MK Tali Gottlieb (Likud) opened her front door on Monday morning to discover a sit-in of leftist protesters in the hallway who announced at a little past dawn how they’re saving democracy. When Gotlieb asked them to keep the noise down because her daughter, who is on the autistic spectrum, cannot tolerate noise, the demonstrators were not moved and suggested she “play music inside the house” to drown out their screaming. Watch the exchange in the tweet below:
מפגינים חוסמים את דירת טלי גוטליב ואומרים לה שהיא לא הולכת ושתיקח יום חופש, היא מסבירה להם בהכי רוגע ואדיבות שהיא לא יכולה לשים מוזיקה בבית כי יש לה ילדה עם תפקוד נמוך, אז המפגין “אז תמצאי מישהו שיקח אותה למסגרת…”
זה אמיתי הדבר הזה??? pic.twitter.com/nvVyXjkQ6r
— גאיוס (@il7217) February 20, 2023
The police arrested two of the demonstrators for violating public order and disobeying police instructions. The leftists called MK Gotlieb an “attorney for rapists in the past and a member of the Committee for a Regime Coup in the present.” Gotlieb has been a leader of the movement to protect the rights of fathers in parental disputes.
Groups of anti-democracy goons attempted on Monday morning to prevent a long list of right-wing lawmakers from arriving in the Knesset to cast their votes, including MK. Simcha Rothman, and Ministers Yoav Kisch and Avi Dichter.
The group “Block the Coup” (remember “Stop the Steal?” – same idea) issued the following statement: “The current government has declared war on Israeli democracy and thus on the basic rights of all of us. This is a government with fascist characteristics that seeks to destroy the democratic system in which it was elected. From the day it has shown its willingness to crush the judiciary and abolish the separation of powers – it lost its legitimacy to rule.”
The similarities between these enraged stormtroopers and the mob that attacked the US Congress are stunning, with one exception: while the American election deniers were egged on by the disturbed wife of a Supreme Court justice, these people are following the President of the Supreme Court herself. As to their claims of “fascism” – it has been the first act of every fascistic movement in modern history to go after the parliament: the Nazis burned down the Reichstag exactly 90 years ago, on February 27, 1933, and just like these anti-democratic radicals masquerading as the saviors of democracy, the Nazis were also made up of members of the middle class who felt ignored by the political system. Likewise, 30 years ago, in 1993, the anti-democracy forces who felt left behind by the new regime in the USSR tried to storm the parliament, only to be pushed back by President Boris Yeltsin and Russian patriots.
The more Israeli media saturates the airwaves with stories about spirited reservists who steal tanks and armored troops carriers to show their contempt for parliament, the more I realize that the fight today is, indeed, to defend democracy against the entitled classes who cannot tolerate that election losses come with consequences and that it’s time for yesterday’s wood choppers and water carriers to have their say in how their country will be run.
These leftist goons are touting the slogan that bringing back balance among the three branches of government by curbing the Supreme Court’s outlandish and illegal power grab – would chip away at Israelis’ civil rights. Nothing is further than the truth. Our only recourse to preserve civil rights for everyone – Jews, Arabs, secular, and religious – is the Knesset. We get to decide who sits in the Knesset and what they should legislate. The Supreme Court has shown a pitifully limited mercy for the rights of minorities. The majority of its rulings over the years have aided in repressing minorities.
Again, to remind you of darker times, the Nazis didn’t need to burn down the courts, which collaborated without a problem with their racial policies. But ask the Jewish exiles from the Gaza Strip how much help they received in protecting their civil rights from the Supreme Court. It stuck with the Nuremberg model of aiding the ruler, in this case, a corrupt politician driven by an ambitious prosecution to demolish the settlement enterprise.
MK Gottlieb told Kol Hai radio: “Predatory beasts were waiting for me at the door of my home, predatory beasts, there’s no other word to describe them. I have an autistic girl at home and they blocked my way. The police acted as they should. It’s unpleasant, but It made me realize how important it is to vote today on the reform.”
Indeed, this is the only recourse for the majority of Israelis: let the elected officials in a democratic house of representatives vote on the judicial reform, regardless of the threats of the arsonists outside. Pass the first phase of the reform, then move on to the next parts, replacing every inequity of the justice system with rightfulness. Godspeed to you.
Incidentally, Opposition leader Yair Lapid, who also has a daughter on the spectrum, was the only voice on the left to condemn the inhumane treatment of MK Gotlieb by his own goons.
