The Great Betrayal: How the Legal System Turned on Its Greatest Ally, Benjamin Netanyahu

The persecution of Benjamin Netanyahu was the objective of only a fraction of the justice system, not the entire establishment.

The top tier of the academic and judicial elite, meaning the senior law professors in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and veteran Supreme Court judges, have understood for some time that the conduct of the police and state prosecution toward Netanyahu constitutes a terrible methodological failure. From a historical perspective, this aggressive pursuit damages the activist agenda of Israeli law.

This failure originated within the ranks of the bureaucratic and clerical levels of the justice system. The power of these field officers increased within the legal map, even though they were secondary in terms of moral authority.

An Internal Coup

From an internal systemic perspective, the amateurish management of the Netanyahu cases by the prosecution and police signals an attempt at an internal coup within the chain of command. Police officers, prosecutors, and investigators turned the tables not only against public figures but did so in sharp contradiction to the interests of the system heads above them.

Former State Attorney Shai Nitzan sought to climb to the top of the judicial pyramid and position himself as a new Aharon Barak. He tried to do this not through a constitutional revolution, but from within the prosecution and through the use of criminal law. However, he failed to understand that the path to the top requires an independent legal doctrine, which he lacks. Furthermore, he failed to realize that one does not eliminate the veteran allies of the system, such as Benjamin Netanyahu himself.

The Historic Deal

In 1997, the late Professor Ruth Gavison demanded that the Knesset restrain the Supreme Court following its judicial revolution. Netanyahu, whether he read her work or not, never intended to follow her advice, even when he had a clear majority.

The division of labor was clear to everyone: the young Prime Minister would hand over control in the civil, cultural, and legal fields to the Supreme Court, while he handled financial matters. This division, which outraged Yitzhak Rabin, became the norm for his successors.

Right wing defense attorneys and journalists who search for flaws in the prosecution ignore a key possibility. It is possible that the entire legal system did not mobilize against the former premier. Senior judges likely realized that the scandals surrounding Pegasus spyware and witness intimidation required a cleaning of the house to prevent future embarrassment.

The Paradox of the Right Wing

Netanyahu followers continue to view the justice system as a unified body against their leader. They lack a rational explanation for why this system would harass its strongest ally in the history of the executive branch. Explanations regarding "elites against the people" do not hold water because even moderate Leftists admit that Netanyahu handed the keys of the state to the High Court from the day he entered office.

The real question is why the allies of Netanyahu in the legal system turned their back on him.

A younger generation of legal officials, represented by figures like Shai Nitzan and Liat Ben Ari, symbolizes a generational decline. Their attempt to eliminate a man who benefited the prosecution and the Supreme Court lacks operational logic. This layer acted against a man who, compared to Rabin, Meir, or Shamir, surrendered total control to the legal advisors.

The War of Succession

Only a fool would see things through the prism of elites versus Netanyahu. In reality, this was an ambitious war of succession born out of the vacuum created by the aging of Aharon Barak. This was combined with the personal interests of senior officials and a media loathing of the leader.

Professor Daniel Friedmann has noted that the legal system has contributed to transferring power to the Right wing three times by ousting Labor leaders. It is a method. Aharon Barak and his people dismantled three Center Left governments. In every dismantled government, the successors were Menachem Begin or Netanyahu. Both were much friendlier with Barak than Rabin or Peres were.

A Moral Problem

Here lies a moral problem that must be spoken of openly regarding Netanyahu and his followers.

After the legal system became an active partner in changing the character of the state, Likud voters became partners in a historic crime by supporting a man who does not seek reform. Netanyahu simply wants to survive the storm. He maintains correct relations with the heads of the system and never expressed a real desire to overhaul it.

By voting for a close ally of the legal activism movement, Netanyahu voters bear joint responsibility for the demographic and identity results of Supreme Court rulings over the last fifteen years.

The Tragic Reality

The justice system systematically appoints Right wing governments as part of a tactic to control the executive branch. The system uses symbols like Netanyahu to give the simple people the feeling they have a strong leader, even if that strength depends on the very legal system the Right wing leaders established.

Netanyahu voters must internalize that their leader acted, and will continue to act, in cooperation with this system.

Conversely, his followers have not realized that the assassination attempts in his legal cases are not an assassination of the people. On the contrary, it is Netanyahu who neutralized the influence of the people when he handed the keys to the High Court for most of the time following the judicial revolution.

The Unholy Alliance

One cannot support Netanyahu and oppose the justice system, for this is a logical contradiction. Just as one cannot support judicial activism and oppose Netanyahu, for this is a practical contradiction.

The Israeli Left must remember that it was not Netanyahu who killed the vision of Rabin, but Aharon Barak who buried that vision with his legal rulings. Barak and Netanyahu are the illegitimate heirs of Zionist history. In the name of the Likud on one side and the Rule of Law on the other, they transformed Israel into a state of all its citizens.

Likud voters who vote for this alliance are partners in the act. Today, looking back at the protests against the Bennett government, the realization is clear: the alternative was never truly different.