What Would Yoni Say?
PM Benjamin Netanyahu has declared war on the nation. What, we ask, would his brother, Yoni – icon and national hero – say to Bibi?
On Sunday morning 37 of 40 air force reservists who were required to report for reserve duty training let it be known publicly that they were refusing to do so.
Their squadron is among the most highly trained in Israel, meant to carry out complex missions in places like Syria, Iraq, Iran. These fighters are the cream of the country and are very aware of the responsibility they shoulder.
The mere idea of them rebelling threatens to to unravel what little remains of any semblance of social cohesiveness. Israel’s elite air force saying “NO”, is the equivalent of national electric shock therapy.
Among the concerns of these IAF personnel is that the extremists leading this government may well issue illegal orders. In other words. They have less than no confidence in the professionalism and judgement of the current political security leadership.
In a ham-handed response on Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Netanyahu posted on Twitter a photo of his much younger self, likely from the days when he served in the elite combat unit (as did his older brother, Yoni), Sayeret Matkal.
The caption reads: “When called for reserve duty, we always show up. We are one.”
As so many sneered in response: “We? We show up?”
One IAF pilot stated anonymously to media: “We will not be their useful idiots.”
For months now, the PM and his coalition partners have been smearing Israelis who oppose the judicial “reforms” as being anarchists, terrorists, leftists, traitors. The top ministers – who happen to be leaders of coalition parties - in this government are men, the majority being ultra-orthodox and religious Zionists who adhere to various extreme ideologies. But – aside from Bibi – not a single one has served fully in the army and most have never come anywhere near doing so.
One opposition leader commented on television on Saturday night that every time Netanyahu and his government call Israelis citizens “terrorists”, he motivates another 100,000 people to show up at Saturday night protests and the newest thing – Days of Disruption (The second Day of Disruption will occur on Thursday. The intention is to bring the country to a standstill, in protest.)
For eight Saturdays in a row hundreds of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated their rage with what they see as the assault on liberal democracy in order to appease an extremist coalition and allow Netanyahu to avoid any legal consequences flowing from his trial on corruption-related charges.
Bibi’s older brother, Yoni, is a national icon and hero. Of the special forces who launched the legendarily daring raid on Entebbe airport in 1976 to rescue Jewish hostages who had been passengers on a commercial Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris (the non-Jews had been let go), Yoni – the commander - was the only soldier to fall in action. The tragedy devastated the Netanyahu family, as Bibi recounts so eloquently in his recent memoir. The younger sibling – Bibi –was overtaken with a sense of destiny to try to fulfill his brother’s promise.
Quite content living in America at the time, Bibi returned to Israel and devoted the next few years of his life to honoring his brother’s legacy.
But it seems that he’s lost the plot.
Going viral around Israel today is the quite brilliant op-ed published Sunday in the New York Times by Michael Bloomberg; a pretty smart, successful guy who has been a steadfast supporter of Israel.
In a phrase, Bloomberg says, Israel is courting disaster, as the piece is titled.
Bloomberg draws particular attention to one of the many controversial aspects of the judicial “reform” legislation (being rammed through the Knesset by the Netanyahu government) which would empower legislators to:
…even go as far as to declare that the laws it passes are unreviewable by the judiciary, a move that calls to mind Richard Nixon’s infamous phrase “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.
A few days before the Bloomberg missive, the ten IDF fighters who worked most closely with Yoni Netanyahu in the preparation and execution of the Entebbe raid, sent Bibi a letter, which they made public.
In it they slam the Prime Minister for “knowingly and with eyes open sacrificing the State and people of Israel for his own interests.”
And they spit in his face in response to his comparison of extremist Jewish vigilantes who torched a Palestinian village to peaceful demonstrators in Tel Aviv.
“You compared us to people who carried out pogroms in Huwara. Your son, who hasn’t held a gun in his life, calls us ‘terrorists.’” (Netanyahu’s older son, Yair, is clearly aligned with the extremist camp and during his IDF service held a cushy desk job.)
Some may say: How distasteful to “use” his brother in this way. Perhaps. But we really do not have any margin for error. This is an existential moment for Israel and politesse just isn’t an option.
This is ground zero time. Scorched earth. War. Bibi and his coalition partners - representing the most extreme demographics of the country - have pressed the nuclear button. And those opposed are reacting accordingly.
The disgust, fury and rage are palpable.
And the question so many are thinking - but not daring to ask aloud: “What would Yoni say?”
Thanks for the feedback, Terri. I couldn't agree more with respect to the need for judicial reform here. Top to bottom and inside out. I happen to disagree strongly with the manner in which such an important issue is being undertaken. And I have major issues with the proposed override clause (which, by the way - bears no resemblance to the Canadian notwithstanding clause - which Bibi and others love to invoke in support of override.....a propos "fake news."). I, too, know a thing or two about law - in theory and practice. And - not sure what the relevance is but yes - aware that in Israel students do not need an undergrad degree and go straight to law school. In fact, I'm sure you're aware that that is the norm in much of Europe, UK and the Commonwealth. America is not the standard for everyone. Nor should it be. "Reasonable clause" and standard of reasonableness is well entrenched in common law and well understood in much of the world.
Zoom out for a moment. The manner in which a government - any government - undertakes reform is as important as the reform they undertake. They are the government of all Israelis now, not just their ideological kin. And to govern effectively they must at least appear to give a hoot about what rather significant parts and numbers in society think. Or they will lose legitimacy.
Democracy is not just about the majority. An elected legislature is an important part of a democracy, forsure, but so are healthy supporting institutions and - lest we forget - checks and balances. The latter concept is well understood in both parliamentary democracies as well as in America. And with these proposals we will have none in Israel. Zero.
These reform proposals need work. Let's do it right.
None of the commentators know anything about the law. I as a lawyer in Israel can tell you that the reform is very much needed. There needs to be a Federal Rule 11 with sanctions for frivolous litigation and everything isn't allowed to be brought to court as in the US. Most of the news is fake, such as the article saying that JP Morgan Chase wrote an article about the reform. Since I manage accounts there I know it isn't true and I spoke to the research deptartment and no such report was written. So don't believe all you hear and read, most of it is fake and almost no one understands the legal system here. Did you know that lawyers don't need a BA to go to Law School? They go directly to Law School and that needs to be changed. It took us as Americans a long time to understand the "reasonable clause" in Israeli law since there is no such thing in the US, and Michael Bloomberg doesn't know a thing about the law and was hated as Mayor of NYC, I know I was there.