction of the coalition is to press the gas pedal of the reform, Netanyahu constantly seems to be stepping on the brakes at the same time.
"The reform will be launched," the Likud faction announced this week.
Going out is very good, but what about arriving.
At no point did Netanyahu commit to the Levin plan as written or spoken.
He is content with minimalist statements such as "the reform is not a danger to democracy" or "Israel was a democracy even before 1990".
Throughout, he maintains a public distance, at least from Levin's approach.
He himself never detailed the elements of the reform that would be approved at the end of the day.
Netanyahu has always been an advocate of quiet stability.
After he left Deri's house, his office distributed a photo of him meeting with the new Chief of Staff. This was an attempt to shift attention to the next issue. Because with Netanyahu, security and policy issues are at the top of the ladder
Before, during and after the elections he never said "the reform will pass as written" or "I am committed to the Levin reform".
The Minister of Justice himself revealed this week in the Knesset how difficult it was for him to convince of the necessity of the reform.
"Three indictments helped," Levin said.
That is, they "helped", but it is not certain that they convinced.
If anyone has any doubts that the two are not in the same boat - let them go back and watch the first press briefing Levin gave two weeks ago.
He specifically evaded the question posed to him by my colleague, Netael Bandel, "Does Netanyahu back the plan."
Netanyahu's statements in the past in favor of the High Court are well remembered. This is the legacy of his father's house. His aunt was, as I recall, Supreme Court Justice Shoshana Netanyahu.
Moreover, the reform is causing public unrest, undermining support for Likud even from the right.
Netanyahu does not like this noise.
Those in the know say that the relationship between him and Levin is not what it used to be, and this could be seen at the cabinet meeting.
Netanyahu has always been an advocate of quiet stability and control of the agenda.
A few minutes after he left Deri's house, his office distributed a photo of him meeting with the new Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, for a first working meeting. It was an attempt to shift the media's attention to the next issue. Because with Netanyahu, security and policy issues are at the top of the scale. No problems face.
are you crazy
The truth is that not only Netanyahu is not committed to the plan as it is.
Levin and Rothman are also more implicit that the initial package they presented could change further down the road.
"We will discuss the reform here in the Knesset extensively and in depth. The opinions of all the members of the Knesset will be heard, the opinions of members of the judiciary and other experts will be heard," Levin said on the very first evening of the presentation of his program.
But the outstretched hand of the two remains hanging in the air.
The President of the Supreme Court, Esther Hayut, refuses to change the power relations between the authorities.
In her somewhat arrogant opinion, the "real problems", as she puts it, of the judicial system are the burden on the judges.
The fact that there is broad agreement on the right and the left, religious and secular, that the power relations today are unbalanced - does not move her.
She is in the same slot as the most extreme.
The President of the Supreme Court makes a public speech against the government's actions.
At the same time, three retired Chiefs of Staff, Benny Gantz, Ehud Barak and Bogi Ya'alon, are toying with the ideas of Mary Tsari. A senior journalist, Raviv Drucker, talks about blood being shed and "not only metaphorically", as he says. And all this in the name of democracy.
For that we have to ask: have you gone crazy?
Do you really think that Israel will become an autocracy?
Is Netanyahu Hitler?
Is Levin Mussolini?
What is this nonsense?
Instead of destroying the country, you and the other readers of the challenge to democracy should refer, for example, to the writings of the senior American jurist, former judge Richard Posner.
"The judge is one of the brakes on democracy, (but) he is not the protector of democracy... Therefore, when we talk about judicial independence, we must be careful. Because if the meaning of judicial independence is that judges are not obligated to give an account to anyone, that is, they are all-powerful, then We don't have a democracy but a rule of judges."
The UN is the same UN
In the third week of its establishment - at the same time as the calendar year at the beginning of which political activity in the world is renewed - the sixth Netanyahu government is also taking its first steps in the international arena.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen went to the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he met with a chain of world leaders instead of Netanyahu, who remained in Israel.
The US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, came to Israel in the second half of the week for a series of meetings to kick off the administration's relations with the new government. Everything.
But when it comes to a right-wing government in general, and Israeli in particular, this routine includes stings and harassment.
90 countries, including our good friends from Europe - with or without quotation marks - condemned Israel's response measures to the Palestinian appeal to the Hague Tribunal in the United Nations.
As I recall, last month the Palestinians initiated a resolution in the General Assembly, according to which the International Court of Justice in The Hague will examine whether the Israeli presence in the West Bank and in Jerusalem constitutes a "permanent occupation". In the face of the automatic majority, Israel was of course unable to prevent the decision. What is more, with the supreme effort of the political system, a majority The UN members did not vote in favor of the Palestinians - that is, they were absent, abstained, and even opposed.
Among the opponents are many of the countries that this week voted against Israel's response to the very same appeal to The Hague.
That is, they oppose the Palestinian step, but also the Israeli one.
Go understand European logic.
But the UN is just the UN, an arena where you can vent your nerves without paying a price.
In the real world, there was a disturbing development with the decision of the head of the US senators' delegation, Jackie Rosen, to avoid meetings with representatives of the religious Zionist factions and Otzma Yehudit.
Rosen, a Jewish Democratic senator from the state of Nevada, is known and respected as pro-Israel.
She was seriously debating how to deal with the demands of some of her fellow Democrats not to meet Smotrich or Ben Gvir.
On the one hand, avoiding a meeting means disrespecting Israeli democracy and legitimizing a boycott of Israel - something that the large majority in the Senate strongly opposes.
On the other hand, the senior Israeli ministers are assigned because of disgust among quite a few outsiders, certainly those who lean to the left.
Her decision was therefore to avoid talking to them.
What is no less worrying is the silence with which this happened in Israel.
The boycotters themselves accepted it without batting an eyelid.
Other government officials, including the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, did not retaliate here either, as there is nothing more natural than boycotting the Minister of Finance and the Minister of National Security of Israel.
The only one who called the Americans to meet the right-wing ministers is MK Dan Iluz (Likud), who expressed disappointment to Rosen and her friends. - the agreements, and not to boycott when we disagree," he told the delegation on Wednesday in the Knesset.
Not in the game
But not only the Americans are to blame.
As written here before, the Israeli right-wing parties went through a long-year delegitimization campaign in the international media.
Even in right-wing conservative newspapers, not to mention left and extreme left, a diary was never given to them.
However, this exclusion occurred not only because of the hostile media, but also because those Israeli politicians never acted in the foreign arena.
Persistent rumors claim that Netanyahu will soon be invited to address Congress again.
If indeed he is invited, he will be the first foreign leader in history to speak four times in such a capacity
Filled with the English that very few senior Israelis are fluent in.
It is not necessary, there are interpreters, and it is also accepted in the world to use them.
But what about interviews in Hebrew for Fox News and the right-wing "New York Post"?
Or even the minimum of American Jewish media, such as "Tablet" and JNS.
It's not that the Israeli right is losing the game.
He doesn't go on the field at all.
Since the election, Ben Gabir has appeared once before Christian media, and Smotrich has published a single article in the Wall Street Journal.
That's not how you build advocacy.
soon again?
Netanyahu in his previous speech to Congress, photo: Reuters
It is no wonder that in view of the defamations on the one hand and the silence on the other, Israel's fans also keep their distance.
No one convinced them, or pressured them to behave differently.
In the short term the damage may not be great.
In any case, Netanyahu is around.
He explains us, protects us, promotes us.
Persistent rumors in Congress claim that Netanyahu will soon be invited to deliver a speech again at a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
At this point there is still no final summary, nor a date.
Sources on Capitol Hill say that there are enough people who want to hear Netanyahu again, while those who oppose him are not strong enough to thwart such an invitation.
So the chances are quite high.
If Netanyahu is indeed invited, he will be the first foreign leader in history to speak four times in such a capacity.
So there is nothing like Bibi.
really.
But the prime minister will not be here forever.
And his positions, in any case, differ from those of the religious right on a number of issues.
Even in Levin's reform it is not clear how much he supports, as mentioned.
Who will justify her in the world?
Who will justify Smotrich's vision of sovereignty over the whole country in the various capitals?
Who will explain in parliaments, research institutes and studios Ben Gabir's ascent to the Temple Mount?
And another reason that requires the right to act from now on, is that statesmanship and advocacy are not built in a day.
It takes years, maybe even decades, to become an international persona.
Whoever does not begin the journey of a thousand miles, will find himself unable to express words.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
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