There is no reason to rejoice at the approval of the Law Eliminating the Grounds of Reasonableness, far from it. This was a necessary step, critical to preserving the character of the country as one that does not succumb to military blackmail, one that will prove that the government is capable of continuing to function despite protests of unimaginable magnitude against it and that it has a backbone, but it would have been appropriate for Knesset members who took selfies a moment after the dramatic vote to gather in their seats and think about where they went wrong and how they got to the point where they came.
The law passed by the Knesset plenum is proof that 2,000 years after the destruction of the Temple, we have learned nothing from our past: the irresponsible ministers who refused any compromise even at the last minute and called it derogatory epithets, and the extremists who protested against what they defined as the "Chamberlains" of our time. Just before Tisha B'Av, the extremists proved that they are the ones who dictate the rules, and damn the results.
The coalition celebrates after the passage of the law to abolish the grounds of reasonableness // Photo: Yehuda Schlesinger
The phrase "barn burners" has been expressed by quite a few hawks on both sides in recent weeks, and it is certainly an appropriate nickname in light of the times. When Vespasinus Caesar came to destroy Jerusalem, the Talmud says, zealots wanted to burn the barns containing food for 22 years of siege. He said to them, one of the richest people of the city, why are you destroying this city and asking for all this goodness to be burned with fire? The extremists got up and burned the food. As then, even today, there are extremists who are willing to burn everything and the main thing is that there will be no victory for the other side, and we must condemn this phenomenon outright.
What right-wing voters understand must be said clearly: There is no scenario in which the law should have been completely blocked. After the extremists of the protest degraded the discourse with minimal irresponsibility for the security of the State of Israel and connected the elimination of the grounds of reasonableness to the integrity of the IDF and its functioning in times of emergency, it was important to prove that the State of Israel is not pressured. A government cannot give in to insubordination and blackmail.
Demonstrators outside the Knesset, Photo: AP
But at the same time, as on many occasions in recent governments, right and left, the current government has refused to show a minimum of triumphant courtesy, repeatedly conveying the feeling that this is only the beginning. Let the dogs pass and the convoy pass. But these are not dogs, we are talking about our friends from Golani and Shiryon, neighbors in Kfar Saba and Ra'anana. People who fear that their country is going down the drain and protest it. They carry Israeli flags, give "fun" to the protest supporters on the way to the demonstration, because we are brothers. These are not extremists, we are not talking about people who want to violently infiltrate the Knesset or confront police officers, but our friends from the ministry.
It is for this reason that it is appropriate to stop now the galloping chariot. Yes, reform is important, but without a state there is no reform. Certainly, it is necessary to change the composition of judges, but what are judges without citizens worth? A coalition is a collection of people who have come together even though they do not necessarily agree with each other, under a common denominator that will enable the advancement of the state. Right now we need a coalition of normal citizens, of representative Knesset members, who will put the whole event into proportion. Not a dictatorship, not a boundless protest.
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory achieved at too much cost. This is the best definition for eliminating the cause of reasonableness. Members of the government, members of the right, you won, you did yours. Now stop and let us all relax. Dear protesters, recognize that you lost the battle but not the war, and think about what was right to do and where you made mistakes. Dear friends, go abroad for a vacation, go down to hot Eilat and relax in the air conditioner. It's time for everyone to stop starting fires in this crazy heat wave.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us