When Bibi praised the man who indirectly called for him to resign - analysis
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised former Supreme Court chief justice Meir Shamgar at his funeral and extolled defending judicial independence.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBBlue and White leader Benny Gantz attends the funeral of supreme court president Meir Shamgar(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
For a few moments on Tuesday, we seemed to be caught up in a time-warp.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised former Supreme Court chief justice Meir Shamgar at his funeral and extolled defending judicial independence.Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit, State Attorney Shai Nitzan, current Supreme Court President Esther Hayut and former Supreme Court chiefs, including Aharon Barak, all were situated close by to Netanyahu and acting Justice Minister Amir Ohana, as if the political and legal class were one big happy family.And yet, Shamgar had already said back in 2017 – even before Case 4000, aka the Bezeq-Walla Affair broke – that a prime minister who is indicted should resign.Though Shamgar did not specifically demand Netanyahu’s resignation, in the context of Cases 1000 and 2000, which Netanyahu was already facing, it was clear what Shamgar meant.So as Netanyahu praised one of the leading jurists who effectively called on him to resign, there seemed to be a time-warp back before that time to when Shamgar had met with Netanyahu to work on a variety of national commissions.That and the Shamgar who fought with the Irgun as a young adolescent seemed to be the Shamgar that Netanyahu was praising, while smoothing over the current cloud facing him and Shamgar’s part in that drama.Netanyahu also seemed to return to a career in which the vast majority of the time he often was the last line of defense for the Supreme Court, even if he noticeably allowed some of his ministers to attack the judicial branch and the law enforcement.He said that no matter what disagreements there were between the branches, that judicial independence must always be protected, praising Shamgar for building up the country’s legal institutions.These words betrayed a tragic irony.It is because of Shamgar’s work in making the judicial branch, the attorney-general’s office and the IDF legal division independent that Netanyahu will likely be indicted in the next seven weeks.In addition, Shamgar’s work likely led to people like Elor Azaria, who the prime minister mostly supported in the end, being sent to prison for violating military rules of engagement when they shot Palestinians without just cause.Over the last several months, Netanyahu has explicitly attacked top prosecution and law enforcement officials like Nitzan and Mandelblit by name, implying that he will have no opportunity to a fair trial in the courts which he said must have their independence respected.His newest justice minister, Ohana, instead of criticizing specific Supreme Court rulings as his predecessor, Ayelet Shaked, did, has accused the prosecution of trying to frame him to muzzle his criticism; has said he might not be bound by all court rulings; and talked openly about when he “lost faith” in the integrity of the judicial system.Netanyahu may very well be found innocent at trial and there is no question that the police leaks to the media against him have crossed many lines.But it was bizarre watching the pageantry, knowing that Shamgar essentially called for Netanyahu to resign and that Mandelblit will be indicting the prime minister soon, who will then enter the courts for the first time as a defendant.There was one other bizarre moment with Mandelblit that may have, accidentally, reflected some of the tension underneath the ceremony.When Mandelblit came to lay his wreath, the first row of wreaths was already full.Mandelblit was unsure how and where to place his wreath which alternately fell over to the right and to the left multiple times until he finally found a somewhat shaky middle spot where it would at least stay up.Many say Mandelblit himself is about to try to strike some kind of middle position of indicting the prime minister, while reducing some aspect of the charges facing him – an impossible balance to strike.How will those present at the ceremony, especially Netanyahu, look back on it in December once his fate has been decided? Was this his last major forum with the legal establishment as prime minister, as opposed to a defendant?In that respect, Shamgar’s passing into history may not have been the only endpoint being marked on Tuesday.
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