"Who is the landlord here?" Itamar Ben-Gvir asked continually throughout the election campaign. Forty days after the establishment of the government, the answer is clear. Benjamin Netanyahu. The tough promises have dissipated. The robust commitments have evaporated. The coalition agreements have been dispersed. For better or worse, Netanyahu is doing what he wants, and whoever doesn't like it, can twiddle his thumbs.
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No action was taken to restore personal security – the promise, according to the media, that Ben Gvir and Netanyahu ran on in the elections (with the exception of handing out guns, which is more dangerous than beneficial), no move has been taken to strengthen Jewish security.
No special operation to fight terrorism has been implemented, even though we suffered the deadliest terrorist attack in a decade. There has been no collection of weapons, no arrests of instigators, and no restoration of any deterrence. Transit certificates have been revoked for several senior Palestinian officials. This is the legacy of the government that was elected under the pretext that its predecessor was "weak."
It is not pressure from the US that has forced Netanyahu to choose the path he has chosen. He knows very well how to get along with President Joe Biden and his companions, and also how to argue with them if he chooses to do so. At the moment he has other considerations; regional, as well as political. It is beneficial for him that Ben-Gvir bleeds: being attacked by his voters and losing the support of his followers.
And the disappointment has begun. The right-wing WhatsApp groups are expressing frustration and resentment; albeit still on a small scale. Government supporters are still giving it a chance. But the current reality is that instead of the law reaching the Bedouin community, the area's disorder is creeping into Gadera, and all that the minister of national security has to offer is empathy for the victims. This is not the government that we were yearning for.
Netanyahu is using the same drying-out procedure towards Bezalel Smotrich and his buddies. Despite the detailed coalition agreement, the minister of finance has been excluded from significant decisions regarding Judea and Samaria. The state's position regarding Khan al-Ahmar was drafted behind his back. He is not heading the Civil Administration, contrary to the signed agreement. The regulation of new communities is not even on the horizon and construction for the expansion of older communities is currently not on the agenda. Netanyahu is failing here too.
What is left for these two to do? Not much. "There will be no freeze on construction in Judea and Samaria. Period. There will be no impairment of Israeli deterrence against terrorists. Period. There will be no continuation of Arab illegal construction and takeover of open areas. Period," Smotrich announced on Tuesday. It is good that we are talking in the future tense because at present all promises have not been fulfilled.
Likewise, Ben-Gvir is also distributing "post-dated checks" with added points. "The evacuation will happen because the minister has issued an order and there is law in the State of Israel. If not tomorrow, then the day after. If not in a week – then in two weeks. It will happen. Period." This was Ben-Gvir's response to Netanyahu's directive not to demolish an illegal building in east Jerusalem.
From the corner into which Netanyahu has pushed them, they are not able to do much more at the moment.
Too many ministers
The government's light right-wing policies are possibly disappointing some of its voters, but they will tame – or at least may tame – much external criticism, because since the results of the elections were disclosed, the Opposition and left-wing media have been feeding the world with dismal predictions about "the most extreme government in Israel's history."
In practice, no signs of these horror prophecies are evident. Because what haven't we got? We haven't got a change in the situation on the Temple Mount; we haven't got a cancellation of the grandchild clause in the Law of Return; we haven't got any anti-LGBT laws; we haven't got any construction in E1; we haven't got an eviction in Khan al-Ahmar; we haven't got an expansion of construction in Judea and Samaria; we haven't got discrimination against Arabs; and we haven't got a plethora of measures, that have even been signed on, in black and white, in the coalition agreements.
Even moves planned by Likud ministers, such as the closing of the public broadcaster, have been rejected by the coalition. The ultimate achievement is the legal reform (see below), which will eventually be presented incrementally over the coming year.
Every day that passes, therefore, shows the extent of the fulfillment of Netanyahu's promise to the Americans that he will be at the helm of the ship. You can love it and you can hate it, but the cries of "wolf, wolf" by the opposition and its partners in the media have once again turned out to be detached from reality.
The problem is that even if almost nothing is actually happening, severe damage has already been caused to Israel's image. Those who read only Hebrew media are not really aware of this situation, but English-anguage readers who believe everything written in the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, and The New York Times truly believe that Israel is currently being ruled by Rabbi Meir Kahane's doctrine.
In recent weeks, heads of the largest pro-Israel organizations in the US visited Israel: AIPAC, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the American Jewish Committee, and more. Only after studying the actual situation did they realize the size of the gap between reports about what is happening here in the Holy Land, and what is actually happening here.
So it is definitely important that at least these leading personalities in the Jewish communities in the US are less intimidated. But what about the masses of supporters – Jews and non-Jews alike – who have not come to Israel and have not met with senior government officials? And what about State Department officials in Washington or their diplomats serving in Israel, or even about the general public that Israel is connected to in the West?
Many harmful and infantile statements by the new ministers have come out of Israel. They were abused by the opposition and opponents of the government in a campaign similar to the Shiite Ashura festival, those who flog themselves until they bleed. This is how those attracting investments and promoting boycotts are behaving towards their own country today; engulfed with a religious fervor that the more they suffer, the faster redemption will come.
On the other hand, the government has a minister of public diplomacy, a minister of Diaspora affairs, a minister of foreign affairs, a minister of national missions, a minister of strategic affairs, a minister of national security, and a minister of national resilience – but not one of them took the time to make a public and orderly statement to foreign media, explaining the government's plans.
The only one who did so was MK Simcha Rothman, who one morning briefed foreign journalists on the legal reform. In an era where social media determines what is right and what is wrong, one briefing by one person is far from sufficient. The information gap has never been greater.
"I will not be a Friedman"
The only one who finally took the time to explain the government's moves to Israeli citizens is Justice Minister Yariv Levin. In a 45-minute talk with Israel Hayom, Levin answered many questions I presented about the legal reform.
Among others, he addressed the concern, also heard from right-wing supporters, that the change in the composition of the committee for the selection of judges would lead to the loss of legal independence, and Israel would no longer be a democracy.
"On the contrary. In almost all democracies, elected officials have a major impact on the selection of judges. This is the principle of the separation of powers. The independence of the judiciary system derives from the fact that judges are elected to their position, and cannot be dismissed. They do not stand for re-election and, in our case, serve until retirement at the age of 70. This ensures that each and every judge is completely independent in his rulings."
What about the claim that the government's control over the committee for the selection of judges is intended, ultimately, to result in the appointment of judges who will eventually acquit Netanyahu in the Supreme Court?
"That is total nonsense," replied Levin. "Do I have some prophetic sense that made me deal with these issues 20 years ago, because I knew they would file claims against Netanyahu?! And also, the assumption that underlies this argument is that Netanyahu's trial would last 15 years, which is the period during which all Supreme Court judges are replaced. If this is the situation, then the judicial system is really sick."
Levin is not only guaranteeing that legal independence will remain intact, but that even after the enaction of all laws, the Supreme Court will be able to make fundamental decisions, as it did back in the 1950s, long before the Aharon Barak revolution. These rulings include the landmark ruling that anchored freedom of expression in Israel and another ruling from 1986 that guarantees journalist confidentiality, and more.
The mnister of justice believes that the Aharon Barak revolution and his supporters' unwillingness to accept any other opinion are undemocratic.
"What we have now is a biased and terrified system. Read retired judge Varda Elsheich's attack on the former district court vice president retired judge because he dared to show some support for the legal reform. This is a system that silences every alternative voice; that doesn't allow promotion if you have a "different agenda," as former Supreme Court president Barak claimed about the late Prof. Ruth Gavizon.
"He said, 'We are a family, and not everyone can be part of our family.'" And I am saying that the Supreme Court belongs to all Israeli citizens, and all Israeli citizens must have representation in the court. Today there is a system that polices people's thoughts and beliefs. These are people who all think alike. This is a system that silences every different voice, and does not allow the promotion of anyone who has a different position."
Levin's rationale underlies the assumption that judges from all walks of life will bring the people's priorities to the court.
"The reform will promote judges who will act according to principles of legal certainty, who will understand that it is better not to endanger the lives of IDF soldiers, in the name of principles that I do not understand, in order to protect a population that supports terrorism. This will improve the functioning of the systems that fight terrorism, this will reduce bureaucracy and give citizens a much-improved service."
What is certain is that Levin is not going to give in. "I will not have a Prof. Friedman," he says, referring to the justice system's success in implementing the reforms initiated by former Justice Minister Daniel Friedman in 2007.
As for the demonstrations, protests, strikes, threats of an economic boycott, and President Isaac Herzog's proposal to "stop to let us communicate" – he regards all of these as attempts to thwart the plan that he and Rothman are promoting.
Not only am I ready to talk, but I want to talk," he emphasizes but clarifies that a dialogue will only take place if the opponents to the reform are ready for an essential discussion, and not a tactical one designed to wreck it.
Thirty years after he initiated the legal revolution, during which Barak obstructed all ministers of justice who tried to restore the political system's lost power – Yaakov Neeman, Haim Ramon, Daniel Friedman, Tzipi Livni, Ayelet Shaked, Amir Ohana, Gideon Sa'ar – this time he has encountered an opponent who will not surrender: Yariv Levin.
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