A couple of days ago, during a rather routine interview on Radio 103FM, the Israeli minister of Strategic affairs, Eli Cohen, was asked about the problems surrounding the appointments of senior public servants that are due, the Police Commissioner, the State Attorney and the Attorney General. In and by itself legitimate and urgent questions since some of these appointments are long overdue and the main reason for this is political haggling (And attempts by Netanyahu to get people appointed that are or will be in his pocket and may help him in his fight in court). However, the replies of Eli Cohen stunned the interviewers (Golan Yochpaz and Anat Davidov). Eli Cohen made It very clear that the Likud party should be involved in these appointments because these public servants should be chosen in a way that they will execute the political agenda of the Likud. While the interviewers couldn’t believe their ears and asked Cohen if he stands behind these incredible utterances, they were reassured. Cohen believes that the Likud must have a say in these appointments to make sure that their policies are followed.
The next day, Arye Golan, on KAN Reshet B, gave Cohen the opportunity to set things straight, but Cohen insisted that this is the way things should be done, even after Golan asked him incredulously if this is not very undemocratic.
Arye Golan touched exactly the right point, and in doing so exposed even more clearly what most already know: Democracy in Israel is in serious danger. Democratic values in Israel have always been under pressure, primarily if you were not Jewish, but today that (sad) distinction is no longer valid. Democracy in Israel is being subverted on a daily basis, the people that “govern” us, either have no idea what democracy is, or if they do, they don’t care. First and foremost among those who don’t care is our Prime Minister, Netanyahu, who has been flouting the principles of democracy for years and in an increasingly blunt manner. The reason that a Likud minion like Eli Cohen talks the way he talks (and I am pretty sure also believes what he says) is simply because he was told to talk and think that way. In the Likud, nobody thinks, everybody only utters the words Netanyahu wants him (or her!) to utter, and has been conditioned to believe what they say. And they are long beyond realizing that what they are saying shows every time, (and especially in Cohen’s interview on 103FM) that we are living in a dictatorship now.
The process has been a long and slow one, but has affected and infected many others as well. The attempts to influence public appointments is not new and for instance Ayeled Shaked during the disastrous period she was Justice Minister made intense efforts to have judges appointed to the Supreme court that suit her political and ideological needs. She was only partially successful, but as she already clearly stated, she isn’t finished yet, and the strengthening of her party, Yamina, in recent months indeed increases the chances that after the next elections she will be able to continue on her destructive path.
But where are the people in this slide on the slippery slope to an open dictatorship? The demonstrations that have continued now for weeks already, and demand the resignation of Netanyahu, are a first indication that at least some of us are fed up. Some Israelis are worried that the decline has reached a depth from where it will be hard to recover. But many still believe that Netanyahu is the man we need and the fact that he has been indicted for very serious corruption crimes, doesn’t seem to bother them, and the continuous efforts made by Netanyahu to push democracy aside, while obvious to all, do not seem to stop these people from believing in him and wanting him as their leader.
So how is it, that a country, that came to be only 72 years ago, as a social (democratic) state (again at least for Jews), is falling into the abyss of dictatorship and without the need of a military coup or political assassinations (Rabin’s murder was political but on a different level). The people are moving towards a totalitarian state with their eyes open and out of free will.
The reason can only be the education system. Basic values such as democracy are being taught and acquired when young and school plays a major role in this process. While we have many immigrants that arrived in Israel as mature people and often from dictatorial countries who may not have had the opportunity to acquire such values (and some of our Knesset members clearly demonstrate this), the lack of democratic values in particular among our younger people, is the simple result of not having been taught them. Of course, the fact that our political system, with Netanyahu at the helm, has contributed to the fact that young people accept the dictatorial reign of Netanyahu for the simple reason, they have never experienced anything else. (The same holds for the more and more widespread acceptance of the Occupation, but that is a different, albeit no less sad story).
Thus, not knowing anything else, and not being affected directly (or at least not on a personal level) by non-democratic behavior of the state, makes people believe that “things are not so bad”, and most will not have an incentive to fight for and demand that things be done differently.
The slide into dictatorship is a slow process that, besides being continuously denied by the architect(s) of the dictatorship, is not being recognized as such until it is too late. But by then, personal freedom will have been curtailed in such a drastic manner, that even if people wake up and start to realize that things must change, the dictatorial system that was put in place will be able to prevent them from opening their mouth, or effectively shut them up when they do. Establishing a dictatorship (when not through military means) is mostly a gradual almost unnoticeable process, but undoing it will be very difficult and painful.
The fight for democratic values in Israel will be an uphill battle even after Netanyahu will vacate his position. Some of his minions are only waiting for the moment he will be gone to take his place and completed what he may not have been able to finish.
So it will get a lot worse before it will get better……….
