Here is a partial grocery list from recent days: former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and former MK Yair Golan explicitly call on the country's largest and most influential media outlets to break the law. Former Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh also admits that he expected the prime minister to resign. Before the court hearing, maybe even before the indictment – the main thing is that he goes. Meanwhile, on the ground, the extremist demonstrators against the reform are stepping up: hundreds have declared that they will not go to the reserves. The security of the state and its citizens, it turns out, is already less important.
For many months now, the mantra of the demonstrators and their leaders has been clear: a full-fledged right-wing government is leading to a regime coup. Every step the government seeks to take is met with fierce opposition, and without any thought of whether it harms the country along the way. Blocking the Ayalon Highway, one of the most significant arteries in the State of Israel, has become the standard. Calls for refusal by reservists no longer excite anyone.
Yair Golan. Statements like his endanger democracy, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
I am not a big supporter of reform as it is currently being carried out. Although I believe that the legal system is extremely problematic and biased, the way things have been done is not to my liking. In my opinion, the mistakes made by the government along the way, with an emphasis on the smugness that was evident in the first months despite the fierce opposition from millions of citizens, led to the collapse of the reform and to the fact that even if important and necessary parts of it pass, they will forever be tarnished as illegitimate. The judicial reform is doomed to be buried this term.
Having said that, we must understand that the protest against the reform and this government have crossed every possible boundary, and this endangers the country. Senior and influential officials, officials and law enforcement officials who led the country for years are now calling in other words for a real coup d'état. The perception of state security as hostage against the government, the normalization of illegal activity, the closure of main arteries on a regular basis, and the perception that an official, important as he may be, can force a duly elected prime minister to resign – these are by definition anti-democratic measures. Not in theory, not maybe, not with asterisks – measures against democracy.
Ehud Barak. Cross every possible boundary, photo: Herzi Shapira
Anyone who fears a legal reform that will give more power to the government should tremble with fear after the words of Alsheikh, Barak, Ya'alon and Golan. Every person who wants the good of the state must fear a situation in which combatants take them hostage, literally, so that one law or another will not be passed. And it doesn't matter if it's grounds of reasonableness, evacuating a community in Judea and Samaria, or a law that allows garbage to be removed from the neighborhood at six o'clock in the morning. If we want a democratic state, in which the three branches join hands, we must not normalize the coup d'état that is taking place before our eyes.
The police should investigate suspicions of bribery, but only in dark countries can the police chief take active actions to overthrow the government. The government should not promote laws that harm democracy, but only in third world countries can those who are not elected promote anarchy and mass lawbreaks without bearing consequences. Anyone who wants the rule of law in the State of Israel, in a democratic state, must speak out against these unacceptable phenomena. Want to oppose legal reform or a regime coup? Demonstrate, be angry, press, but don't spill democracy with the water.
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