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Mar 23, 2025
defending Ronen Bar
As I mentioned the other day, I don't think the Left is doing anyone a service by defending Ronen Bar, head of the Shabak, from being fired by PM Netanyahu and his government. Bar Deserves to go home, whether by resignation or by firing.
The Opposition isnt doing anyone a favor, and is not protecting democracy by defending him. They are simply opposing the government, which is actually their job but in this case it is not a good cause. I think their defense of the Attorney General is fine - whatever you think of her, firing her is more complicated legally, she isn't responsible for the October 7 failure (at least not directly or explicitly), and her work and defending her can be seen as defending democracy.
That being said, Bar's firing has been frozen by the courts until the Supreme Court hears the petitions against the firing. As much as the Netanyahu government is trying to force a constitutional crisis, I don't think Bar's firing is going to bring it. I don't see the Supreme Court canceling the firing of Ronen Bar. I think they will let it pass. The law, and granted I am the furthest thing from an expert on this, seems pretty straightforward and it does not seem complicated to fire him and I think the Supreme Court will allow it. Of course the Qatargate investigation might be the one impediment, but I think it will be allowed. If they try it with the Attorney General and don't make do with just a witch hunt hearing and a statement of intentions but go through with it, then the Supreme Court would likely intervene as firing the Attorney General is far more complicated. We probably have to wait for our constitutional crisis until they try it with Gali Baharav Meara.
All that being said, I still find it reprehensible and highly hypocritical the way the government has chased everyone involved in October 7 out of office while they themselves refuse to acknowledge responsibility and resign and go to elections. As much as the security forces bear responsibility, the government does as well. Every claim they have made about the various individuals in the security forces applies equally to the government. Can they get away with? Obviously yes, as they have until now, but I still find it highly hypocritical and reprehensible.
The government should resign and go back to the public with elections for the public to renew its faith in the government, in all the politicians, or say who else they want to lead the country to finish the war or to rebuild the nation.
And, in addition, I think the government should wait for all these reforms and changes, which are highly divisive, until after the war. Greater unity is needed during wartime. Especially in a war that seems to be never-ending, so far 17 months long with no end in sight, in which the numbers of people reporting for more and more reserve duty has been decreasing, in which many people, rightly or wrongly, feel the government is simply extending the war to keep itself in power without needing to face the public, the government should wait for all these changes that cause protests and fighting. Concentrate on the war and save everything else for later. Yes, the government has the technical right to make these various changes. One can question if they have the moral right considering their responsibility for October 7, but they at least have the technical right. But even with the technical right, I dont see it as the smart or wise thing to be doing right now.
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What we all want to forget is that the Left defined "democracy" as they understood it quite clearly in the summer of 2023
ReplyDelete1) Elections are only fair when we win
2) The government is only legitimate when we run it
3) An illegitimate government which won in an unfair election (eg. every time we don't win) needs to be controlled by the unelected Supreme Court and the AG to make sure Israel is democratic.
You come from the US, a country where no government has *ever* resigned. You've gotten too polluted by the Israeli expectation that governments (at least right-wing ones) can't be allowed to finish their term.
ReplyDeleteBut it's normal.
so you want the government to stay in power because you like them or because you think it is bad for governments to not last their full terms?
DeleteI personally dont like the comparisons to the US system. There is nothing even similar about the Israel system of government and the US system. Taking one point and saying this should work like that is disingenuous because nothing about the systems is the same so nothing needs to work the same way. The Israeli system has this built in as part of it, like it or not.
The question is: will elections change anything?
DeleteIf the current polls are accurate, elections will return a government that's 99% similar to the current one. The Chareidim will still be controlling the funding and blocking the draft, Bibi will still be prime minister, Ben Gvir and Smotrich will still be in the cabinet and the Left will still be acting as if there was a coup d'etat instead of free elections.
Just because it's possible under the Israeli system doesn't mean it should be done, nor that it is healthy. It encourages the opposition not to work.
DeleteThe United States has a system of democracy with very distinct legislative, executive and judicial branches. There is a complex sets of checks and balances designed to limit the ability of any particular branch from abusing that power. The United States even has mid-term elections giving voters the opportunity to express their feelings towards the current administration.
DeleteIn the parliamentary system the executive branch gets it's power directly from the legislative branch. The Prime Minister is chosen by the parliament, while executive branch is (with some exceptions with the Norwegian Law) is part of that very same parliament. Thus the executive branch requires the confidence of the parliament in order to remain in power.
As the power structure is different, so are the expectations and the rules of the game different. In the United States if the Government fails to pass a budget, the Government simply ceases to operate until the legislative and executive branch can work things out. Under the Parliamentary system if the Government fails to pass a budget it automatically that the Government has lost the confidence of parliament and elections are called.
Along the same lines, Bibi could call elections tomorrow if he thought the polls were blowing his way. Under Parliamentary democracies it is not unheard of for Government to receive a new mandate from the voters because they are undertaking a new direction as circumstances have changed since they were elected.
The United States has different branches of government that all act independently. A failure in one branch does not necessarily reflect a failure on the whole government. When the power in Government is consolidated, it is reasonable to expect a Government to face the voters in order to receive a new mandate when the circumstances of being elected are no longer the same.
There is something I do not understand.
ReplyDeleteIf Bibi believes that the head of the Shabak serves "at the pleasure of the government". i.e., that he can appoint and fire the head of the Shabak at will, than surely if the Shabak is responsible for the failure of October 7, the responsibility for that failure lies with the person who has final say over who runs the Shabak, and according to Bibi that is the Prime Minister.
Bibi cannot claim that the failure of October 7 is the fault of someone who he claims reports directly to him and is answerable directly to him.
The time for the PM to retire was many years ago, but this particular fiasco shows that according the Bibi, he should be held directly responsible for any failures on October 7.
While Bibi should take ultimate responsiblity for October 7, the more time passes, the more we learn that he was set up to fail.
DeleteBar knew it was coming, even knew about the hostage plan and didn't tell Bibi.
The High Command was warned that the assault was coming and deliberately ignored the warnings without informing Bibi.
Bibi tried to launch an immediate assault and the Attorney General forbid him because she wanted him to assemble his cabinet first which took hours.
A captain should take responsiblity when his ship sinks but if the captain was kept in the dark deliberately to ensure the ship would sink and he'd be blamed, does he still have to?
in my opinion, yes.
Deleteeven if we know in advance the election results will be the same, we need elections to give the people the opportunity to say they renew their faith in netanyahu or want someone else. Right now much of the country does not have faith in this government. The electoral victory from before the war does not mean people want this government to be running the war. Elections will give the people the ability to say who they want handling these matters.
I think it will only increase the level of frustration on the Left.
DeleteThey will campaign hard on "October 7 is all Bibi's fault!" They will lose. They will be outraged! How dare the rest of the country not see things their way and follow their demands!
So you're saying you want immediate satisfaction and can't wait for an election like lots of people in the world do.
Deleteits not about personal satisfaction. I doubt I will find anything satisfying in whatever comes out of any elections at any time in the relatively near future. I believe the government due to the failures of Oct 7 and the never ending war in which many people have lost faith in the government and believe the war is really called the war of Bibi's survival and he just keeps it going so he can stay in power and has no plans to ever end it needs to give the people the power to say we have faith in you or we dont have faith in you but have faith in someone else. I am personally fine with him winning the election, if thats what the people want. the people need to say we want you running the country despite the failures of your government, and we do trust you to run the war.
Delete"power" was wrong word. maybe opportunity is the right word
Delete