The phrase cleaning stables, is used, as is known, to describe the cleaning of a system from Siob and corruption into which it sank.
It is worth recalling the original story from mythology, because it is not only the cleaning itself that matters, but the creative, out-of-the-box way in which cleaning is done. It's easy to imagine what stinking stables and cowsheds that haven't been cleaned for many years look and smell. Such were the stables of King Evgeas. The gods, so in mythology, punished Hercules by cleaning the stables, a task that seemed impossible for one person, due to the large amount of dirt that accumulated in them. Hercules realized that digging and regular cleaning work would not help. Therefore, thinking outside the box, turn to a creative move. By building a dam he diverted the rivers towards the stables and the strong water currents thoroughly cleaned the stables in one day.
The judges who challenged the prosecutor's baseless bribery accusation against Netanyahu gave an opportunity to clean the stables. And don't be tempted by the softened leaks by the prosecutor's spokesmen in the media. The judges asked the prosecution to consider withdrawing the bribery charge because the prosecution would have difficulty proving it.
Netanyahu in court, photo: Avi Cohen
The joy of "we told you so" is good for two and a half days, at most for a week. Anyone to whom democracy in its true sense is dear should ask himself how to leverage the dramatic development to clean up the stables and cowsheds whose disgrace has been exposed. In the stables of Avegyas were not to blame for the dirt and stench, no one expects the horses not to live their lives normally. But in the cowsheds of the State Attorney's Office and in the legal counseling stables sat flesh-and-blood people, ostensibly professional and mostly responsible for their actions. And they had a particularly powerful authority, a power that was partly taken away by them, and partly given to them by the High Court.
And no, it was no longer a possible mistake by officials and authority holders who might make mistakes that are part of their job and role. This is not just misjudgment, the likes of which are possible wherever discretion should be exercised. The many reports of their behavior ranged from criminal to the criminal, and some claim that they even crossed it more than once, open and accessible to all. Interrogation exercises are prohibited by law, records that have disappeared, ugly use of uninvolved persons for interrogation purposes, data inflation and more. And above all, the obsession of dozens of people using tens of millions of shekels from state coffers to establish an unprecedented legal bribery accusation of media relations and politicians.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid arrived at the court ahead of his testimony in Netanyahu's trial // Photo: Yoni Rikner
Even assuming that only half or a quarter of these reports over the years are true, it is enough to understand that stables need to be cleaned. These actions require root canal treatment even without the disastrous consequences, which in many ways changed the course of Israeli history. Where and how did we get caught up in the crazy round of five elections if not from this? The costs to the state are not only the amount that an election campaign costs, but the costs of a deep internal rift. And not just an internal rift, but an attempt to overthrow a government by legal means as if democratic, supposedly egalitarian. The presumption of innocence and investigation and justice procedures have been trampled on by those who love to see themselves as gatekeepers. And no, it's not just Bibi, it's worth remembering all the candidates who have been neutralized by the enforcement system over the past generation, from Yaakov Ne'eman to Gal Hirsch.
And those responsible have names, faces and official positions. Some have already left their jobs and settled into other luxurious jobs. Anyone who genuinely cares about democracy must support cleaning the stables. Not in one cosmetic change or another of moving that one from here to there. Cleaning stables is cleaning stables, as in the story. And the cleanup must not focus only on those involved in the Netanyahu case who are in the system. It is necessary to make sure that even the senior officials who have already settled in new positions do not clean up. And against the background of stables in need of cleaning, the commission of inquiry into the Pegasus affair, the horse from mythology, will be a pretty good start to cleaning the stables.
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