The cries of "Gevald! Racism!," "Democracy has been Stolen," and "Putsch!," and the black flags accompanying them, are nothing but a smokescreen concealing an especially cynical attempt to render irrelevant the political choice made by peripheral, traditional, religious and haredi Israel.
The aim of the hawkish faction of Blue and White is not simply to govern. Its true aim is to severely compromise the freedom of choice of Israeli citizens. Yesh Atid's Ofer Shelah and Yair Lapid have resolved to remove PM Netanyahu from the political arena for good, no longer allowing the citizens to elect him. They no longer suffice with deciding who will lead the Blue and White party; they also seek to decide who will lead the opposing party – and, in particular, who won't.
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Their path to reaching this aim is well-trodden. This week we heard the overly activist Justices of the Supreme Court – who had no qualms about hampering the Knesset's status, for example in their willingness to discuss the disqualification of Basic Laws – suddenly upholding the importance of the executive branch, their only goal being to hasten the formation of parliamentary committees.
Have they repented, no longer supporting the activist school of thought? On the contrary. They're doing their best to remove any obstacle standing in the way of Shelah and Lapid, whose aim is to legislate personal laws (which left-wing politicians have stridently opposed over the last year). The objective of these laws is to remove Netanyahu from Israel's political map, by means of direct election.
The Supreme Court is just one device used by the generals' party – a crucially important device, but certainly not the only one. They are aided by partisan media outlets more interested in the personal insult sustained by Benny Gantz during the election campaign and in the major psychological issue – to what degree will that insult's emotional residue allow Gantz to collaborate with Netanyahu.
The empathy for their preferred political son apparently engages the interest of television presenters and their guests much more than the violent derailing of the political choice made by Israel's Jewish-Zionist majority, by a party that cannot form a Zionist coalition government.
But the true irony of this attempt is the use of the Arab vote – or rather, the charge of racism. Three former chiefs of staff are trying to exploit a patently anti-Zionist vote in order to defeat the vote of the majority of Zionist voters. Any protest against this attempt is immediately countered with the trump card of equality – the undisputed argument that the Arab vote is equal to the Jewish one. However, this is pure demagogy, since in practice, the Arab vote will at some point annul the political will of the majority of Israel's Jewish public.
The meaning of this is clear. In Israel's socio-political food chain, the Arab Hiba Yazbek (sheltering under the wings of three IDF chiefs of staff) will decide for Israel's Mizrahi periphery who they can elect, and who they can't.
If, up until now, this periphery was under-represented in every possible sphere of influence in Israel, from now on its representation at the polls will also be downtrodden – the "ignorant masses" are not making the right choice, therefore the Justices of the Supreme Court will assist Lapid and Shelah in overturning that choice. Of course, this farce is taking place under the holy veil of upholding democracy – in other words, upholding the Israeli left-wing, which alone represents the country's true and essential democratic foundation.
And if, heaven forbid, anyone dares to speak out against them – the protectors of democracy will raise a black flag.
