On Thursday evening, after his friends called my partner Ofir last week and wanted to talk to him before signing the pilots' letter, Ofir and I understood what was happening - a very large number of reserve pilots had signed. It is a tragedy that a political struggle has permeated the army, it is a reward for our enemies.
"The maritime legislative process is devastation for all of us": 10,000 reservists join in announce termination of reporting \\ Shmuel Buchris
I felt double pain. Pain for them - I know they did it in great agony. And pain for my country - whose immune system is weakening. Netanyahu flies a plane toward a hillside to crash. The Israeli government sitting behind him includes ministers who do not know how to implement right-wing policies. In closed conversations, they understand the damage to the country, but are afraid to take leadership.
There is one person among the coalition leaders who can land the plane safely, his name is Aryeh Deri. I sat next to Deri in the cabinet for four years. He is the only responsible adult who both understands the consequences of legislation without consent and has independent political power to demand consent. He understands the implications for the army, for the economy, for Israel's strength.
The "Brothers in Arms" reservists protest, tonight, photo: Noam (Dabol) Dvir
You see, the country today is being destroyed by a meaningless law, simply because the coalition leaders want to show that they can, and the opposition leaders are afraid to reach out. Reducing reasonableness is not the end of democracy. When I was Minister of Justice, I spoke about reducing the cause of reasonableness with Aharon Barak, who told me: "For my part, you can reduce the grounds of reasonableness, we have proportionality and many other tools." Judges have a host of other tools, which they will also use to conduct judicial review of government decisions and appointments. Everyone knows this, but there is a deep mistrust between the sides, and each side is entrenched in its fears - of the base, of the protest.
Meanwhile, squadrons are crumbling internally in arguments. On the day of the order, I know that the pilots will come, supporting and opposing, but this is a terrible situation that must not be examined. The system is weakening, and Nasrallah and Khamenei see this and are delighted. What the BDS movement has failed to do, we are doing ourselves, in internal conflict. The government cannot stop everything and pass nothing; a complete withdrawal from the legislation means unfair surrender, which does not allow the majority of the public to promote its worldview. At the same time, as a party in power and responsible for the consequences of the legislation, the coalition must and can pass the law by agreement. There is already a compromise formula, in Netanyahu's hands and Gantz's, and they need to be brave to accept it.
"The compromise formula is in the hands of Gantz and Netanyahu", photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Compromise means that the grounds of reasonableness will not apply to policy decisions, and in the matter of appointments will not apply only to appointments approved by the Knesset, i.e., ministerial appointments. Even for supporters of the reform, legislation with broad consensus is preferable, since the law is protected from the intervention of the High Court of Justice if the consensus is broad and if the law is more proportionate. Aryeh Deri is the person to promote compromise - he has the political and mental power to announce that Shas is demanding a few more days to exhaust the compromise talks.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef was a man of compromise, of unity, of the entire Jewish people. I wish Aryeh Deri would implement his legacy, all the more so on the eve of Tisha B'Av.
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