In Israel, the power struggles rage on

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AN ocean separates the Middle East’s sole democracy from the world’s only superpower — and not just in the literal sense.

Even before Trump takes office, the American civil service is falling in line, including the justice system. His legal cases are being closed, the prosecutors are resigning, and some of his foes are talking about leaving the country — a familiar threat to Israeli ears….

But in Israel, the power struggles rage on. When the government was formed in December 2022, few would have believed that Itamar Ben-Gvir, perceived as a blowhard with zero government or managerial experience, would become the terror of the Israeli deep state, rather than Binyamin Netanyahu or Justice Minister Yariv Levin.

When he entered office, Levin seemed like the deep state’s worst nightmare — he was Mr. Clean, an austere, unassuming figure who wouldn’t be tempted by cigars and champagne, and therefore couldn’t be kept in check through investigations. But two years in, with Levin’s judicial reform agenda stalled on all fronts, Itamar Ben-Gvir has emerged as the right government’s most effective minister, having broken the left’s hold on the police force.

Of course, Levin has an excuse. If you set up a ballot box in the State Prosecutor’s Office or the halls of the Supreme Court, everyone knows what the result would be. The police, on the other hand, draws its ranks from the salt of the earth, making it far more amenable to the minister in charge.

But this isn’t the only or even the primary reason for Ben-Gvir’s success and Levin’s failure. While Yariv Levin shot at everything that moved, refusing to build bridges with officials in his department over the heads of the attorney general and the state prosecutor, and sometimes even boycotting meetings of his department in protest, Ben-Gvir did the exact opposite. As the minister in charge of the police, he was determined to avoid becoming the opposition within his own department.

“I’ll come to every meeting, every briefing — I’m the minister in charge, and I’m here,” he said in his first week on the job, and he’s stood by that promise.

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Instead of starting with the proposal to split the role of the attorney general, a move even Gideon Saar had previously supported, Levin headed straight for the biggest challenge — the judicial selection process.

The national security minister, on the other hand, started out small. Ben-Gvir first made his influence felt in the relatively unimportant Prison Service, promoting officers who showed willingness to crack down on security prisoners. Only once that went through did he start dismissing commanders who identified with the protest movement. By gradually advancing officers who understood his wishes, Ben-Gvir has delivered on his promises.

It should come as no surprise that the deep state is in a panic. Before Ben-Gvir assumed office, the police was an inseparable part of the left-wing elite’s power triangle: the judicial branch, the defense establishment, and law enforcement.

Note the absurdity of the suspicions that triggered a wave of investigations against Ben-Gvir’s allies in the police last week: bypassing official channels has been a staple of Israeli politics since the founding of the state. When Major General Oren Shachar went behind Netanyahu’s back to provide information to then opposition leader Shimon Peres in the 90s, it didn’t occur to anyone to open an investigation and make arrests. Rules for thee and not for me.

The Department for the Investigation of Police (DIP) — which last week detained Israel Prison Service commissioner Kobi Yaakobi, a key Ben-Gvir ally, like a common criminal (or like Eli Feldstein) — is the only branch of law enforcement still controlled by the State Prosecutor’s Office, seen as a bastion of the left-wing elite. Similarly, the Shin Bet is perceived by the right as having been politically motivated in the Feldstein affair. With Ben-Gvir having broken its hold on the police, the State Prosecutor’s Office is using the Shin Bet and DIP as its fallback option, in the right’s perception.

One advantage Ben-Gvir has over other right-wing ministers is that he has nothing to lose. Having been investigated, indicted, tried, and acquitted dozens of times in the past, Ben-Gvir doesn’t fear a direct clash with state prosecutors or the attorney general. Unlike Netanyahu, who’s paralyzed by the fear that he’ll be declared incapacitated for office due to his legal cases, for Ben-Gvir that would be an electoral gift. If he’s removed from office on those grounds, he can look forward to a double-digit number of seats in the next elections.

The attorney general laid a mine at Netanyahu’s feet when, in response to a petition for Ben-Gvir’s dismissal, she asked Netanyahu to explain his position regarding Ben-Gvir’s fitness for office.

In doing so, Baharav-Miara basically put Netanyahu on warning. If he supports Ben-Gvir too strongly, that could be used against him during deliberations on his own removal from office. Netanyahu has shown nerves of steel over the past year of war, but even that may not be enough.

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IS the talk of dismissing the attorney general a real possibility, or is it merely red meat for the right-wing base?

Ben-Gvir, who demanded the attorney general be summoned for a hearing, should be the last person to be involved, now that several of his associates are under investigation. To his credit, he’s been saying the same practically since the government’s first day, but avoided laying down an ultimatum, as he did last week.

But now, any move advanced by someone under the scrutiny of the Shin Bet or the DIP will likely backfire, allowing the High Court to rule that the dismissal is illegitimate, motivated by the desire to avoid investigation.

Someone else who can’t and for that matter doesn’t want to fire the attorney general is the prime minister himself. Netanyahu can’t, because he’s signed a conflict-of-interest agreement due to his trial; and he doesn’t want to — although he’d be delighted if someone else did it — for fear that it will lead to him being removed from office on grounds of legal incapacitation.

Minister Shlomo Karhi has become the government’s frontman on this issue, trying to enlist cabinet members to the effort to fire the attorney general. But if there’s anyone who rivals Levin as the government’s biggest disappointment, it’s Shlomo Karhi, and the fact that he’s spearheading the move is the surest sign that it will fail. As one Shas minister — who refused to sign Karhi’s motion — told me this week, the chances the move will succeed are about as high as the chances of Trump coming out in support of Hunter Biden’s pardon.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1040)