Tamir Pardo, former Director of the Mossad
The constitutional revolution of the current government, wrongly called judicial reform, has four main elements. Each has different motives, and each thwarts the possibility of a real compromise.
• The first element includes Justice Minister Yariv Levin and MK Simcha Rothman, people with a vision and a dream, who see this reform as a whole, whose success is dependent on all its different aspects. They have a very clear and structured ideology, and they are not willing to jeopardize any of its parts. It’s all or nothing, zero-sum game. Levin said it several times before he was sworn in, and has repeated it afterwards.
• The second element constitutes Prime Minister Netanyahu and MK Aryeh Deri. They need this reform – the first to escape his verdict and the other to return to his ministerial post.
• Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the third element, are driven by a messianic vision. This might be the most dangerous thing, and its implementation might bring about the total destruction of the State of Israel.
• The fourth element, the Ultra-Orthodox segment of society, needs this reform to survive as an ever-growing community that avoids sharing the burden that other Israelis shoulder, and on the other hand enjoys all the benefits of the modern and advanced society that was built here.
Historically, Israeli governments have never dared to face two major core issues: The relations between state and religion and the repercussions of the 1967 war. They didn’t present these complicated issues for an open public debate, didn’t call a referendum to decide their fate, and never offered a draft of a constitution that might bring these issues to a resolution.
Israeli legislators – from right and left, without any exception – ignored these issues and hoped that they will be solved by themselves, without any interference. But every day passing makes these problems more pressing and complicated, and they actually threaten the prospect of Israeli existence more than any external enemy.
Our leadership is obligated to safeguard our social unity, to promote acceptance of basic values that turn us all from individuals into a people. The current divisive leadership, on the contrary, which is struggling to tear us apart from within, brings this state to a verge of extinction, ignoring the fact that our options to halt are running short. One cannot know for certain if there is even still time to stop now, before we fall off the cliff.
The irony is that by a long process of deceit, segments of the population were convinced to support a process that in the end will hurt them most. Those who chose this path, are the first to pay its price. Thus, for example, converting the Supreme Court into a political institution, will put every IDF soldier under the threat of being arrested abroad, with no one being there to help them.
IDF soldiers, children and grandchildren of protesters who demonstrate against the government that commands them, are exposed to harsh dilemmas while sitting next to the family dinner table. Their parents are going out to the streets, while they pack their bags and return to their units. What do they think? Where does all of this put them? The very doubt in the rightness of Israel’s way brings us to the verge of a crisis that no one can predict its end.
The duty of Israel’s army, which is the people’s army, is to protect us from our enemies. In addition, since Israel lacks clear borders with its neighbors, the IDF acts as the sovereign in the disputed territory of the West Bank. Besides dealing with the Palestinian population there, the IDF actually governs the Jewish population there. This phenomenon doesn’t exist in Tel-Aviv, Holon, Beit-Shemesh or any other place – only in the West Bank.
Two weeks ago, Jewish rioters raided a Palestinian village. What was the IDF supposed to do? Was it supposed to clash with Jewish citizens? Should IDF troops open fire in case they see a Jewish person shooting a Palestinian or torching Palestinian houses? What are the implications of such an event?
The IDF is not a professional army, neither is it a law enforcement body. Its troops are born and raised in every corner of this land – in Jerusalem, Ashdod, Hebron, Gush Etzion and every other place. We are getting closer to a point in which the unison within the IDF will crack. From that point on, the path to the disintegration of the whole army is very short. This will be the end of the State of Israel. Without a strong and mighty army, Israel cannot exist.
When a minister of this government publicly and openly says that we should wipe out a Palestinian village – what could this do to the IDF? This tears the IDF from within. After that, the army will not be able to operate.
This might be the end of the Zionist dream. The dream of our enemies, that Israel’s internal strife would bring about the disintegration of the Jewish State, is about to become true.
