The Trap That Became an Indictment: The Hearing That Exposed Israel's 'Deep State' | Opinion

MK Tally Gotliv's request for immunity from criminal prosecution, Constitution, Law and Justice Committee / Knesset Channel

The hearing held yesterday, Monday, in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on the issue of lifting MK Tally Gotliv's immunity will be remembered as a defining moment in understanding the sociology of constitutional law in Israel. Instead of debating the legal question of whether revealing the name of Shikma Bresler's partner, a Shin Bet officer, was an act carried out "for the purpose of fulfilling MK Gotliv's role as a member of Knesset," the hearing turned into a severe indictment of the Israeli juristocracy. A public indictment in which the people judge the real corruption in the State of Israel, the legal apartheid policy that, according to its critics, is imposed by Baharav-Miara on the citizens of Israel.

Baharav-Miara's son was caught stealing a ceramic vest in the army. One of Israel's leading attorneys, Yossi Benkel, got him out without an investigation by the Military Advocate General. The Military Advocate General is a friend of Baharav-Miara. Yossi Benkel represents Nadav Argaman and his partners in the petition against the spyware committee, a petition that serves Baharav-Miara herself.

Baharav-Miara herself has social ties with Ronen Bar, since her late partner, Tzion Miara, was also a Shin Bet officer. At the same time, Baharav-Miara is working at full force to keep Bar in his position, producing absurd legal opinions according to which the prime minister is in a conflict of interest and therefore barred from dismissing Bar, who failed badly on October 7, and also barred from appointing Zini as the new Shin Bet chief. One hand washes the other.

The Military Advocate General closes the case against Baharav-Miara's son without even opening an investigation, contrary to the usual practice in the army in cases of theft of property. In return, Baharav-Miara drags out the investigation into the leak of the Sde Teiman video to Channel 12. She submits a false affidavit to the High Court of Justice on behalf of the Military Advocate General. When the affair blows up, she acts in a conflict of interest while investigating a case in which she herself may be suspected, which in itself is allegedly an offense of breach of trust.

The attorney general is leading a policy of selective enforcement that institutionalizes legal apartheid. One law for right-wing protesters during the disengagement period, thousands of detainees, including minors, and numerous indictments, and another for the Kaplan protesters, against whom no indictments were filed for blocking roads.

Tolerance for riots near the private homes of right-wing figures, Minister Kisch, Minister Shikli, Tally Gotliv's home and the Kohelet Forum, and zero tolerance for similar behavior by right-wing activists, such as Mordechai David, who blocked Aaron Barak's car, or the violent Haredi rioters who rioted near Justice Noam Sohlberg's home.

A swift investigation of leaks and rapid indictments when the suspect is a right-wing figure or someone close to Prime Minister Netanyahu, with Urich and Braverman as examples, and dragging out investigations when it concerns people in the circle of the juristocrats, such as Ronen Bergman or MK Gilad Kariv, who allegedly leaked secret information from Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee discussions.

Selective enforcement has a central place in the Israeli deep state system. Gotliv apparently did in fact commit a security offense, and should not have revealed the name of Bresler's partner. Therefore, the move to prosecute in this case appears justified. And so it seems as if the deep state is operating according to the "rule of law."

But when claims of selective enforcement arise, such as the decision not to indict MKs Gal-On, Tibi and Hanin for revealing the name of Prisoner X, or the dragging out of the investigation into the alleged leak by Gilad Kariv, the Israeli juristocracy responds: it is not the same, these are not the same circumstances. That is the method, and this is how legal apartheid is made possible in Israel.

MK Gotliv is known for her colorful and loud style. She is uncontrollable, and it is difficult to withstand her outburst of speech. But for a moment, the style must be set aside. Gotliv is the voice of the masses in Israel, of those silenced and invisible, whom the Israeli juristocracy refuses to see. Her cry is the cry of the masses, for whom yesterday's spectacle in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee was not a technical discussion about whether revealing the name of Bresler's partner was an illegal act carried out "for the purpose of fulfilling" the role of MK Gotliv.

Yesterday's hearing was a fierce indictment of political corruption, which critics say reached its peak during Baharav-Miara's tenure and had previously been associated with Shai Nitzan. And this boiling lava shakes the ground, creates deep fissures, and may erupt at any moment.