Israel Hayom..
06 January '12..
There were no warning signs, but it happened again: Amnon Abramovich [a senior Channel 2 TV journalist] struck again. After retreating shamefully, and apologizing, for the farce of reporting about "a very big case that will be brought before the attorney-general," a case in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to play a starring role - this man [who has said that he 'protected' former PM Ariel Sharon from damaging investigative reports] published a column in a newspaper in which he hints, not very subtly, that Netanyahu should beware if and when he intervenes in the planned reforms to the judicial system because the doors of the legal claims against him have not been locked, and neither has the motivation for vengeance.
Justice Minister Ya'akov Neeman knows this all too well from his previous, and short, stint as justice minister in Netanyahu's first government. What is Abramovich alluding to? That he who goes against the establishment and wishes to change the old order, in other words, he who works to abolish the immoral advantage that the Left has within the legal establishment - will find himself framed with a serious crime?! This cannot be, as Abramovich came out against Neeman, Likud MK Yariv Levin, coalition chairman Zeev Elkin, and Likud MK Danny Danon [all four legislators have been active in proposing bills to reform the justice system in Israel.] According to Abramovich, it is these four men who are the danger, and not the legal establishment, right? It is worth repeating again and again: in the eyes of the Israeli Left, there never was a political revolution in Israel [Menachem Begin's Likud victory in 1977].
It is true that the Israeli public continues to vote for conservative governments, but the centers of power: the legal establishment, academia, and the media remain, to this day, impervious to the public's will. In other words, these centers of power remain in the hands of a small group with a multitude of spokespeople, who from time to time release hints of threats, and those who need to understand the threats will understand them. Abramovich constructed his column with the concept that Netanyahu is motivated by fear and thus wishes to reform the legal system. I, on the other hand, think that articles like these, from the consiglieri of the Left, point in the other direction: that the fear lies with those that threaten.
Zeev Elkin, Yariv Levin and others in the Likud's young leadership and its orbiting political parties, belong to a generation that did not know the Mapai [the precursor to the Labor party which ruled Israel until 1977] and its rein of fear. We are talking here about a young leadership who was raised under the Likud's leadership of the country. Their minds are probably more liberated than those of the generation of the Likud's so-called 'Princes,' who still pander to the media's good graces. There is almost no disagreement over the content of the proposed reforms, and the majority of the Likud's elders support the moves of the young leadership but think that their goals could be achieved with less noise, and without public clashes. The young leaders, for their part, are tallying up all of the Likud's years in power, and are no longer willing to accept the illogical distortion that despite the years in government, the centers of power mentioned above remain untouched. The Israeli public elected its representatives for this also - to finally give voice to the majority in the places they were excluded from since the beginning.
The current Likud government as well as the coalition's other members are characterized by this very desire to level the playing field. The generation of Israel's future leaders wish to completely overturn the old order. Their activities push the Left into a state of constant defensiveness, into relentlessly lashing out at everything that moves: from the prime minister, who is the main 'culprit' in our country's change of direction, to "transgressive" ministers, to "dangerous" Knesset members, to wild, stereotyping attacks against entire populations that tend to vote for coalition parties. These include the ultra-Orthodox, the settlers and occasionally religious Zionists as a whole (see the shameful "investigation" that appeared in Yedioth Ahronoth about two weeks ago on the religious Zionist seed communities in development towns). Week after week we witness public "firestorms" and "revolutions," publications whose goal it is to stir up endless discomfort in the public toward our elected government. The message underlying this media coverage is that, sure, compared to the storms and troubles surrounding us we are an island of sanity and stability; true, our economy is excellent and our security situation not too bad, thank God, and overall our cultural life is flourishing, but do not forget how bad we have it. Do not forget that the nation demands some kind of justice and our current government is endangering democracy, because we are the only ones who know what is good for you and until you vote for us, we will continue to tell you how bad you have it: very, very bad. That is the way it goes when the "sons of darkness" are in power. The bad news is that when the firestorm over the "exclusion of women" passes, a new scandal will appear. The good news is that all of this points to the ways in which Israeli society is changing for the better.
Do not believe all the vultures tearing at their clothes in mourning. Contrary to their predictions of doom and gloom, Israeli society is advancing toward ever fuller democratization, in which the values of the "second Israel" are moving to the forefront. The real friction Israel is likely to experience, between conservatism and liberalism in their various manifestations, could actually take us to a much better place than where we are presently.
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=1156
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