MK Nurit Koren (Likud) is a lawyer and a member of the Judges Selection Committee. Now it turns out that she is also busy explaining to the public the difference between crime and serious crime. "Bribery isn't murder, it's not rape, it's not organized crime," she said. We're lucky to have her, or we might not notice the differences.
The problem is that what MK Koren said represents the position of many sectors in the Israeli public who are ready to forgive their leaders for all sorts of moral "slips" as long as they stay in power. This is the position of some on the Right, and also some on the Left. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took bribes? It's nothing – what's important is that he keep moving the peace process forward. Suspicions of corruption against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? It's minor, really, the man is our best representative in the world. There's no politician who isn't corrupt, everyone takes bribes, it's nonsense – there is no excuse that the defenders of the corrupt don't use to whitewash the issue. The phrase "crime, but not serious crime" became a part of the discourse far too easily.
This is a dangerous discourse that basically says that in the name of ideology, a leader of a democratic country is allowed to be a criminal. Not cut corners or zigzag or promises and deals that seem a little funny – that's part of the political game. But actual, proven crimes for which any other citizen who isn't the prime minister would pay a heavy price.
This is a standpoint appropriate to a country ruled by a king or a totalitarian leader. It stems from blind admiration for the leader and his worldview, the thought that there is no one who can replace him. The leader is so great that allowances are made for him. That a leader does not have an obligation to serve as an example, in fact, the opposite – that he is above the people and therefore not part of them and therefore not subject to the same rules.
When that is how the public sees its leader, it's a real danger to democratic government. It means that the public has stopped seeing the leader as a publicly elected official who has been given his power by the people and now sees him as anointed by a higher power. And when the leader knows that this is what the public thinks, he allows himself to get away with more and more, pushes the boundaries of "I deserve it." So he takes more and more authority for himself, more and more liberties, and then the boundaries are broken and lines are crossed and it's only a short way to a violent, corrupt regime of one.
Deuteronomy addresses the obligations of a king. He must teach the laws of God, obey them, and must not accumulate silver, gold, horses or women. He has moral obligations because that is an integral part of a functional regime.
If in those days, kings were obligated to follow the laws, that rule has even more traction in a democratic country. No, MK Koren, there is no such thing as "just" crime. Anyone who breaks the law is a criminal and a criminal must be punished, even if it's the prime minister.
