A) Correctly identifying political problems
Legend has it that as part of the fight against the evacuation of the Yamit settlement in the Sinai desert, the ark of the synagogue was taken out to the city square, as is the custom of Israel during fasts for rain. The result was that it did indeed rain, but the evacuation was completed… Sometimes, when the wrong medicine is used, the outcome will
We are currently surrounded by polarization, and some say that it threatens to tear us apart. But the differences of opinion is not the problem. Nor is it the hatred between different sectors or groups. Street fights are not going to break out between coalition voters and opposition members. Therefore, the solution is not about 'finding common ground', inclusion and understanding 'the other side', nor is it about a 'politics of agreements' or such inventions. These are just like bringing the ark out into the city square.
We are seeing a shift in forces of leadership, and we are experiencing growing pains.
B) "Kingdoms must not infringe upon each other"
The automatic reflex of many to compare our situation to the hatred amongst Jews at the end of the Second Temple is misguided and misleading. If you are looking for a historical analogy, it is better to look for it during the period of the change of monarchies. When the sun of King Saul's reign set, it tried clinging to the horns of the altar. Even nowadays, the 'royal family' that brought us from the beginning of the country until now, has set. Its national consciousness has degenerated, and lost favor in the eyes of the people.
However it holds on, digs in its heels and clings to the horns of the Deep State. In the un-elected pools of influence, using law enforcement and other institutions with brute force, while sinking further and further into post-nationalist and post-Zionist positions.
This is not a conflict between sectors or their representatives. It is a confrontation between those elected into office and the unelected officials – who hold on to the horns of their worship of the positions of power they have themselves created – in bureaucratic positions in general, and in the legal system specifically.
Yesterday, an amended law was passed for the election of judges – the veritable eye of this storm – according to which the representatives of the coalition and the opposition will choose judges together, but without the right of veto for the Supreme Court judges. This proposal was supposed to offer a compromise, and those claiming to support the spirit broad agreements should have publicly supported it.
But the ‘failing kingdom' insists on holding on to the Deep State horns and refuses to accept the proposal. Their ruling fortress is the Supreme Court, so they cling to it.
C) The real meaning behind threats of civil war
In a speech in the Knesset in 2002, during Operation 'Protective Wall', Aharon Barak said the following: "It can be assumed that some of the public disputes that will divide us in the coming years will find their way to the courts, as is the way of democratic countries. More and more political problems are shedding their political form and taking legal form, and are being brought to the courts for decision."
Aharon Barak is not able to accept that the state's "purse and sword" (the two things that most distinguish the power of a state, the two things that by the accepted definition should not be under authority of the court) not be in the hands of the elected officials.
Aharon Barak rushed to be interviewed in the television studios over the last few days to threaten civil war in a more or less sophisticated way ("I didn't threaten, I just warned"); this is how white-collar criminals to send threats. He does not mean that protesters will beat up police, or those from the opposite political camp. He intends to boost those unelected institutions still controlled by a small group, led by the Supreme Court, to use their power to torpedo elected officials and their decisions, and to unquestionably control the "purse and the sword" of the State of Israel. His voice is echoed by his partners in the media and Deep State protest organizations.
D) The Kaplan Dog Whistle
The core of the Kaplan protests is not aimed at changing the government's positions or even overthrowing it due to public pressure. These protests are the "dog whistle" for the unelected institutions, led by the Supreme Court, to firmly entrench their rule and use it fearlessly.
They removed themselves from the arena of the democratic decision-making procedure. They don't play it anymore, because they won't win there. They do not want agreements and compromises, but the preservation of the power of the sinking 'kingdom'.
E) Generals of a sinking empire
In the renewed attempt to create mass protests with the resumption of fighting in Gaza, a group of former generals went up to Jerusalem to lead the protest. Prominent among them was Roni Alsheich, who announced that the protests were intended to give support to the High Court judges to invalidate the government's moves.
Alsheikh also prefers that the governing power be in the hands of the High Court and not in the hands of elected officials. Alsheikh does not want to compete for the public vote. He wants his 15 Chosen Ones on the throne to decide, for an entire nation,how to use the "wallet and sword" of the State of Israel.
Since Alsheich joined the Kaplan stage two years ago, he has repeatedly delivered messages related to the supremacy of the bureaucracy and a deep disdain for elected officials. Alshaikh despises elected officials, but on a deeper level he despises the public. He placed himself with the group of those clinging to the Deep State horns of the sinking kingdom, and is being dragged with them into the abyss.
F) The new watershed of the political camps
The era of the 'change of kingdoms' fundamentally changed the division of the political camps (for now). It is not for nothing that the leaders of the opposition parties prefer to bask in the shadow of those unelected officials, Attorney Generals and Supreme Court judges, and will not dare to turn their backs on the protest organizations and to return and gather in the Knesset as the central focus of decision-making.
And as the sinking kingdom loses its Zionist center of gravity in its decline, the generals who follow it (even those who originally came from the Right) are losing their Zionist backbone, sometimes to the point of losing their mind and joining the most radical leftist organizations.
In contrast, people who originally came from the Zionist Left and insist on the power and authority of elected officials, find a solid common language with the right.
How did it happen that Chaim Ramon and Prof. Moshe Cohen Elia today belong much more to the national camp than Roni Alsheich and Boogi Ya'alon?
Everything comes down to one question: who is sovereign in the State of Israel?
The time has come to restore the people's freedom, and it will also restore its peace. Internal peace in the public-political space can only happen through convergence to the procedural democracy that Aharon Barak and his friends love to hate so much. Compromise is an important and expensive social norm. It will only happen when we remove the grip on the Deep State horns of a sinking kingdom, and join the politics of elected officials.
"And love truth and peace."
'Path Pavers'
