President Isaac Herzog, thank you for your selfless efforts to halt the judicial revolution. I am grateful for your sacrifice and how you continue to risk your own reputation and the stature of the office you hold. Behind closed doors, though, here is what I hope you are saying to Netanyahu:
“You have sown the wind. Let me tell you now what I will tell the whole nation should you fail to halt the passage of the laws in their current form: I will not preside over the destruction of Israel’s democracy.
“I have been urged not to sign the laws should they be passed. I pledge to you I will not. Should they pass, I will resign.
“I will do this not to save myself the ignominy of having my signature on the laws. I will resign because that is the best possible thing that I can do in service of the Israel that I love and have dedicated my life to serving.
“My hope is that this threat – when taken together with all of the other wholly predictable reactions to your attack on the foundations of the Zionist enterprise – will make you realize what so many around you know: that you have already lost.
If the reform goes ahead
“Yes, you may succeed in destroying Israel’s independent judiciary but you will never rule. At best, you and the perverse coalition that you have cobbled together will only rule over a Mount Zion that has become desolate – one over which foxes prowl.
“Already, beset upon from all sides you have no rest and no shelter. Your only choice, really, is whether we all will lose together with you.
“Be the leader that I know you can be and face the consequences of your own decisions – those that have contributed so greatly to the security and prosperity that we enjoy today along with those that threaten the very foundations of this security.
“You can still leave behind you a grateful nation that recognizes not only your errors – including your crimes, to be direct and clear – but also your personal heroism and your great service intended for the good of us all.
“As president with the authority to offer pardons, I can and will give this full consideration. I make you no promises. But know this too: I will not be inscribed in the history of our nation as the president who presided over our descent into authoritarianism.
“I have no illusions that my threat alone will be sufficient to deter you from the dangerous course you have put us all on. But when taken together with our nation in strife, the flight of capital, the loss of international stature, the weakening of our economic position and the gathering storm in our region, you really ought to consider my steps carefully.
“Your best way out from your and our predicament is through me. I know that it will not fully satisfy you but it remains your and our best option.
“You have sown the wind. Without me, you and all of us will reap the whirlwind.”
The writer is a strategic and organizational consultant and a lecturer. He served as a General Staff officer in the IDF Strategic Planning Division, where he worked on Israel’s defense-oriented international relations.