Neighbors in a condominium who throw parties in the early morning, who throw the garbage in the stairwell, who refuse to participate in financing the roof pitches, will soon discover that they are making their own lives miserable first and foremost. Whether because one day other neighbors will repay them, or damage their shared property, selfishness in the public sphere does not pay, neither in the long term nor in the short term.
What is true for a modest dwelling is even more true for the entire country. If we do not succeed in establishing rules that are binding on all of us, even and especially in times of disagreement, even and especially when the foundations of our existence here are at stake, we will bring down the building in which we all live, which we all protect, for whose well-being we all yearn.
The right to protest is one of the most important in a democratic society. Patriotism and love of country include, of course, the right to protest. But like any right, it is not absolute, and it must be balanced with other rights. Even the highest right of all, the right to life, is not absolute. The state must set budgetary priorities that directly affect the right to life. There is no 100% budget for all patients and all diseases. The state must determine where police officers will and will not be stationed. The state determines which dangerous intersections will be dealt with, which red roads will be widened, and more.
Alongside the right to protest and the right to freedom of expression, there is the right to freedom of movement and the right to freedom of occupation. Alongside the desire to cry out and protest, there is the obligation to allow the movement of emergency vehicles. With all the understanding of the pain, fear and anxiety of the protesters, violence must not be reached. Even when protesters and police officers are frustrated, they must not raise their hands on each other.
One day the dispute over legal reform will end and we will all continue to live here together. Even in the midst of the disagreement, we know that the real enemies – and common to all of us – lie beyond our borders, and we must defend ourselves against them together. For the sake of the future after the dispute, and indeed for the sake of the present parallel to it, our existential duty is to reach an agreement on the boundaries of protest: what we are willing to give up in favor of the basic rights of the other, knowing that he will simultaneously give up in favor of our basic rights.
Politicians on both sides cannot be trusted to reach understandings on such agreed borders; Unfortunately, and perhaps by the very nature of their occupation, they are much stronger in separation than in union. It is impossible to demand that the police set the boundaries, because its role is on the legal and criminal level – and understandings must be made long before that, on the social and civil level. Therefore, this is the task of civil society: those Israelis who love the state from all walks of life, who are willing to give up time and comfort and money, who take days off and participate in circles of dialogue, meetings and study, and try to reach agreements in the democratic campaign to shape the face of the country. This is the time for civil society to lead and determine what is and what is not, when yes and when not – and to mutually respect these agreements and even fight for them side by side. Because it's our only condominium.
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