Elyakim Rubinstein
These lines are written with the blood of the heart, in suffocation and anguish. I am not a political person, nor have I ever been. I served as cabinet secretary under prime ministers Shamir and Rabin, and as attorney general under Prime Ministers Netanyahu, Barak and Sharon. Altogether, I sat for nearly 15 years at the government table. I served for approximately 15 years as a judge on the District and Supreme courts. Alongside numerous other positions, I have spent close to half a century in public service, and I have continued to serve voluntarily in various capacities since my retirement.
What is now taking place, in its totality, is a knife to the heart of democracy. These words do not flow lightly from my pen. Throughout the period of the so-called judicial overhaul — misnamed a “reform” — I have protested consistently. This has been difficult for me, but I could not do otherwise. Nevertheless, I was careful to affirm that we are still a democracy, that freedom of expression, of choice and of protest remains foundational. But every beginning student of political science knows that democracy is not merely the formal majority. Important though that may be, it is not absolute.
Today, we are witnessing an inexcusable distortion of the concept of democracy — nationally, publicly and historically. The war is ongoing. Hostages remain in the tunnels of their tormentors. And yet, as if in a parallel universe, the coalition and the government occupy themselves with the legislative machinations of judicial revolution and the dismissal of heads of law enforcement agencies who fail to curry their favor.
At the war’s outset — one year and five months ago — it was declared that the judicial “reform,” or rather, the overhaul, would be frozen during wartime. And yet, it has been revived with force, upending foundational structures in favor of the worst forms of political intensification. Gatekeepers who fulfill their roles are being swept aside and bereaved families are told “out!” in the Knesset. All this is compounded by generous funding for coalition sectors and appropriation from others — as though the public treasury has no bounds. A law enabling draft dodging is advanced, while we are told that a proper draft law is in the works — slated, apparently, for the end of days. In the meantime, reserve soldiers collapse under endless burden.
During the war, the discourse was one of unity — “together we shall prevail” — but now divisiveness roars with full force.
To this internal rupture is added the grave international burden: all the “lovers of Zion” at The Hague and the United Nations are rubbing their hands in glee.
As for the head of the Shin Bet — he is among those responsible for the failures of Oct. 7, and he acknowledges this. He is not expected to remain in office indefinitely, but he certainly should not be removed before a thorough investigation into the Qatari channel and the financial transfers has been completed. The government’s stated reason for his dismissal — his responsibility for the failures of Oct. 7 — is steeped in irony, for the government and its leader remain ensconced in power and refuse to assume responsibility for the greatest failure and catastrophe in the state’s history.
We are told that the government is judged by the public at the ballot box, but the two necessary steps in the wake of this catastrophe — elections and a state commission of inquiry — are unspeakable, forbidden words.
Thus, the military and security echelon will be shown the door, while the political leadership — whose responsibility was already noted in the 1983 Kahan Commission regarding Sabra and Shatila — refuses any form of reckoning, whether at the polls or before an investigatory commission. My remarks do not presuppose any specific conclusions such a commission or election might yield. According to the government’s logic, these must wait until the war is over — but the judicial overhaul?
Not so.
What is an honest person in Israel to make of this, whatever their political views may be?
The attorney general is performing her duties with integrity, professionalism and extraordinary courage — “as a fortified city and as an iron pillar” (Jeremiah 1:18) — and does enjoy widespread support across the legal world, across political affiliations. The government is well aware of the legal system’s contribution, under her leadership, during wartime, and the system’s international standing amidst the attacks against us. Of her it could be said, as in Genesis, “What is my crime and what is my sin that you pursue me?”
And a word about the fabrication of the so-called “deep state,” the bogeyman of a “state within a state,” attributed by the government’s coarse political rhetoric — echoing Trumpian discourse — to public servants. I know the civil service from within, and so does my wife, who served for decades in the State Attorney’s Office (and is a former deputy state attorney). Neither we nor our colleagues were part of any “deep state.” We served the public and the state to the best of our abilities — not any specific government. There are many like us. We all have personal political views, but our service was to the state and its citizens. The “deep state” is a libel — nothing less.
The head of the Shin Bet was not granted a proper hearing. He and the attorney general were summoned before a kangaroo court in the form of the government, with the guillotine already prepared outside the door, the outcome predetermined. Can such a process be called a hearing? The very letter presented by the prime minister, and the claims that the Shin Bet director “did not alert” on Oct. 7, only reinforce the need for a fair and orderly hearing.
One more point worth reflecting on: In the midst of the Shoah — an entirely different realm, to be sure — Zalman Shazar, who would later become Israel’s third president, wrote of our “triple disgrace,” including continued internal strife among the yishuv (as cited in Zvi Yekutiel’s excellent biography “Between Two Worlds”). Nathan Alterman wrote in the 1930s of our internal hatred — and still the demon dances. What will be the impact of this horrific rupture — parallel to the seemingly united, thank God, reserve service without, as yet, internal division — on aliyah to Israel, a country that, once a flourishing state governed by rule of law, is turning into a nightmare spectacle of internecine strife?
And finally, despite the erosion of trust in our democratic resilience, I have not lost hope for good. In our hands, those fighting for a Jewish and democratic state, lies the power to awaken from this nightmare and return to the good land.
And please, let us not forget the hostages — for their return, not the purging of officials, is our supreme mission. ■
Justice Prof. Elyakim Rubinstein was appointed to The Supreme Court of Israel in 2004, and served as the deputy president from 2015 until his retirement in 2017. He had previously served as the position of attorney general of Israel from 1997 until Dec. 31, 2003, and government secretary from 1986 to 1994. Serving in a variety of capacities in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, he played a role in crafting Israel’s historic peace agreements with Egypt and particularly with Jordan. This column appeared in Hebrew in Yediot Achronot.
