Netanyahu: Out of national responsibility, I decided to suspend the legislation in order to reach a broad consensus (Leam)
There were many state words in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech yesterday (Monday): love of the country, unity, common destiny, the eternity of Israel, and of course - Hidavorot, the word of the hour, which he repeated about four times.
"Brotherly war" also appeared in the speech, more than once.
Less than three months after the establishment of the sixth Netanyahu government, Israel is in the deepest internal crisis in its history, which endangers its society, its economy and its security, "a crisis that obliges us to behave responsibly", in his polished words.
Only in the prime minister's speech there was zero taking responsibility for the legal revolution that led the country to a dangerous collision point and that threatens to degenerate into the abyss.
24 hours earlier, in a spectacular display of lack of responsibility and indiscretion, he fired the defense minister and plunged the country into system madness.
He responded with a spectacular show of spontaneous resistance and a tremendous civil and economic protest, which will be recorded in the annals, but according to Netanyahu, it is an "extreme minority" of refuseniks and anarchists who are tearing the country apart, as if he, and his extreme government, had no hand in what brought us here.
On the contrary, he only emphasized that "our way is right", and assured that it was only a "delay" for the purpose of "broad agreement", another strong word in the lexicon.
For 13 weeks, since Justice Minister Yariv Levin first launched the legal revolution, crowds, senior and junior, from all over the world and from all fields, called, demanded and begged the government to stop the advancement of the legislation.
Governor of the Bank of Israel Amir Yaron, the heads of high-tech and the heads of the banks warned Netanyahu for the first time of the economic consequences of the reform as early as January, in February President Yitzhak Herzog demanded that the laws be stopped before they reached the first reading, in March Chief of Staff Herzi Herzi Halevi and Defense Minister Galant warned him about the pilots' protest and the military men and the internal threat to the IDF, and US President Joe Biden called after two months to voice his concerns.
Everyone begged and warned.
Netanyahu (photo: official website, Michael Kramer)
Every week that passed, serious damage was done to Israel's international status, economic and security situation, and the internal rift grew wider.
But the prime minister, led by his justice minister, steadfastly refused to stop.
So much so that he decided to fire the defense minister, just because he warned of a "clear, immediate and tangible danger" to the country's security and demanded that the legislation be frozen.
Then, following the disconnection of the sign in the prime minister's office, which neither anticipated nor understood the strength of the civil resistance that the legal revolution provoked, the tremendous reaction to Gallant's dismissal also caught Netanyahu off guard.
The hundreds of thousands of people who went out to demonstrate spontaneously, the announcement by the chairman of the Histadrut Arnon Bar David of a general strike in the economy, and finally - the halting of take-offs from Tel Aviv - heralded a loss of control.
But even after he had already realized that he had no choice but to retreat - it took him another 24 hours to implement the decision and convince his coalition to stop and recalculate a course.
As usual, it was in the 91st minute, just before the country descends into chaos.
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Gallant dismissal - the last mistake in the chain.
The fired defense minister and Edelstein (photo: Knesset spokeswoman, Noam Moshkowitz)
The decision to fire Gallant was the last mistake in the government chain, which made every possible mistake in promoting the legal revolution in such quantity that it could fill a book entitled "How *not* to make a revolution": starting with the hasty launch of Levin less than a week after the government was sworn in and the rough and opaque management of Simcha Rothman The Constitution Committee, trampling and disrespecting the legal advice and breaking long-standing governmental and parliamentary norms;
And ending with the absolute and insistent refusal of all of the president's compromises, the continuous disdain for the protesters and the minds, and of course the obsessive preoccupation of the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gabir with the police policy, which fueled and fueled the protest from week to week.
Or the collection of accompanying laws - the fortifications, the gifts, the chametz and Deri 2, the doubling of the expenses of the Prime Minister's family and the weekend forays to Europe.
But more than anything, the dismissal of the Minister of Defense, in response to the fact that he fulfilled his professional duty, was a move without sense, responsibility and judgment.
The heads of the ultra-Orthodox factions were shocked, close associates were alarmed, and even senior members of Likud woke up from their hiding places to be shocked by the messy decision-making, which is steered by Yariv Levin and Ben Yair.
Netanyahu did not mention Gallant's name in his speech, nor the word "mistake".
As usual, he found another culprit - the refusal, and once again reprimanded the heads of the IDF and the security establishment for their incompetence. For three months, Netanyahu and his government ran over the protestors, the demonstrators, the warnings and the warnings, and ignored all the warning signs along the way. When he finally surrendered, he did not take any He talked about himself, and behind the stately words he only continued to distort, delegitimize and inflame the disputes.
A senseless move.
Thousands of protesters in Ayalon after the firing of Galant, Sunday (photo: official website, Amir Goldstein)
Netanyahu's speech was too little and too late to erase his responsibility for the deep rift he caused, and the time-out he announced on the legislation will not restore trust or lead to calm.
On the contrary, he promised in advance to his disappointed supporters, who were called as a backdrop for angry demonstrations of support, that at most it was a truce;
And the extreme violence of La Familia and the Bibista and Ben Gavirist gangs that unleashed their fury last night signal that the fratricidal war is still a real and imminent threat.
The senior officials of the coalition and his party also make it clear that this is simply a "navigation error", or a problem with advocacy, and that the reform will be back on the table right after the holidays.
The "negotiations" in question, which will now be officially opened with the opposition representatives at the President's residence in an attempt to generate "broad consensus", will certainly be repeated a lot in his state speeches on the national holidays, but are mainly intended to minimize damage and serve as a cover story for recalculating a course.
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