Democracies Die Slowly but Collapse Suddenly

Andrey Khrzhanovskiy, a human rights activist, published an online video in which he is seen attaching a sticker decorated with the Palestinian flag on a pole located in a monument commemorating a fallen officer of the battle of the 7th of October.

Two weeks later, on Thursday (Dec. 12, 2024), after the sticker had already been removed, he was arrested by plainclothes police officers at a cafe in Tel Aviv on suspicion of behavior that could disrupt the public peace and damage property. The Israeli Police requested Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court to extend his detention by five days.

The judge refused to comply with the request and even criticized the police. It is easy to disagree with Andrey’s actions, but it is the police’s actions that raised a red flag.

Notably, Judge Savin Cohen clarified that “expression of opinion is expression of opinion, it should be treated as such. This is the essence of democracy and the essence of freedom of expression”.

These police actions should not be detached from the wave of legislation initiated by the coalition seeking to silence its opponents and their actions.

That same Thursday, the Knesset assembly approved, on the second and third readings, a law designed to allow the issuance of restrictive orders against citizens without the legal process customary today. The law passed despite opposition from the Ministry of Justice.

The law, “The Public Protection Against Crime Organizations Law”, is an initiative of MKs from the "Otsma Yehudit" and the "Habait Hayehudi" parties and was passed by a majority of 32 votes without any opposition. Even in the media, the law did not receive significant coverage (Haaretz newspaper discussed it in an editorial). The public’s indifference to the law, as well as the lack of participants in protests against the government (against a judicial reform, ceasing the war in Gaza, releasing the hostages), are what enable these government maneuvers, and soon we will find ourselves under a dictatorship.

Crucially, this law, one among a series of laws and bills, has the sole purpose of enhancing the government's ability to suffocate the benefits of freedom of its opponents through a rich variety of maneuvers. It is sufficient to look at the legal proceedings against the four people who launched fireworks in Caesarea. It began with their investigation by the Shin Bet as suspects in an attempted assassination of the Prime Minister (even though he and his wife were not in Caesarea), Continued with extension of their detention despite the four admitting to the act, and culminated in their being accused of committing a terrorist act. Our sorrowful eyes see that already today the government, with the help of the prosecution, can abuse its opponents.

These proceedings teach us that we must not ignore the timing and the current atmosphere when we want to examine the significance of a law that strips citizens of fundamental legal rights in favor of an administrative procedure, which in practice allows the police to obtain various restriction orders from the judicial authority without evidence and without the subject of the orders knowing what they’re being accused of.  

The new law stipulates that the court can issue judicial restraint orders against members of criminal organizations based on an intelligence assessment of the danger. In the rationale of the bill, it claims that its purpose is to provide the police with additional tools within the fight against crime in the Arab community (it is difficult to state that the bill’s initiators are known for their concern for the welfare of Arab citizens).

This involves a government and a Knesset that are exclusively subject to the control of a criminal defendant fighting the gatekeepers - the Attorney General, the prosecution, and the courts - after the police have already surrendered and fallen into the hands of the Minister of National Security. Therefore, it is not surprising that Haaretz’s editorial claims that “such dangerous laws, in the hands of Ben Gvir’s police and the government of the Judicial Reform, will not be used to eliminate crime - they will be used to suppress citizens”.

The law is limited as a temporary measure for two years and stipulates that the court can order, among other things, a prohibition on leaving one’s place of residence, a ban on maintaining contact with certain individuals, restrictions on driving, limitations on internet usage, and a ban on leaving the country. Additionally, the law establishes that the issuance of these warrants requires an approval by the Attorney General.

Indeed, supervision by the courts and legal advisory might sound as a balancing and fair act. However, for a long time, courts tend to act as rubber stamps when presented with security information from a one-sided standpoint. Additionally, the Attorney General and governmental legal advisory can also fall prey to the government’s clutches - from Gali Baharav-Miara’s dismissal to the despicable plan to replace the current government offices professional legal advisors (who have seven years of tenure) with government-appointed advisors.

Obviously, this is not the only law that the government intends to enact with the aim of restricting the fundamental rights of individuals.

Last month a bill was passed in a preliminary reading by the Knesset, which allows a police officer of the rank of Deputy Commissioner or higher to request approval from the president of the District Court or their deputy for an order to access a personal computer or a cellular device. And in September, the Knesset’s National Security Committee approved regulations permitting the police to conduct mass surveillance of citizens without oversight.

Democracies Die slowly but collapse suddenly. Which is why there is an imperative to stop these processes, and if not at the Knesset’s plenary, then in the streets.

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