Yes Bibi
Few will deny that tomorrow will be a fateful day for our small, beleaguered nation. We face myriad problems—from serious external military threats to questions about who must join with those putting their lives on the line to defend us from those. Yet, even as we have spent three years fighting the most vicious of jihadist enemies, so much of Israeli politics has seemed to coalesce around a single individual: our longest serving Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel’s founding Mapai elite’s treatment of its political competitors, like Menahem Begin, foreshadowed the way that Netanyahu has been depicted and treated by his rivals. But, a clear-headed examination of the never-Bibi campaign reveal something much worse than harassment and elitist disdain. Something that reaches to the very foundations of the free, open society that, in spite of all the challenges, we aspire to be.
For years there has been a steady destruction of the very pillars of democracy—so long as the damage done could weaken Netanyahu. Even though the essence of a free society is the people’s rule over themselves (in modern states through duly elected representatives), once the “wrong” choice was made, those who should know better decided that the very soul of democracy was not respect for that legal result, but rather nearly uninhibited violent protest against that choice. And this, no matter how few could riotously disturb the peace of so many.
The necessary subordination of the military, police and our extraordinarily powerful secret police to the elected government has been steadily weakened. While this has been an ongoing issue for years, the most horrific results of this movement became apparent in Ronen Bar’s rough-shod usurpation of all decision making during the fateful pre-dawn hours of October 7th. Because…Bibi.
And as Netanyahu’s trial has now revealed, the very rule of law seems to have been completely abandoned by those whose role is to defend it. Offenses appear to include free-lance wire-tapping, intimidation of witnesses, the use of media as confidential informants to procure leaks from sensitive governmental positions, and general prosecutorial overreach with no absolutely no legal approval. Crimes committed by the most powerful unelected government agents were seemingly ignored or glossed over. The end (the removal of Netanyahu from power) meant that any means were justified.
Beyond this, MK Avigdor Lieberman has recently decided that rather than competing against his political rival in democratic elections, he would rather push a nearly diabolical plan to further strengthen the already power-drunk Office of the Attorney General (which seems to have proven that it is willing to trample any legal norm). Lieberman wants to implement an extraordinary law so that a mere indictment (with no judicially proven basis) is enough to disqualify a candidate from holding national office. And this, no matter how much actual fair electoral support that candidate may garner. Handing over the keys to the kingdom to non-elected and nearly impervious-to-sanction functionaries should terrify anyone who believes that our leaders should be fairly elected and accountable to the people themselves.
The long list of Netanyahu’s triumphs and deficiencies can be debated. But just as our country is surrounded by rivals, competitors and enemies who lack basic democratic norms of governance, so too is our Prime Minister ringed by those whose are willing to cast democracy aside for the sake of their own power. Our judicial system—with a conviction rate well above 90% (the envy of any dictatorial regime), where Chief Justices laugh off deep conflicts of interests and that willingly admits it knows of no real checks to its power—needs reform to safeguard democratic rule. Our near-tyrannical secret police, which seems to scoff at the very notion that it is subsidiary to the elected government, needs to be regulated by the representatives of those it claims to protect from harm—Jews and Arabs both. Threats to shut down media outlets which refuse to join the Bibi lynch-mob are serious and are harbingers of harm to free speech for all. Real democracy is not the manipulated erasure of competing views.
Over the past three years of war, not few honest observers of the Middle East have realized that in spite of Israel’s warts and problems, our enemies’ lack of commitment to basic moral and democratic standards makes support for the Jewish nation the correct choice. So too, I believe that many Israeli citizens have seen just how anti-democratic the anyone-but-Bibi forces are. The powers which conspire to remove him from office represent a fundamental danger to democratic rule from which we may never recover should they succeed. Voting for those whose adherence to democratic norms faulters when they cannot win an election is voting to end democracy itself.
I will cast my own ballot for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Like the Jewish nation itself, he is battered, but still standing. He is no unfaulted saint, but his battle-hardened political skill, fortitude and genius are still sorely needed by our country. And by not allowing his anti-democratic, law-flouting competitors a victory, we can protect the very essence of what makes us a free, open society.
