Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar
In preparation for the demonstration tonight in Tel Aviv we were asked a number of questions. We present the answers here and some thoughts that arose as a result:
What is the main point that we want to get across?
Our message is simple: The Land of Israel is in danger and that’s why we are here.
We are demonstrating because we understand that it is not just Benjamin Netanyahu’s private affairs, but the concern of the entire Right camp. The Left knew well enough how to ignore deeds far worse than those attributed to Netanyahu when it concerned leftist leaders over the years. In Netanyahu’s case the energy and the efforts invested in bringing him down, exaggerating every small suspicion as an unforgiveable act, all stems from the desire to see the Right camp defeated and the Left returned to power.
Have we all become supporters of Netanyahu? Have we forgotten his weaknesses, the freeze, the promises not kept, etc.?
No. First, we are an extra-parliamentary movement that does not support any particular party or politician. The only thing we care about is protecting the Land of Israel. As for the Prime Minister, we know his attributes and his weaknesses as well, and we have not become his supporters. Our call is not to aggrandize the image of Netanyahu the person. We are hurt by the building freeze, by pre-election promises and the procrastination afterward. Nevertheless, we understand that he is the headstone that they want to remove from the structure so that everything will collapse, so that they will be able to harm the Land of Israel.
Does the Right camp need to stick to Netanyahu? Perhaps a different leader would bring about significant achievements and decisive victory in the elections?
It is not Netanyahu personally that is at issue. The Right camp must fight against the technique where, through the justice system, they bring down leaders of the Right who have won the support of the majority of the people, in order to harm the Land of Israel.
This is also why the people continue to lose faith in the legal system. We have no intention of dealing with the identity of the leader who can lead the Right to victory in an election or to 61 MKs. As an extra-parliamentary movement, this is not our role. We are here to stop this method so that the next leader of the Right will not be harmed.
Again, we are not demonstrating this evening for Bibi the person, but for all Rightist leaders of the Land of Israel ideology, whoever they may be. It is clear to us that in order to harm the Land of Israel and divide it, they will find a can of worms for any other leader of the Right who will come in the future, as it was in the past. This is why the entire Right must come out and demonstrate. If we allow them to crush the will of the majority of the People and bring down a Rightist prime minister now, they will continue to do it in the future. Our attendance at the demonstration this evening is not for Netanyahu personally, but for the entire camp, for the future leaders of the Right, whoever they may be. (Let us not forget the media attack on Gideon Sa’ar as well, when, as Education Minister, he brought classes to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron).
Isn’t support for such a demonstration support for corruption?
We repeat again the principle that we noted previously – this is not support for Netanyahu but for the Land of Israel and to fight the practice that seeks to win by the judicial system what they could not win at the ballot box.
Besides this, we note the principle that any person is considered innocent until and unless his guilt is proven, and at this time, we are far from proof of Netanyahu’s guilt. We are still in the phase of indictment, a very early and preliminary phase in the legal process.
In addition to all of this, we should comment against selective enforcement towards Netanyahu. While acts several times worse than those attributed to Netanyahu were ignored when they related to leftist leaders, for Netanyahu we saw the system’s unprecedented mobilization to bring him down. Discussions with media people are the norm in the Israeli political system, but Yair Lapid, Eitan Cabel and others were not treated this way – far from it. Gifts that are given to public figures such as the late Shimon Peres (we recall his birthday) and others in the Left camp were received with a wink and forgiven. It is difficult to forget the matter of Greek island when Ariel Sharon was “etrogized” in order not to harm the process of the uprooting and expulsion of Gush Katif, and these are only the first examples in a long series that show the hostile tendency of certain factors in the legal system, spurred on by the media who longed for the collapse of the Right camp and found in Netanyahu a convenient way to crush it.
Isn’t the demonstration a protest against the legal system?
The opposite is true. It is important to remember that according to law, a prime minister can remain in his role until a verdict is rendered, in contrast to a minister or any other public official, and this is because in a democratic state, we do not want the leadership to be overturned because of a few officials with an agenda. This is why the premature calls for Netanyahu’s removal are against the legal system and against democracy.
Democracy is on our side, the legal system is on our side, the Land of Israel is on our side, and it is in the name of these principles that we are demonstrating and we say: Enough!
Transportation ( no fee) from Jerusalem Inbal hotel, Ramot and Gush Etsion at 6:30pm. Please whatsup 0505500834 with your full name and what bus.