At the beginning of last week, Prof. Avi Bareli defined what has recently developed in relations between the army and politics as "protection": "We will defend the State of Israel only on condition that the last word in matters of democratic governance is in the hands of those who think like us." I'm starting to think that the word "protection" is already small on the event. We are facing something like a military rebellion. It is disguised as conscientious objection; Ostensibly, a personal, conscientious decision that pushes the uniformed person – the officer, the pilot, the doctor in the reserves – to an extreme step of "non-volunteerism."
But it's just disguised as such. Because on such a scale, it is clear that this is an organized operation, backed by senior and former officials, not only to signal a moral dilemma, but to bring the elected government to its knees and neutralize its ability to exercise its legal authority.
Tens of thousands continue to march towards Jerusalem// Uncredited
And with all due respect to "crisis" and "crack in trust" and "breach of contract," words that paint everything in the shade of an instinctive and desperate civil response to a brutal governmental move, there is a guiding hand here. As Dan Margalit wrote in Haaretz almost 30 years ago, when the signs of sparse right-wing rejectionism appeared vis-à-vis Oslo: "Where there is an organization and a spokesman and a press conference and a fax machine, there is no single decision of the refuser with himself."
Military rebellion in the making
And you don't have to go to that video from a few years ago in which Ehud Barak discusses with the heroes of the current protest a chilling scenario of civil disobedience, if and when. It is enough to return to the shock that followed the Likud's victory in the last elections. The signal to break the tools was given before the reform. We managed to forget that the first excuse for civil disobedience was a "revolt of the local authorities" against Avi Maoz or something, and that Yair Lapid climbed a bridge and muttered something about "Ben-Gvir will not send our children into battle" before the government was even sworn in.
Call to action. Dan Halutz, Photo: Eyal Margolin/Ginny
Then letters from skeletons and marches of fighters to protests appeared, and whenever a group of pilots threatened not to show up, former generals and heads of security systems provided them with an umbrella of moral protection in the studios. When Avihu Ben Nun, Amos Yadlin and Dan Halutz led ads in support of "non-volunteerism" on their behalf, they actually called for action. When the celebration was joined by Shin Bet and former Mossad chiefs, the flashing message became bright: Israel's security establishment favors the wave of refusal.
What is worth a weak, belated word of condemnation by the chief of staff when the entire veteran guard of the defense establishment makes an explicit call for "non-volunteerism"? An absolute taboo that involved denunciation if not excommunication has transformed in recent months from an "understandable" action to a "civic duty." Under these conditions, whoever doesn't join the guys is the exception, he's the dodger. It's a surge that needs iron nerves to withstand. Protection works both ways here: social pressure against comrades-in-arms and a threat of force against the government.
Eyal Nave, graduate of Sayeret Matkal, one of the heads of brothers in arms, photo: 27a Copyright
Israel is more militaristic than ever
The leaders of the rebellion are perfumed by their overwhelming success and media embrace, but masses of Israelis see something completely different: an uprising by the security establishment against the government they chose. For them, this is nothing short of a political trauma.
One can argue about the harm of reducing the cause of reasonableness to democracy, but in a situation in which the security establishment has the final say on regime issues, there is no democracy. In a reality in which the security establishment dictates the norms and the ethos of government, there is no democracy. In a regime in which the "former" can blow the whistle and use the senior sector of the army against the government, there is no democracy. On a night when the Knesset is in a narrow uniform, determined to bring an elected government to its knees, there is no democracy.
On a morning when elected officials are afraid of officers, there is no democracy. The day will come when the Israeli left will find out with itself how it crowned Shin Bet chiefs and generals as its spiritual leaders. But the good, really good people, who are now leading the marches to save democracy, may encounter on their way back from Jerusalem a different Israel, divided and militaristic as never before.
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