In the hands of Strock
This man wants to return to take the helm of our ship. He, who for a long time no longer makes the decisions alone in his residence. He, who abandoned the country and sank it for two years of governmental chaos like a ship without a helmsman, like a flock without a shepherd, without a budget, without essential appointments, without operative plans, without the strengthening of the IDF, without the Iranian issue. He claims to be “in a different league”. At best , this is a league for jobs, so that his family members, God forbid, will not be forced to look for work.
Let’s assume he has 61 seats. We do not know what the results of the elections will be, but for the purpose of the discussion here it has been determined that Netanyahu, together with Smotrich, Ben Gabir (not necessarily in that order) and the ultra-Orthodox, will stand on the long-awaited line of 61 mandates. The question is, who is Netanyahu’s 61st mandate? The answer: everyone. Everyone. Orit Struck, whose minimum is the annexation of Hebron Arab. Yisrael Eichler, whose minimum is billions for Hasidism in Belez and the ban on conscription of women. Avi Maoz, whose minimum is the outlawing of LGBT people, banning mixed marriages and you know what else. Dodi Amsalem, whose minimum is the position of Minister of Justice. Itamar Ben Gabir, whose minimum, actually let’s not think about it.
Netanyahu will not have the privilege of manipulating all of these. He will have to please them every day, all day, 24/7, to further his great plan. He will have no other choice. The closest that will be presented to them will be the State of Israel, its image, its values, its principles, as formulated by the founding generation.
Not only the courts, the police and the gatekeepers will be spread here everywhere, if Netanyahu will indeed get the mandates he needs. No one will be immune. We received a small sample, on the bill, this week. It began with an interesting publication by Ze’ev Kam (here Network B) under the title “The Shin Bet’s unusual request from the Knesset.” The story is strange and reeks of a military dictatorship. In the week that the Knesset was dissolved, Kam said, three senior Shin Bet officials came to the office of MK Struck and tried to convince her that she and her faction would agree to the enactment of a law that exempts the organization from the High Court’s ruling regarding the living space for detainees.
The amazing part is coming now. Strock did not respond to the request. She told Kem that “this requires a total change in the definition of the role of the Shin Bet.” In fact, she asked to abolish the Jewish department in the Shin Bet. In response to Kam’s news, she said that she explained to the Shin Bet that “the way in which they take advantage of the special abilities that the Knesset gives them is unacceptable. It is not possible for a guy who acted in self-defense in the lynching incident near Ariel to be interrogated in the basements of the Shin Bet under torture…” etc. “Something fundamental must change in the conduct of the Shin Bet after the elections,” she added.
Here’s the story: a few years ago, the High Court ruled that a minimum living space (approximately 4 square meters) is required for every prisoner held by the prison service. The Shin Bet also, as is known, holds detainees and interrogates for different periods. The Shin Bet requested a temporary exception to this ruling. To increase the living space for a prisoner you need a plan, you need a budget, it takes time. The Shin Bet presented the plan and budget and requested an exception for a fixed period.
To date, the government has amended a temporary order that is renewed every year, which excludes the Shin Bet. But the government fell. The current temporary order expires at the end of the year. There is no one to extend it. To extend it, amid the chaos of the elections, a law is required. A bill was drafted and passed the first reading. Second and third readings remain. Time is running out. There are still about a week in which laws can be passed. After the preliminary reading, the bill came to the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee. Shin Bet representatives were invited, arrived and explained the urgent security need. MK Strock came there as an observer, raised reservations and asked questions. Legitimate.
At this point the government fell apart. The Shin Bet understood the problem. The transitional government can only pass laws if it is with overall agreement, coalition and opposition alike. At this stage, the head of the Shin Bet’s investigations division, accompanied by the organization’s legal advisor and another senior official, asked to meet Struck. An open meeting, listed in the agenda, held in the Knesset. They asked to explain the situation to her in all its sensitivity, and I estimate (I have no way of verifying this) that they were convinced she would understand.
Because the story is simple: if the Shin Bet is not excluded from the High Court ruling, it will have to immediately release quite a few interrogators. That is, terrorists. This, and more: he will stop less. It will be limited to those 4 square meters and will not be able to function as a security organization whose goal is to save lives in emergency situations as well as in normal times. The Shin Bet is not asking for a permanent exclusion, but a temporary one. He doesn’t ask this to flatter himself, but to protect us.
So Strock refused. The law will not pass. From her words it can be understood that she is not ready for Jews to be investigated as terror suspects. There is no Jewish terrorism. Duma incident did not happen. Muhammad Abu Khadir did not burn to death. No throwing stones, no attacking IDF soldiers, no infiltration of IDF bases, the “rebellion group” did not exist and was not created. She was asked to allow the Shin Bet to continue detaining terror suspects and interrogating them, but made it conditional on a commitment not to interrogate any more Jews and used the event to “wash” senior Shin Bet officials for daring to investigate the Jew suspected of stabbing to death an Arab near Ariel.
Yes, soon there is a chance that not only Binyamin Netanyahu will be a hostage in the hands of Struck and a few other guys of her type, but also us. And the Shin Bet. And go find out who else.
took a side
Ayelet Shaked has not yet decided whether to run to the end and has yet to close anything with Yoaz Handel and Zvi Hauser. She did decide to finally kick statehood, and it doesn’t suit her. In the confrontation between the settlers who established four new and really illegal outposts on the night between Wednesday and Thursday and the security forces, she took the side of the settlers, against the security forces.
Shaked is the Minister of the Interior of the State of Israel. even at this moment. An excellent internal servant, strives for change, creates revolutions and changes reality. All this is said without sarcasm. The one ingredient missing from this stew makes it tasteless at best, toxic at worst. No, the interior minister cannot go against the police, for which she is responsible. Nor against the army, removed to the command of the government of which it is a member. Especially not in a clear case of violation of law and order by settlers who know they are not allowed to enter the land without proper permits, but enter the land anyway.
True, Shaked is fighting over the remaining mandates between Ben Gvir and Smotrich, between Netanyahu and Derai, and she doesn’t have many choices. Even though the current government has not done any “leftist” action, even though Shaked fought against secession as a young activist while Miri Regev talked her out of it and danced on the hills, she does not have the qualifications to act as an outlaw now. In a reformed country, Naftali Bennett would have fired Ayelet Shaked yesterday morning, but rest your mind. It won’t happen, it doesn’t occur to anyone, it’s completely imaginary. And this, too, is part of the horrific damage of the man who sat yesterday in front of a judge, a champion and rabbi, and tried to escape responsibility.
From Ben Caspit’s full column published in “Maariv SufaShavu”