I have dedicated the last five years to badgering my readers on how we are living in an Orwellian-Kafkaesque movie. I have told you that we are witnessing a political witch hunt and a judicial putsch to remove a prime minister from office and that we are transitioning from a start-up nation to a Stasi nation.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
I am afraid this wasn't far from the truth.
This spyware scandal is not a question of the failure of an investigation or the fruit of a poisoned court that must be balanced out but a putsch in which they actively used cyber tools to attribute offenses to a prime minister.
Of course, the important reporting by financial daily Calcalist and the News1 website affects not just Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu, but all of us. The number of offenses is incomprehensible. The law enforcement system, emphasis on "system," has proven just how correct Lord John Dalberg-Acton was when he concluded that "power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
For five years, we have spoken out about state institutions being corrupt and rotten to the core. This unrestrained system operates like a criminal organization.
"Who is watching the guards?" we asked but received no reply. For five years we begged. We were told we were working to undermine democratic principles and the rule of law. We were accused of burning down barns to save our leader and terrorizing the legal system.
Most of my fellow journalists not only covered up the offenses. They presented any criticism of the Israel Police or the State Attorney's Office as a wild attack on the rule of law. Now it turns out that we were right, and the law enforcement system did in fact treat the prime minister like the head of a terrorist organization. One would have expected there to be a consensus across party lines that this is the most severe incident Israel has seen since the founding of the state, an occurrence the likes of which has not been seen in a Western, democratic country.
Ha.
At first, there was shock. The sound of the explosion was deafening. Soon, however, the tweeting resumed once the government overcame its shock. Coalition members called the situation "grave" and said an investigative committee was the answer. "We must fix the system, not break it," they said, "in particular given the timing, which is not coincidental," they said, alluding to Netanyahu's ongoing trials. More importantly, they blamed the scandal on Netanyahu himself.
It's unbelievable, but a government based on a lie and whose existence was only made possible thanks to the unprecedented accusations we are now learning are the smoking gun, is now pinning the blame on Netanyahu as if he would have asked the government to spy on him, his family, and his close associates to ensure that he would be framed.
Morally and ethically, this government is illegitimate.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
